Right vs. Left vs 3rd Parties

— Bill Hicks

If you’re not voting third party, you’re wasting your vote.

If you don’t vote what you believe, you’ll never get what you want.

The people elect the government they deserve.

Two options is only one more than they had in the Soviet Union.

Every November the same party wins: the Politician Party.

A vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.

It amazes me that for all the talk of reform and eliminating corruption in government, no one ever addresses the fundamental issue: lack of choices, which is caused directly by our (plurality) voting method. Give non-Dem/Rep voices a fair and equal chance to discuss and promote the merits of their platform instead of dismissing them outright. This means changing the voting system to something that doesn’t predetermine the “leading two”. Anything other than this is a charade. “They” don’t care who wins, because it’s still one of “them”. The real danger (in “their” minds) is if an outsider were to get in and shake things up. Yes, the past 6 years have really demonstrated the truth in “not a dime’s worth of difference”. Who would have thought that a member of the “party of Reagan” would preside over the largest budget increase in history? Both parties want bigger government, so they can curtail your rights – whether they grab them from the left or the right makes no difference in the end.

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*EDIT*

In response to a recent comment…..

Congress is a product of a process controlled by the political parties. The political parties are in turn controlled by monied and powerful interests who let the parties know who they will back, and who they will not. The parties pick from candidates that can get backing, of course, otherwise they will be picking candidates who cannot advertise, campaign and travel freely – in other words, losing candidates. Once acceptable candidates are chosen, then they let the people vote on which one of these hand-picked people is to continue in the (very, very expensive) process. Once elected, carrying out any promises made during the political campaign is strictly optional.

In this way, congress (and the senate, and the presidency) end up being 100% made up of people selected by those same monied and powerful interests. “The people” do not control the type of person, or the obligations of that person. Once in power, the usual currency of politics – being supported to run again by the party, junkets, “fact-finding” trips, dinners, appointments to powerful committees, visits to the white house, campaign contributions, rubbing elbows with the powerful, pork for their district, commitments for speaking engagements, returning as a lobbyist, employment at a think tank, tips on everything from stocks to escorts – these, and more, are the “currency” of “elected” government service. It also doesn’t hurt to remember Orwell’s assertion that “the purpose of power – is power.”

Aside from those people, there is a vast army of unelected, but very powerful individuals who manipulate our daily lives with absolutely no requirement to, or evidence of electing to, pay any attention to public input or subject to public accountability. Not that such input is lacking; they just don’t listen. Examples abound; the FCC with its censorship and pandering to the rich for broadcast (broadcast speech belongs to the rich – period), the FDA with its holding back of therapies even to those who are about to die, the US park service which takes homes from people by force (eminent domain), the Supreme Court with its topsy-turvy interpretation of the commerce clause, disingenuous support for ex post facto laws, craven ducking of religion, and of course, just generally trampling the constitution left and right. And of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

So when you talk about the government – any of it – as being “the people” – you’re speaking of a situation that doesn’t exist in the United States of America. Our federal and state governments are operating broadly outside the bounds of its constitutional authority, within a cycle that is entirely controlled by special interests who have money and power. There are absolutely no signs that this situation is going to change.

You may wonder why free speech is allowed with GovCo gone so catastrophically wrong. The answer is simple: It is far better for them to let you vent than it is have you smolder and suddenly show up on some politician’s doorstep with what used to be your second amendment rights in hand. Between that and making sure you achieve a general level of complacency, while being distracted by the current round of boogeymen (Terrorists! Pedophiles! Immigrants! Global Warming!), they can keep the population from getting out of hand, even as they trample constitutional rights, engage in broad repression of personal, victimless choices, and pursue military adventures on sovereign foreign soil for the benefit of industry.