They're Corrupt Cause You Don't Vote!

By Lloyd Hart

In all the years I've been working political campaigns in Canada and the United States I can't tell you how many times I've heard the expression "Why should I vote, they're all corrupt". When I hear that statement and I must've heard it a million times (there, I said how many times), it always reminds me of the chicken and egg theory and which came first. Did politicians become corrupt because you elected them or did they become corrupt because you didn't? Which came first, the corrupt politician running for office or the corruption of the politician once elected and hence why should you vote for a corrupt politician? There are several answers to these questions but the clearest answer that rises above all the rest is illustrated in nations where the vast majority of people participate in their democracies by voting.

Voting In Vast Majorities

In the developed industrial democracies of Europe and Canada where large numbers, 60 to 90% of the population of eligible voters participate in the democratic process politicians are less likely to ignore their constituents once elected. In fact, in Europe and Canada politicians are more apt to provide the services the public demands their tax dollars be spent on and that laws be past that reflect the community's values. Whereas, in the United States of America where the trend has been not to participate in the democratic process by the vast majority, citing the 2002 midterm elections which pulled a record low 32% to the polls, politicians are more likely not to listen to the vast majority of their constituents for the simple fact that their constituents did not vote by a vast majority to elect them. Consequently, elected politicians within the United States of America are more likely to listen to the special interests who spend millions of dollars aggressively lobbying the elected to provide legislation and tax advantages to the variety of special interests who have the cash to contribute to the elected that can then afford the TV time which can then overwhelm any challenge to a corrupt incumbency. God forbid if these candidates and incumbents would have to do some real political campaigning, pressing the flesh of constituents who in the end politicians actually don't want to go the polls. Politicians are quite happy to have low numbers and participation in their elections for the simple fact that they want a safe, predictable and easy to steal elections.

Public Service

The evidence is very clear that when eligible voters go to the polls in vast majorities politicians do listen to their constituents. The consistent hallmarks of majority voting are universal health care, a strong safety net, a shorter work week, mandatory paid vacation for the entire working population, above the poverty line Social Security for the aging, comprehensive social and environmental laws that protect the health and welfare of the community as well as wildlife habitat and a fair and equitable system of taxation that recognizes that wealth accumulation does not occur in the vacuum of the wealthy individual but rather is a privilege provided by and as a result of the efforts of the entire society. The other fringe benefit of vast majorities going to the polls is Government accountability. If the Halliburton contract in Iraq occurred in Canada under the same circumstances and a vice-president or in the case of Canada a Deputy Prime Minister was the former CEO of a company like Halliburton and that company received a contract by decree closed to outside bidding as Halliburton did and these facts were made public the same way as they have been in the U.S. , the Canadian Deputy Prime Minister would have to resign immediately and possibly be subject to criminal charges. These societies of course, are not perfect but the distribution and expenditure of taxpayers' contributions to the general health of the entire society has produced the kinds of results that the real majority's of Canada and Europe seem to continue to support.

Public Disservice

Politicians become even more intimidated by voting majorities when politicians have flat-out lied like in the case of Canadians Prime Minister Brian Mulroney when he swore up and down that he would not sign the free-trade deal with U.S. when running for reelection in 1988 but after he was reelected he did exactly that, signed the free-trade deal with the U.S.. Which by the way, gave the U.S. veto power over Canada's own sovereign energy supplies. This resulted in Brian Mulroney's conservative party going from 187 seat majority to having just two seats left in the Canadian House of Commons in the very next general election. The Conservative Party today still only has 21 seats in the Canadian parliament and many say the party may never recover from the punishment inflicted by the Canadian voters voting in vast majorities. In fact, the present Canadian government of Liberal Party Prime Minister Jean Chretien won a third record majority in the House of Commons in part because the Liberal Party followed through on the public's wishes to give the native populations of Canada sovereign control of vast territories after suffering many of the same fates that the Native American populations were and are subject to in the U.S., increased health care spending by $4.5 billion, legalized hemp Agriculture and began a federal government sponsored medical marijuana program. The Liberals may even win a 4th majority government in the Canadian House Commons because of the stand they took against the war Iraq and the fact that the liberal controlled Senate has recommended the legalization of marijuana in Canada and has already created the defacto decriminalization of cannabis.

Stolen Elections

Democracy might not be a foolproof system in which everyone gets what they want but in nations where vast majorities vote the possibility for the public to have their needs met are a great deal better. The chances for incumbents to be punished for the lies they told and the positions they took are great deal higher. The bottom line though, is populations voting in vast numbers makes it difficult and almost impossible to steal the election the way the 2000 presidential and 2002 midterm elections were stolen by the very questionable military absentee ballots filled out by republican activists nationwide and the ethnic and political cleansing of the voter lists by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in Florida and God knows where else.

Kicking the Bums Out in the Primary Elections

Large numbers of eligible voters could also have a great affect on the primary election process in America. If voters feel betrayed by the elected politicians within their party, then voters can remove them as candidates in the primary elections. In other words, what big money did to Representative Cynthia McKinney after she voiced suspicions about the Official Story surrounding the events of September 11th. 2001, by removing her in the primary election, big money effectively prevented her from being reelected in the 2002 midterm congressional election. There is absolutely no reason for Americans to take the crap they are taking lying down. The American public has all the instruments in the primary election process and in the general election process to punish the corrupt and quite frankly, there is no more radical act, considering our history, than going into a voting booth and casting your ballot, period. Not even a corrupt supreme court can stop an over whelming majority from over whelming the polls. Just as an example, if your pissed at the democrats for betraying the core value of your vote, vote the peace candidates in the presidential and congressional primaries and cause the party to return to registering the disenfranchised majority that don't vote, based on the issues that will draw them into the voting booth.

The Kick the Bums Out Campaign

If you agree with what I am proposing, that we mobilize vast majorities of Americans to go the polls. To vote in the primary elections in vast majorities and to vote in the general election in vast majorities. Then I ask you to join me and many others to spread the bumper sticker provided with this article throughout the entire U.S.. This bumper sticker can be used as a fund-raiser for your local voter registration drive as well as supporting your local independent media outlet or your favorite peace group. The real size of the bumper sticker is 9 x 2-3/4 inches I have had a professional designer apply his talent to my slogan and a have printed this bumper sticker up in the tens of thousands. They are available at 50¢ apiece and can be sold for a dollar or two. Please e-mail me at dadapop-AT-dadapop.com to place your order. The profits that we raise through your orders of these bumper stickers will be distributed to the alternative media outlets you see listed under alternative media at our website dadapop.com on a needed to stay afloat grant basis. If there are media outlets that are not on our list at our website please make us aware of it and we will contact that media outlet. Thank you and now, let's kick the bums out.