The flaws of the American political process. Have you become ignorant too?

What good is a brand new car filled with diluted fuel? Or a sailboat powered only by a slight breeze? Or a political process with ignorant voters? None will work as good as they could...

First of all, I choose to be an independent. I base my political views on the principles of our constitution and on policies which I feel like will better our nation as a whole. Where does this put me? It puts me against many many other Americans who could care less about our constitution and national policies than hearing about McCain's wife stealing cookies.

But before you think I am an arrogant namecaller, or part of some political agenda myself, let me explain why I feel like our voting process and populace in the U.S. is plainly broken:

Issue #1:

The ignorance and lack of interest of the American voter in the political process.

I am not by any means disregarding the people who do know why they are voting and who are not ignorant when it comes to politics, but nonetheless I feel like that group of people is very small compared to the amount of people who are ignorant. Keep in mind that being ignorant in a certain area does not by any means infer that you are not intelligent; it simply means that you are uninformed.

A true democratic political process ideally would require the involvement of every citizen in the nation, but even if every citizen actually did become involved, the fact that they would be generally uninformed about current issues and policies results in their vote being swayed through propaganda or biased media outlets rather than real facts.

Some of the same people who are heated up and claiming that they think a certain candidate is going to "ruin the country" are the same people that, if asked, would not even know what the Patriot Act is. This is because the majority of the American public is only shown the surface of the political machine where propaganda, smears, and general personality wars trump the real issues. Even worse, many people are so uninterested and detached from politics that they end up voting based soley on a single rumor they have heard through a friend.



Issue #2

"Money in politics"

Money talks, as they say. But how much of a role should it truly play in politics? Suprisingly, I think it should play a large role, but not in the sense that most people do. The problem with money in politics is not how much the candidates make, it is from where it comes from and it what amounts. Lets give the candidate Ron Paul and Barack Obama as an example.

Ron Paul was able to raise $6 million dollars in one day through small donations of less than or equal to $100, and $8 million in his last primary quarter through donations of less than $300.

www.cnn.com...

Barack Obama has been raising around $1 million a day through small online contributions in 2008 which bolstered his finances well past that of Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

www.opensecrets.org...

Why is this important? Well because many candidates are unable to raise money by small private individual donations. When a candidate can raise millions of dollars by many many Americans contributing very small amounts, it shows that they have the broad support of many types of people who are able to send in what they can, rather than a few elite who tend to be the main financers. In the case of the the Bush election, the average Bush campaign contribution was over $2000. This alone is a sign that his administration favored the wealthy citizen over the middle and lower class which to me seems not in the interest of all Americans.

CONTINUED....

Issue #3

The Media

Many will agree that the major media outlets are most people's way to view our current political process in motion. The problem with this is that most are very biased and tend to run "commentary" rather than report actual things that happen and real issues. I hate to single out one network, but Fox News is probably the worst case in running republican propaganda. Rupert Murdoch does not hide is republican zest and it is shown all throughout the network and trickles into almost every news show.

If you are unfamiliar with this process, please watch the documentary called "Outfoxed", which is located here: www.outfoxed.org...

Typical tactics include bringing opposing party supporters as guests who are timid, uniformed, and easily intimidated and bashed by hosts such as O'Reilly. Another big tactic is to only cover certain issue which pertain to a certain party's benefit or may smear another's.

For us who can see through this non-sense, we are lucky. Many many people do not and are easily swayed by people like O'Reilly's "tough lovin American" attitude, when in fact he is nothing more than a republican propaganda specialist.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the important things about a candidate, such as their views and policies, we hear about something completely non-relevant to a candidates ability to run our country, and with distorted facts and twisted views taken out of context to create a controversial issue for ratings.


Issue #4

Smears, bandwagons, and vengeful voters.

As I was surfing some of the political tickers out there I came across so many comments of supposed "Hillary supporters backing McCain" that it was disgusting. This is just plain outrageous to me and I can't believe people would be so spiteful as to change their partisan views over a in-party candidate war. For someone backing Hillary to support McCain, it just shows that the important things in politics don't matter to them. It shows that they are confusing their politics with personal issues. McCain couldn't be farther from Hillary.

Smear campaigning is just outright ridiculous. We all have dirty laundry. I've heard it all before, from McCain calling his wife a c***, to Barack Obama is a Muslim that wants to declare Sharia law. It's all ridiculous and makes both parties look bad. A recent one by the media was that Barack Obama is an "elitist" somehow. I think it's hilarious because nothing could be farther from the truth, but people really do believe it! Many people believe every word that comes from these "commentary" and "propaganda" specialists and it's really sad. If they hear one smear that they believe, that may be where they cut off their ears and decide to vote for the other candidate. It flaws both sides and is a contributing factor to the broken system.

Bandwagon voting is another pet peeve of mine, and I think it goes to show you that people really don't want to take the time to learn about the candidates. They take a look at their social circle, their peers, and somehow determine through observation of minor support on who they are going to vote for. Maybe it's your parents who you vote for, maybe it's your friends. The funny thing is that party lines try to promote a certain image, and these images may or may not be attractive to prospective voters. For instance, if you want to vote "Green", vote democratic. If you want to be rich, vote republican, etc. etc. These bandwagon ideas have become the bottom of the root of many people's flawed voting.