The people of this country don’t want’ more of the same, and are rejecting what both parties Republican and Democrat represent. What they want is universal healthcare, quality education for their kids, tuition free college education, jobs, and no deportations and y separation of families, just a decent and dignified life.
PHOTOS: Dianne Ovalle, Facebook, Harvey Finkle, and Puente Human Rights Movement
The idea that voting alone will solve the problems we face as a country is a common one, and now that we face a terrible choice during this electoral season, this “solution” is presented to us as the only way out to a fascist future under the GOP candidate.
There are several problems with only two choices during this electoral year. Not only is there the fact that in every presidential election we face the same dilemma, but also that both parties reflect the economic interests of those that are the real power in this country: corporations.
It’s also the fact that the bad or worse choices we are presented with have drowned any real political movement that has been brewing for some time (and no, it didn’t start with Bernie Sanders, sorry to burst your bubble). For many years now there have been groups that have developed other political strategies that don’t involve the only two given choices: Democrat or Republican.
By telling voters they need to vote for Hillary in order to stop Trump, the real political movement to develop something beyond plain electoral politics is lost.
Giving only two choices to people in this country is patronizing the people, making them believe the “solution” is exclusively an electoral one.
Every electoral season we are told to vote a certain way and that things will be fixed later on. But that is not what happens, is it?
This electoral year has also become a reality TV show that has lasted too long. You tune in every day to see what is new today; what ridiculous and racist things were said today; what new scandal is out there to enjoy. It’s not about real policies that address poverty, economy, police brutality, and criminalization of people of color, or political platforms. It’s the main reality TV show being watched by millions who have something in common: people have been hurt by neoliberalism and globalization, and will allow certain groups to be scapegoated, and media loves it.
But in the meantime, the prospects presented by the GOP candidate — although scary to people with critical thinking skills and who have common sense — have already existed in the country, such as the wall at the border. The question is how much worse the situation will be under a fascist leader, and what kind of retaliation we will face as we continue fighting to end our oppression in the near future.
Under the Democratic candidate, the situation won’t be too different either, except that there is proof that as a nation we will be faced with more wars and more corporate control than we have now, very similar to a GOP presidency.
We are now challenged with the possibility of allowing for new ways to build political power that should include refusing the status quo of two political parties and only two political choices. If some people believe they should vote for someone other than those two and create a new alternative while either one of the two main parties wins, we should not stop them from doing so, and if there are others that believe voting doesn’t make any difference we should hear them out and understand their reasons.
But most importantly we should help build a brand new system of power where we are not given only the bad or the worse as the only choices. Following the leadership of those who have already taken on the status quo, we can change the system from the bottom up, creating real alliances with groups which are facing the economic system as the main oppressor, and supporting the alternatives to the two-party system is one way to get there.
It’s not a quick solution and it doesn’t rely on one individual. It will take time and we will make mistakes on the way there; but it is the most certain and the truest way toward changing the status quo.
