I
stopped believing this myth many years ago. All the objective evidence
I saw over fifty years of paying intense attention both as a citizen
and someone who worked within the political system showed me that
American democracy had steadily declined in quality, integrity and
effectiveness. And now in this 2016 presidential race you have powerful
and painful evidence that we are saddled with a delusional
democracy. Thank Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for opening your mind
and eyes to reveal this revolting truth.
Delusional
democracy refers to delusional Americans. So this year the key
question for you to consider is whether you still choose to keep falsely
believing that American democracy is worth being proud of. I just
cannot see how Americans can accept these two major party presidential
candidates as reflecting a first rate democracy. They are, in fact, a
major embarrassment that should make every American, regardless of their
political party loyalty or previous political beliefs, cringe at the
ugly reality that these two presidential candidates are worthy of any
respect, loyalty or votes.
How
could it come to this? Two world class liars. Two of the most widely
known untrusted and untrustable unpopular politicians ever produced here
or anywhere. Two sick narcissists in it for themselves, not the
country.
The
US political system produced this reality. A two-party duopoly serving
the rich and powerful, corporate contributors and many special
interests, but not the ordinary, general public is what we have had for a
long time. What gave this nation awful economic inequality,
destruction of good paying middle class jobs in manufacturing, and
horrendous national debt also gave us these two losers. Can you settle
into voting for the lesser of two evils, when each of the two evils
makes you gag? Evil does not accurately describe these two
options. Choose the lesser of two embarrassments, of two calamities, of
two democracy destroyers.
Consider this way of thinking about this ugly reality. Once a
democracy has become delusional playing the game of being responsible
citizen and voting no longer makes sense. It is more like joining a
criminal conspiracy to maintain the illusion that we have a legitimate
democracy. Voting no longer is the path to have a revolution to restore
American democracy. That is exactly where we have arrived. When most
Americans have little respect and trust for Congress or just about every
other institution and most believe we are on the wrong track, then how
can you still cling to the belief that voting is what you can and should
do? When it comes to Trump and Hillary how can you still keep deluding
yourself that you live in a legitimate democracy worth voting in?An important 2014 academic study of a huge number of policy actions found that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. In other words, voting by citizens does not shape our nation. We do not have an authentic democracy. We have more of an oligarchy that is controlled by rich and powerful elites. Voting is a distraction, something to make you feel good and responsible. Of course, sometimes it looks like the general public gets what it wants. Yet “they fairly often get the policies they favor … only because those policies happen also to be preferred by the economically-elite citizens who wield the actual influence.” The big conclusion: “if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America ’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.” This fits my model perfectly: we have a delusional democracy.
Here is what I think is the correct action this year. Boycott the presidential election. Do not vote for anyone for president. What does this accomplish? It would create incredible historic data on very low voter turnout for the presidential election. It would send a clear message to both major parties, the political establishment, the media, and the whole world that Americans have recognized the truth about our delusional democracy. This could spark true political revolution for the next presidential election. You ask, depending on what you now believe, but how can I live with that awful Trump or that awful Hillary getting elected president? So be it. It is more important to create conditions for major, true political reforms than to worry about an awful person in the White House. We need a good long game. Worry less about how a president may harm our nation and more about the critical need to recognize and fix our delusional democracy by taking back the power that the power elites have had for a long time.
There is a wonderful graph on Wikipedia showing US presidential election turnout over history. From about 1840 to 1900 it was varying around 75 percent to 80 percent. Then it declined steadily until about 1920, and from then to recent times it varied from around 50 percent to 60 percent. My main point is that you need some imagination and think about the many impacts of reducing turnout to say 30 percent. The whole world would interpret that as the rejection by Americans of their political system. It would be an incredible historic shock having the potential to remove the legitimacy and credibility of the current two-party duopoly. Our corrupt, delusional democracy would have received a bullet. Demand for truly reforming and fixing our political system would take on energy. Remember, the historic data showed this sharp decline in turnout happening once before. It can happen again, with your help. Boycott this presidential election.
Fixing our democracy is far more important than your vote this year. Yes, you may feel bad that the candidate you most hated won your state and maybe the Electoral College, or that you did not show support for a third party candidate. But you can and should feel good that you have non-voted against the status quo, broken political system. Feel great that you want to fix our delusional democracy.
In
so many other democracies the public create massive street protests and
many times this kind of action produces political and government
reforms. It has become clear that the street protest strategy has not
and will not happen on a large enough scale to produce deep reforms in
the US . Nor has forming new reform-oriented organizations done the
job. It is far easier and more convenient for the vast majority of
Americans to see the light and boycott this presidential election.
Vote
for whatever else on your ballot is important to you. But boycott the
presidential election. That non-vote is truly a message-vote and
driving force for major political reforms. If you continue to believe
that ordinary participation in elections will fix our nation, then you
have not faced history and reality. You remain delusional.
Better to choose to make American democracy great again by standing up to a corrupt system.
Joel S. Hirschhorn
was a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology
Assessment and the National Governors Association, and a full professor
at the University of Wisconsin , Madison . His most recent book is
Delusional Democracy – Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the
Government. Contact him through http://articlev.wix.com/statusquobuster.]
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Joel S. Hirschhorn, Global Research, 2016
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