The Illusion of Choice

It is fundamentally impossible to have my voice heard in mainstream American politics.

When I vote, I have the freedom to express myself in one of two prepackaged ways, neither of which will materially improve my life or the lives of my friends.

When I vote, I have the freedom to throw my already worthless vote away for a third party candidate, whose candidacy is doomed, through policy, from the start and exists as a symbolic concession.

When I vote, I have the freedom to choose any candidate I believe in, so long as that candidate has already been allowed to break into the mainstream by the party establishment.

When I vote, I have the freedom to express my frustration with whatever bogeyman my party has told me it’s ok to be frustrated with. I may not express my frustration with the system itself – this is “unproductive” and “anarchic” behavior.

When I vote, I have the freedom to make my needs known, so long as meeting those needs would not meaningfully harm the capitalist class.

When I vote, I have the freedom to choose between an unapologetic capitalist death squad and an apologetic capitalist death squad.

How can we expect progress when our leaders have rigged the system, when all they need to do to succeed is look better than their opponents, who they have ensured through policy are the only other option?

How can we expect to be heard when our leaders have poisoned discourse itself, told us that expecting better is too radical, told us that the system they built to keep themselves fat is the only option, forced us to believe that both sides have merit when neither is worth shit?

Don’t tell me the system works. It was built on dysfunction. I still hope for a world where “get out and vote” means anything. But it doesn’t. When we have burned the two-party system into ash and forcibly expelled every sitting member of the federal government from office, we may start to see progress. Until then, we should not and cannot expect any political figure to give a damn about us.

– Telekenomen