Fess Up, You’re Part of the Problem

America is a democracy – perhaps a little less democratic these days – but a democracy nonetheless. Many people complain about the government without seeing the irony that, in democracies, the government is us.

One of the few things most people can agree on is that it’s broken. However, it’s nobody’s fault but our own. To crib a paraphrased quote from St. Ronnie of Reagan, “Government isn’t the problem, WE are the problem.”

Relative to the rest of the world’s democracies, the US has an abysmal voting record. In a normal election, far less than half the eligible people vote. Normally, I’m a strong advocate of the First Amendment, but on a personal level I’d like to tell these people:

STFU! You jugheads forfeited your right to complain when you refused to do anything to fix the problems in YOUR government. YOU are part of the reason it is what it is.

Most people are on a continuous carp about broken government, special interest groups, and the general difficulty in effecting government change – but they need a reality check. The next time a bank serves its interest before your own, look in the mirror. The next time you’re at a tea party and drink Cigna-brand Kool-Aid, yours is the mug in the mirror. The next time a son, or daughter, cousin, or neighbor is killed in a war – possibly even by taking a shower in a room wired by a half-assed war profiteer who is probably still building new showers of the same quality - you’re the one preening with a self-satisfied mug.

At its best, sustaining democracy is ugly, dirty, hard work. In the modern era, we’ve made it all the more difficult by conducting it using the principles of capitalism – the person with the most money wins the argument.

This may come as a shock to many, but capitalism isn’t a form of government, it’s a form of economic theory. Democracies can only survive when voters are smarter than the people with the money, critically examine the issues, and determine where their best interests are. And, you don’t get smart by not thinking.

Voting via ideology is the poorest way to make electoral decisions. All issues have multiple sides and if you completely trust a single source for all your information – whether it be Fox News, MSNBC, or special interest shill – you’re going to vote against your best interests almost every time. Each time you do this, you hand more power to people and organizations that will serve their interests over your own. Each commercial you uncritically watch nodding your head at a 30-second sound bite that claims it will correct a century-old problem, you’ve taken the bait hook, line, and stinker (pun intended).

Fixing a broken democracy is an astonishingly easy thing to do – in theory anyway. You question everything you’re told and determine where your best interests lay, not where a lobbyist tells you they are. Every time you cast an uniformed vote against your interests, you’re not only letting yourself down, but also letting your country down. Each time you’re casting wasted votes, you’re handing more power to the money masters. Keep it up, and one day you’ll wake up to find yourself not living in a democracy, but in a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup or a compulsory member of the local PETA chapter.

But remember this – an informed, educated electorate trumps money every time. Money doesn’t vote. People do.

Cross posted at The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!