Opening lament: I’m going to make a prediction here: Illinois will fail to have turned its GOP primary into the history-making rout it could have been. Here’s an example of what I have in mind:
News Flash: As a result of Democratic Party cross-over voting allied with substantial independent voter support, it’s Rick Santorum in a landslide:
45% for Rick Santorum
30% for Mitt Romney
20% for Newt Gingrich
5% for Ron Paul
Suppose these numbers would come to pass. Of course, Rick Santorum couldn’t claim much of a victory with a turnout so heavily influenced by outsiders. If the turnout were to be far greater-than-expected, you can be sure Romney would cry “foul.” Such a result could delegitimize Santorum’s campaign, since he’d be seen as the candidate favored by the Democrats (therefore, the weakest candidate) to run against Obama in November.
Can you say, “Anarchy?”
The beginning of the revolution
If rank-and-file Democrats as well as liberal independents in Illinois were to give us the results above, we could truly claim this as the beginning of the revolution. More precisely? The beginning of the effective revolution. This would far outshine any efforts by the Occupy movements, for the systemic impact would be huge. For those of us who rail against the evils of the Two Party System, being able to undermine and embarrass one of those parties would be very satisfying indeed.
There are people who would question the wisdom of promoting Rick Santorum’s candidacy. Suppose he were to go on to win the GOP nomination and (worse) go on to beat Barack Obama. If liberal reformers are so afraid of that possibility (remote as it most surely is), they lack the courage to take any kind of chance at all. If they can’t muster even the small degree of courage to take this chance, they don’t deserve the label of reformer.
Building consciousness by showing (for instance) how we can strike against the GOP is necessary to any chance we’d have of succeeding. And dissatisfied voters all over the country would be galvanized by such an obvious attempt to sink Romney’s candidacy. Malcontents and the protest-minded would finally realize, “We can make a difference without having to take to the streets. Yes we can!”
Those who would sabotage the revolution
I’m a life-long resident of Chicago who has read the Chicago Reader for decades. This liberal, alternative magazine occasionally points out the flaws and outrages of the local power structure. So it was with particular interest that I read the latest issue – the last one before votes are to be cast on March 20. And sure enough, on page 6 there was an article entitled, “What’s really going on in the primary elections.”
I was hoping to read some encouragement that non-GOP voters should undermine the GOP primary as I described above. The fourth and fifth sentences, in the article by Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, initially raised my soon-to-be dashed hopes: “Aside from the Republican presidential candidates fighting to return us to 1955, no other high-profile races are on the ballot – no U.S. senator, no governor, no attorney general. Incumbent state’s attorney Anita Alvarez is running for reelection, but she’s unopposed…”
But then, the article flat-lines. Instead of launching into why voters frustrated by the antics of our oppressors should seriously gut the GOP primary, Dumke and Joravsky proceed to get very boring – intentionally so, I believe. I will demonstrate that level of boredom with a few quotes at the end of this article; since were I to quote them now, you would be so bored you’d stop reading my post. But for now I’ll say, “With friends like these authors, who needs enemies?”
Dumke and Joravsky could have rallied the long-oppressed and anxious among us. They could have blasted the trumpet of “Let’s embarrass the hell out of the GOP.” And, while they were at it, they could have urged us to vote against all incumbents in the general election itself. I will digress here with a quote from my Jan. 6, 2012 blog post: “The only viable U.S. reform strategy.”
QUOTE: There is really only one way to force political reform in the United States: Deny job security to all incumbent officeholders. Translation? Next time you cast your ballot, vote against all incumbents, even those you think are good candidates. :UNQUOTE: http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2012/01/only-viable-us-reform-strategy.html
So why did these two veteran political writers opt for a safe, uncontroversial, and boring essay? Perhaps encouraging cross-over voting runs counter to some kind of unspoken “gentleman’s agreement” among journalists. You know, the kind that prevented them from asking candidate Barack Obama any tough questions during the last campaign. Such a “gentleman’s agreement” would surely include this sentiment: “It’s okay to criticize the power structure but you can’t promote ways to undermine it.” Some old-school journalists would actually accuse me of fomenting anarchy. My response to that is: “We’re already in a state of anarchy, which is exactly where our orderly and oppressive system is leading us, slowly and surely.”
As a side note, I observe that Ben Joravsky has written extensively on the abuses of the TIF system here in Chicago. I suppose some people are grateful he’s explained the intricacies of Tax Increment Financing as manifested locally. However, I’m more keen to know why he chose to write about something that absolutely nobody can do anything about. Joravsky could have done a far greater service by leading a truly effective reformer’s charge. But…he chose not to do that, and I think it’s pretty obvious why.
The boring quotes I promised above:
QUOTE [with my comments in brackets - Steve]:
· It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the chance to vote for the next Cook County court clerk.
· So really this election is an opportunity for the area’s most powerful politicians – the big boys and girls – to see who has the longest, um, tentacles. [The next sentence mentions Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County board president Toni Preckwinkle. Can you feel the tingle of excitement building up?]
· Don’t laugh – there have been times when judicial candidates legally changed their names to get an edge from sounding Irish. [This comes as no surprise to Chicago residents.]
· The proxy wars extend out of Chicago and even Cook County… [Dumke/Joravsky then proceed to focus on minutiae of interest only to those who care about the fortunes of the local Democratic Party machine.]
· …Mayor Emanuel, who coincidentally has teamed up with Joe Berrios [not surprised you, outside of Illinois, haven’t heard of him] to make his own endorsement in races ranging from water reclamation district to judicial seats across the county.
Well, I’ll stop there since I’m sure you get the idea.
To me, this much is obvious: You’re not going to get any kind of call to action from “journalists” employed by mainstream media. That media is supported by advertising, which is bought by corporations, which generally tend to support the status quo. The true irony here? Those who support that status quo will go down as surely as the rest of us. Our failure to evolve will doom us to bad legislation from third-rate politicians.
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Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“It’s high time for us to commit to a wholesale abandonment of journalism as it’s currently practiced in America.”
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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