I just found out that Edwards is dropping out of the presidential race. This right after Kucinich – by far the best progressive candidate and the only politician i know with the balls to risk his career to do what’s right – dropped out due to a fierce re-election campaign.
I’m heartbroken and I blame the primary system. Here’s why:
- Having primaries on different days in different states gives more weight to those states that come first. Super Tuesday hasn’t happen yet. Four states – count them four – have voted. (Well technically 6 states have voted but since the democratic party has used its corrupted weight to disenfranchise Michigan and Floridian democrats and not count their votes, I won’t either). Only 8% of the country has weighed in on primary candidates and already 4 candidates (Kucinich, Edwards, Dodd, andBiden) have dropped – one of them (Edwards) even had a real shot. Moreover, none of the states that have voted are states significant enough to swing an election. Plus I don’t want Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina to make voting decisions for me. Do you?
- Caucus’s are bullshit. The caucus system (used in Iowa and I think Nevada), just like th electoral college, are fucking us time and time again. They are complex and time-consuming – we can’t even get people to come out and pull a lever, let alone show up at a specific time to play musical chairs. Moreover, it gives a skewed perception of people’s votes. If my candidate doesn’t get enough people standing in the corner, then I have to more all my voting power to another candidate that I don’t want. It makes it an all or nothing race and convinces people that a) certain policies are more popular than they are and b) that they can never vote for a long shot candidate because they’ll have to pick the mainstream choice anyway. I do understand the motivation behind caucusing – it gives some semblance of a second choice. However, there are better options out there – like Instant Run-Off which allows you to rank candidates giving the politicians and the media and you a better picture of what Americans really want.
- The god damn media. Something needs to be done about the FCC and it’s total unresponsiveness to the American people. (Don’t believe me? The FCC recently ruled to open up media companies to even more conglomeration despite holding hearings across the country in which citizens overwhelmingly said NO to this proposal.) The media has talked about 2, maybe 3, democratic candidates – Clinton, Obama, and somtimes Edwards. And what do they talk about? Clinton’s tear; whether race or gender will cause one or the other to win. It’s ridiculous. Maybe, for once, CNN could mention some of their policies?
- Debates not being debates. This plays into the above topic. Kucinich – despite meeting their set criteria – was not allowed in multiple televised debates. Remember when we had fair access laws? Think we still do? Thanks to Reagan the media can favor a single candidate – even in a debate – for no reason what so ever. The American public – we included – tends to think that debates are run by the government or some non-partisan organization. Not so. Debates are run by the Democratic party and the Republican party period. So what you might say? So this means that they are not going to include third parties or even their own candidates if they seek to create change.
Ahh. I’m so fucking pissed about this. Now who am I going to vote for? Mrs. Corporate interests or Mr. I talk the talk but never show up for Senate votes?