Ignoring The Enemy

Bloggers and pundits are outraged almost to the point of spluttering incoherence by the latest Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. Some rage that the Supreme Court has destroyed the last vestige of democracy in this nation, others that the “one percent” will do so in the wake of the decision, but I would suggest that these are the wrong targets for blame as democracy dies in America.

Who decrees to American voters that they must vote for whichever candidate purchases the most advertising? There is considerable evidence that voters do, in fact, cast their votes in this manner, but that should be less a condemnation of the candidates and “one percent” than it is of the voters themselves. Voting for whoever spends the most money is a pretty damned stupid way to choose our leadership, so why do we do it?

I know why the politicians and “one percent” do it; it works for them. It gets them what they want. For the underclasses, the people who actually cast the votes, it consistently produces bad leadership, and yet we keep right on voting for whoever spends the most money. Not only that, but we complain about the system which we ourselves are perpetuating with our own votes.

Some call it “magical thinking” to imagine that those who are benefiting from the system, the legislators themselves, will change the system, but I call it stupid thinking. Legislators are making out like bandits; they are not going to cut down the money tree. We have to do that, and instead we keep watering and fertilizing it by voting for whoever spends the most money.

No matter who is spending the most money, elections are still determined by who gets the most votes. All we have to do is vote and not vote for the biggest spender. Problem solved. “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”