Here I am on one of the gloomiest January Connecticut days we’ve seen in a while and it matches my mood. The catalyst for this mood change came from reading Ned Lamont’s endorsement of Barack Obama, not simply because I am an Edwards supporter, but because this endorsement made me realize that our government is beyond repair.
Step back in time to 2006. The excitement that gathered around Lamont’s candidacy was stunning. We finally had an answer to a lobbyist’s dream politician who loved the Iraq occupation as well as dollars from the big pharmas, not to mention so many other regressive causes. Many Nutmeggers had “had enough” of Joe, to the point where Lamont actually won the primary and lost to Lieberman in the general election, when the power brokers rushed to his aid. My husband and I worked our hearts out for Ned, met his wife and children and walked in our Labor Day town parade with them. I couldn’t have been more hopeful that there were big changes looming. The “Kiss Float” was everywhere and it underscored the basic unsavory liaisons that had formed within the Washington elite, Bush and Lieberman in a liplock.
What was the driving force behind Ned’s run? It was the harnessing of the anger over the Iraq mess. That is what drew me in. But now we are confronted with so much more than the occupation that undermines us. That is why Edwards’ message rings true to me. He “gets” the insidious and malicious nature of the corporations and the fact that we are at their mercy, day in day out, whether it concerns banking, military, security, healthcare, or energy policy. You name it; they are running it all.
So when I read Ned’s endorsement of Obama I was stunned. But I guess I can no longer say I’m surprised. Let’s face it; we do live in a country run by the elites, “the haves”, if you will. And many times I feel it is lip service that is paid to the little guy. And this endorsement just made me realize my voice will probably not be heard in this election either.
I don’t know about any of you, but I’ve compared my beliefs to all the candidates’ voting records and, if I’m honest about it, I am aligned more with Dennis Kucinich or even Mike Gravel than any one other candidate. Here’s one site where you can see how your own political and social preferences match up against all the candidates. Surprisingly for me, Edwards doesn’t match up as well as I'd hoped. But he does connect with me deeply when he speaks of a “rigged” system, one gamed against the common folk.
It then begs the question “Who and what are we really voting for?” This is an insiders’ game and it’s played by the most clever, moneyed aristocrats, some portraying themselves as the “peoples’” candidates. Some are blatantly in the pocket of the elite. Some go a little to the left, some to the right, but none can possibly change the underlying corruption and decay that permeates this so-called democracy.
For those who have been hibernating or getting so frothy about the primary season you may have missed the biggest story of them all, you need to revisit the Sibel Edmonds revelations that Lukery writes so passionately about. How can anyone possibly think that big changes are coming our way?. The men and women who have been so entrenched and “working on the dark side” (as Cheney shamelessly talks about) are the real power players, the money changers, the policy makers.
We fool ourselves to think that any one figure head in the White House will miraculously change the way things work. Nevertheless I will vote in the February primary here and then in the general election, but I will do it with a heavy heart. Ned Lamont was my wake-up call; he inadvertently made me realize that the PEOPLE really no longer have real choices. When a man such as Lamont breaks for the candidate who kind of, sort of, wants to get out of Iraq and kind of, sort of, wants universal healthcare, the game is up for me. I sadly realize that things will go on as they have. Sure, we may get fewer crazy court appointees and maybe Jack Abramoff and Karl Rove won’t be hanging around the White House any more. But I cannot envision huge change in foreign or domestic policy. I hope I am proven wrong, but I am convinced that this country is permanently broken. And Ned Lamont’s endorsement of Obama was the light bulb moment for me.
So now I am finished donating to candidates, I am finished canvassing, I will not participate in local politics any more. I am giving up. Thanks, Ned, for reminding me how rigged a system we have, without true representation for the people. What I will do is focus on the things I do have control over. I will enjoy my family, my garden, my friends, my books, and traveling. I won’t waste any more time dwelling on what a great country this might have been because I believe we are way past that point.
In the words of Arundhati Roy, as she writes of the United States:
In any case, New Imperialism is already upon us. It's a remodeled, streamlined version of what we once knew. For the first time in history, a single Empire with an arsenal of weapons that could obliterate the world in an afternoon has complete, unipolar, economic and military hegemony. It uses different weapons to break open different markets. There isn't a country on God's earth that is not caught in the cross hairs of the American cruise missile and the IMF chequebook. Argentina's the model if you want to be the poster-boy of neoliberal capitalism, Iraq if you're the black sheep.
Enjoy your primaries, folks. For what they are worth.