Some people would be depressed by this figure. I see it very positively. Curtis Gans, the director of the study, concluded "People are becoming increasingly disaffected with both parties." Amen.
Our political elites and plutocrats can easily ignore low turnout for primaries. But contemplate how a really low turnout for general elections would be treated. Imagine a presidential election with a national turnout of say 20 or 25 percent. Such low eligible voter turnout would de-legitimize our delusional democracy. So, if you are among the millions of discontent Americans, truly fed up with the corrupt political system and the stranglehold of the two major parties, then the path to what I like to call the Second American Revolution should include de-legitimizing the terrible system we now have.
When does not-voting become a valuable political tactic? When an existing government and political system no longer fairly represents the interests of the vast majority of its citizens.
We cannot vote ourselves out of our current delusional democracy, not until many electoral and other reforms are enacted. We will not produce major change simply through writing and protesting.
That leaves other strategies to be pursued, including de-legitimizing the current corrupt, delusional system and, as I have argued before, converting consumer spending into political power. Similar to withholding our votes, we must also withhold our dollars that also prop up the current corrupt system. Both strategies conform to the powerful strategy of civil disobedience.
In the near term, using consumer spending to force the plutocracy to grant political concessions is the more potent strategy. Then, a series of concessions over time would make voting more effective.
What we need to create, through a network of progressive Internet sites like this one, is an organized movement for discontent people: AMERICAN INSURGENTS FOR DEMOCRACY. AID's main goal would be to inform dissident and disengaged Americans about the key ways they can use individually and collectively to replace the current plutocracy with a genuine representative democracy with strong elements of participatory and direct democracy to ensure that working- and middle-class Americans are served by their taxes and government. I am NOT talking about people formally joining any group or party, but acting in unison to achieve reforms in the public interest. Our current, corrupt delusional democracy now benefits from civic disengagement, fragmented dissent activities, and compulsive consumer borrowing and spending.
Divided, we empower the plutocracy. United, we can deliver a peaceful, disobedient Second American Revolution.
