This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Russia Today (RT) called the evening "tepid." Arguments and accusations heard before were repeated. Same old, same old doesn't wash.
Domestic issues were stressed. Slogans and one-liners substituted for solutions. "(M)any Americans may well be confused as to what exactly the differences are between the two candidates."
They're in lockstep on issues mattering most. Overall, barely a dime's worth of difference separates them. Duopoly power allows little wiggle room. What it says goes.
Alternative parties are excluded. RT quoted Ralph Nader telling Time magazine:
America's "duopoly has every conceivable way to exclude and depress and harass a third party. Whether it's ballot access. Whether it's harassing petitioners on the street. Whether it's excluding them from debates. Whether it's not polling them.""And with a two-party, winner-take-all electoral system, it's easy to enforce all those. Unlike multi-party Western countries where you have proportional representation, the voters (in America) know that if you get 10 per cent of the vote, you don't get anything. Whereas in Germany, you get 10 per cent of the parliament."
So voters say, "Let's just vote for the least worst." Half the electorate disses both sides and opts out.
Historian Gerald Horne told RT US voters lack alternatives. Party platforms and debates "exclude the critiques of the present dilemmas and problems that (American) people face, for example rising poverty, rising unemployment et cetera."
Whether in office, campaigning or debating, rhetoric substitutes for commitment. The best from Obama was saying vote for me and I'll try harder.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
