Why I never have and never will vote Democratic

I’m less-than-enthusiastic to see many of the young “radicals” (like DSA members, for example) saying, “Well, there have been good Democrats to vote for and good currents within the Democratic Party to encourage.”

I guess the orientation to the Democratic Party has always been a valid debate on the left, but one position in the debate seemed clear to many of us in the sixties: The current state of things is attributable to both the Republicans and the Democrats.

So: If you think the current state of things is intolerable and unacceptable, if you agree that we live in the “belly of the beast,” then I can’t fathom any support for candidates of the Democratic Party or the countenance of delusions about the role of that party.

There are many, many issues, but here’s a list of what I consider to be intolerable and unacceptable:

* an obscene, perpetual degree of plutocracy (disparities of income and wealth)

* the influence of private wealth and corporate power in politics

* the interminable, generation-after-generation festering of marginal existence (disorder, destitution, pathology) of the ghetto populations of the inner cities

* malaise and anomie in the languishing “fly-over” zones outside of the cosmopolitan centers

* devitalization of local community life

* corporate welfare

* egregious military expenditures

* the rigid duopolistic electoral system (the US is the only “First World democracy” with just two serious choices)

* geopolitical domination; imperial plunder, interference, exploitation, bullying

* armaments production, global dissemination of armaments

* the state of the environment; habitat destruction, ecologically irresponsible development practices, resource depletion, unregulated pollution (resulting in critical ecological imbalances)

On the basis of the above, the “current state of things” ought be unacceptable. For well over a century the Democratic Party has been in power about half the time. The state of things is attributable to both the Dems and the Reps. There is a huge overall Problem and they are both part of the problem. The Democratic Party is not and is unlikely to ever be part of the solution. For that reason I never have and never will give a vote of any kind to that party.

I support the Green Party. If there is no GP candidate running in a particular race I’ll sometimes vote for another independent candidate. At least it sends a message that some of us voters want choices beyond the dominant, problematic two parties.