Liberal mind is in a political rut
2022 is the year of midterms in the US. All of those with a smartphone and a twitter account, are going to provide their multiple dollars of opinions via their ‘2 cents’ in every news related to it. I am just ahead of the rest. Every midterm election is ‘the most important’ of our lifetime. No ‘run of the mill’ midterm or presidential election has ever existed. Along with those, another constant that has always remained is the duopoly of political parties in the US. No third party has ever made any dent in the US political system. The well-known barriers that exist for any other party to survive, is a topic for another day. The topic for today’s rant is the collective incompetence of liberal minds to imagine a political world other than ‘the 2 party’ system.
What do we see and hear?
Problems faced by US citizenry are out in the open. Covid crisis, low wage, homelessness, Systematic Racism, Overbudgeted military, abortion rights, hunger, infrastructure, climate change etc. The list goes on and on. And I accept we had Trump before this administration. But if I use my keypad to write anything critical of this government from the left and hit enter to post it on the world of internet, within a few moments there is retort of ‘let’s get republicans elected then’ or ‘What should we do then, get trump elected?’ or ‘you Bernie bros don’t understand how politics works’ or a gotcha question, ‘Please tell me, what is the alternative?’
If I move further left and talk about #theSquad’s incompetence to get anything tangible done from the time they have been in the office and not keeping any of the promises they ran and won on, that’s also No-No territory. You are dismissed as either a sexist moron or an impractical idiot.
You will get lip service of ‘you can be critical of Democrats but why do you ALWAYS have to be so critical of them. This only helps republicans.’
Unless you are using your fast fingers to write something scathing about the ‘other’ side, you are to be smeared, ignored or debated and forgotten about
How do we miss it?
The machinery behind all these perceptions is US mainstream media. Media, busy painting everything either red or blue and anything radical as unicorns. Even though the perceived partisan commentary on news channels does help to keep the farce going, their message limits itself by their corporate interest. It is in interest of the media channels to keep the status quo going. Most of the news anchors, journalists and pundits have benefited financially and, in their careers, with regular access to party politicians, secret inner sources, scoops etc. They promote this black and white view of either republicans or democrats with no other option being feasible enough to talk about. Anyone going away from this view is either punished or removed. You don’t expect any news anchor to openly endorse a third party. You won’t see a news channel taking an anti-war stance or pro universal healthcare position because of the massive ad money coming from the military industrial complex and healthcare industry. If they do talk about third party, war or healthcare, you will see them pushing doubts about these arguments. Same with climate change and many other issues. No radical changes please!
Exclusive consumption of this news and political commentary would never let you realize that many issues are devoid of red or blue categories. Both parties are filled with people tied to corporate interest and they are hungry only for power. Not even a single policy implemented in the last 3 decades has been the result of public pressure. US liberal personnel in mainstream media are ok with incremental change given that they are either not affected or benefit from the status quo.
I am generally not affected by who is in power. I am not feeling the heat of policy changes directly. If people in the same situation as mine don’t go out of their own bubble and try to hear from news sources other than mainstream, they are most likely to perceive that everything around them will be fine only if a particular party is in power or if we get more minority representation in government. Let’s get the good guys in the government first, then democracy will work as it is supposed to and problems will be solved through incremental changes because increments will be defined by the good guys.
Why is it problematic?
Popular perception of reality, when different from actuality, makes you incapable of pinpointing the correct reasons behind bad outcomes. Majority of liberal pundits are still trying to fully grasp the reasons behind the Trump win. They have blamed Bernie Bros, Sexism, Racism, Susan Sarandon, Jill stein etc. They still don’t realize how bad things were before that. While they seem to accept the disappointment of the Obama administration, it is still difficult for them to grasp that someone who has previously voted for Obama, might choose to vote for someone else or stay at home. Illusion of hope dies along with the death of dignity and material comfort. The wealth gap is increasing day by day, all government institutions are still systemically racist, Wages are low compared to the sixties, Covid has disproportionately affected the poor class, Bankers get bailed out while workers are getting evicted. Wealthy manage to get away from their crimes and the poor are put away for the littlest of things. Why should one carry hope? 50% of the eligible population of this country doesn’t come out to vote. What is the motivation they should have? Their lives have not changed, rather, have gone worse.
Those who can still afford the dignity and comfort still carry that hope, come out to vote and they get angry. Angry at everyone else but the 2-party system. System that has facilitated the largest upward movement of wealth and power towards the very rich while the common people have suffered a great deal. Liberals still can’t seem to accept the possibility that, maybe the system is not working for most of the people. Symbolic acts of representation, while very important, might not be the ‘top of the drawer’ issue for someone who is struggling to put food on the table and roof on their head. They might retaliate or not show up for you if they are disappointed. The inevitable acceptance of the current system seems to be the only legitimate path forward for liberals. But it is a problem for everyone who is not insulated from the effects of policy changes. Those who do bear the first brunt every time. Those who can’t wait for the incremental change. Those who are getting evicted right now. Those who must look for additional hustle to compensate for the inflation and ever-increasing rents right now. Those who are working but still live in their cars because wages are too low right now. Those who can’t take a day off even if they are not feeling good or got bankrupt paying medical bills or those who piss in the bottle because they can’t leave their workstation for a bathroom break. Those who lost their homes, livelihood in ever increasing frequency of floods and drought. Those who got buried in student loan debt and after paying it regularly for several years still don’t see their debt going down. All of those who were living these experiences, voted for the correct candidate and didn’t see their lives changed for better, even till now.
Instead of understanding the urgency and the nuances, we chose to push the blame on common people. Shame people because they didn’t vote the way we want them to. Asked politicians questions. Asked for accountability. Criticized and cursed politicians or simply chose, not to take part in this democracy and feel backstabbed again.
It is par for the course. It is always easy to show your anger at someone less powerful than you.
Is there a world outside the 2 party system?
There is an opportunity available outside the 2 party system, but it is a difficult road. There are many local parties and independent candidates trying to make their way into the system. Political power grab is just one of the avenues to take. Mutual aid movements, General strike, Unionization movement, Marches for universal health care and many other efforts outside of the electoral process are going on. All these movements need publicity. They need financial and volunteer support. They need mentions and retweets. They need to be part of news cycles. People need to know that they exist and are effective. Recent success with Starbucks and Amazon unionization, March for Medicare for All rallies in more than 50 cities etc. have shown that there is an alternative to just sticking to the current status quo and hoping for some returns
These movements won’t show up in the mainstream media. It is just not worth their time and left leaning online media houses are busy bickering with each other. But, we need these alternatives and liberal class should try to know about them, support them and believe in them. Become partners of the movement. Not to dismiss but believe in people who are trying these options. Don’t look at them as enemies but as allies who are trying something different because whatever is happening right now, has certainly not served them well nor do they have time to wait for things to change slowly.
