This isn’t a revelation, of course. Look at the top of the top-tier candidates, Hillary Clinton. I know it’s fashionable to pick on her, but if she doesn’t exemplify equivocation for political gain, then no one does. And just as Republican candidates have their own dirty little secrets – Romney is a real flip-flopper and Giuliani isn’t the Sept. 11 hero he’s made out to be, Clinton has a few boxes in her closet that she seems to want to keep closed. For example: she served on the board of Wal-Mart and enjoys many corporate ties, which is big fat black mark on her resume insofar as the “liberal” grassroots are concerned. If Republican mollycoddling of companies screwing the American people over isn’t bad enough, how bad is it for a member of the so-called “pro-labor” party?

The really interesting, if mystifying, thing about the Democrats is that unlike the GOP, who actively pander to a base that includes right-wing Christian theocrats, Democrats seem intent on avoiding their base, if not outright antagonizing them. For an example of the latter, look no further than House Democrats (led by David Obey) voting to increase funding to abstinence-only “education” programs, which have been shown to not only contain false, misleading, and plainly erroneous materials but can be argued to blur the distinction between religion and science. (See http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf) Abstinence-only education has also failed to reduce teenaged pregnancies. As commentators have pointed out, increasing funding to these programs blurs the distinction between Democrats and “right-wing” Christian Republicans. Maybe it’s just that the base is too unwilling to support those candidates who actually represent their views, perhaps out of a strategic fear of splitting the vote and making it easier for Republicans to win. But as Dennis Kucinich once pointed out, he’d be electable if people voted for him.

So let’s review. If the GOP could replace their elephant with a jackboot, then surely the Democrats would have to jettison the donkey and replace it with a sponge. If the GOP is morally corrupt, then the Democratic Party is morally bankrupt. The party is useless, inefficient and mired in symbolic non-binding resolutions that don’t scare anybody – it’s no wonder that Congress’ approval ratings are very low these days.

Political Blasphemy

By now you might be thinking, “Frédérik, you’re bit of ranting is nice and all, but when will you get the point?” Well, ducky, here it is. When we consider the performance record of both political parties and the spectacle that is these debates, the underlying issues we need to be talking about – like comprehensive electoral reform – are left unaddressed and concealed by smokescreens.

If I were prone to conspiracy theorizing, I’d also say that the political parties and the compliant media are trying to wear voters out so much that by the time electoral campaigns mean anything, folks will be too information-overloaded to wonder how they ended up with the same old tired, business-as-usual candidates for the 2008 election. But for people fed up with the political status quo, for business as usual, for the unappetizing choice between jackboots and sponges, there is a solution. The good news is that it doesn’t involve hitting the streets in protest and doesn’t require spending money or significant time. Call it the Solution That Dare Not Be Mentioned, not even by partisan voters thoroughly disgusted with their own parties. It’s the political blasphemy that strikes at the heart of partisanship.

That solution? Vote for neither Republicans or Democrats. Vote for anyone else but them, unless there’s no independent or candidate from another party running. The U.S., despite a flawed electoral system that favors two parties, is not truly a two-party system if voters don’t want it to be. With enough reason to condemn both major parties, nothing would issue a wake-up call like withdrawing voter support. Even if the two parties aren’t smashed back to the Stone Age, severely weakening both of them just might instill a proper respect for truth, civility, and the true will of the people.