The Ghosts That Haunt Me Now

The far right is not the only section of the political spectrum to be disenfranchised during this 2010 election cycle. They are just the only section of the spectrum that owns a major news organization to back  up their narrative without a dissenting voice in the house.  This monolith lines up version and supporting statements with such vigor and steadfastness that obvious bold lies and bent truths become the facts.

These facts push towards the abyss their lemmings, who are  fully sold that the manufactured truth they hold tight to their chests is the one true light.  The factual abyss they trod toward is no matter, it is just an illusion propped up by the liberal media.

It is truly disturbing. Yet I am somewhat envious of their perverse political piety if only because they can follow their heart and conviction to the polls, pulling the lever for those they feel will help save their version of America. I am in a constant battle between my convictions and the reality of the world.

I am a deeply unhappy with the status quo of our political system. I would like to be part of the solution.  However I am wrestling with the ghosts of the 2000 election.  I voted for Nader that year.  Don’t smirk, the man had and has a legitimate vision of America.  In fact it is so compelling that both the Dems and GOP have worked to freeze him out of any major debates for almost 40 years.

I was drawn to him in 2000 over a variety of issues including, but not limited to: campaign finance reform, universal health care and tax policies to help the lower and middle class brackets. Well, there were those reasons along with the two major party candidates. They were both unacceptable to me for a variety of reasons.  If only I had grasped the “lesser of two evils” concept back then…I digress.

I had no delusions of grandeur.  I knew that Nader had no shot to win.  I was committed to helping Nader get the Green Party 5 percent of the vote, which would qualify the party to get access to federally distributed public funding.  It would be a good first step for a third party.

I was devastated in the early evening of November 7th 2000 when it became clear that Nader had no shot at 5 percent.

What bothered me later was that my efforts may have had influenced Bush winning stealing the election.  Nader took a lot of votes away from Gore.  Now, there was no issue in New York, but still; the ideology that drove me cost Gore dearly in Florida, and opened the door for the farce in the Sunshine State that led to the worst President in my lifetime slithering into the Oval Office.

As a New York State Resident I am obligated to vote this Tuesday for the next Governor.  The two major parties have shown me nothing(shocker).  Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate, is a scumbag; he is a supposed outsider who has paid his way, through the system he supposedly abhors, to lucrative rental contracts that have bled the State government.  Carl is also a misogynist and racist based on his leaked emails that he does not deny he sent.  He brushes them off with, “hey, I am in construction”.  He is not an option for those reasons and many more.

Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat, has shown me nothing to make me want to pull the lever for him.  He is wooden, a legacy candidate who is trying to distance himself from Albany, a place he has been a part of for the better part of a decade.  It is shades of 2000 Gore on a state level.

And that is where I am: torn and facing a comparable conundrum to 2000.  While I have no desire to vote for Cuomo, can I chance voting for the Green Party Candidate Howie Hawkins? (who again sadly has no shot at winning, so much for progress, 10 years later).  I do not want to make such an egregious error again.

Granted, there is no electoral college to muck up the works at the state level.  But I get a bad feeling that fear and stupidity stirred up by the Tea Party and Cuomo’s prevent defense could carry Paladino.  Heck, a Cuomo win scares me, it just scares me a lot less than a Paladino win.

I know the polls say Cuomo coasts, but the 2000 election rears its’ ugly head in my consciousness.  I may have to hold my nose and pull the lever for Cuomo, albeit on a line other than the Democrat one.  It is not a brave choice. But with the ghosts of the 2000 election hovering, it may be the only one that I can live with: the lesser of two evils.

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