{"id":558,"date":"2012-10-24T18:19:36","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T18:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=558"},"modified":"2012-10-25T18:20:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T18:20:21","slug":"what-do-elections-really-mean-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/what-do-elections-really-mean-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"What do \u2018elections\u2019 really mean in the United States?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Intrepid Report on October 24, 2012<\/a>
\nBy\u00a0Larry Pinkney<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNever be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.\u201d<\/strong>
\n \u2014Lucy Parsons<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTell no lies, claim no easy victories.\u201d
\n\u2014Amilcar Cabral<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Voting in general\u2014and in particular, voting for the Democrats and Republicans, especially on the federal level\u2014in this corporate-controlled, Patriot Act, NDAA, \u2018Kill List,\u2019 de facto police- state, is akin to choosing\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0one wants to\u00a0die;<\/em>\u00a0when in fact, we\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0be demanding systemic change and deciding\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0we want to\u00a0live!<\/em><\/p>\n

If ballot box voting could genuinely change this corrupt political\u00a0system<\/em>\u00a0it would be illegal. Instead, voting is used as a control and manipulation mechanism\u2014against everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation\u2014who are expected to repeatedly participate in their own political decapitation in the name of a fake democracy and a fake process.<\/p>\n

Saying that those who do not vote at the ballot box do not have the right to complain is akin to saying that those who refuse to \u2018choose\u2019 how they wish to die, by extension, have no right to live. Such is the essence of the fallacious argument and\u00a0systemic\u00a0trap<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0laid, propagated, and perpetuated by the corporate-owned Democrat and Republican parties in this nation. Indeed, the very integrity itself of the voting process in the United States is made\u00a0null and void<\/em>\u00a0by, among other things, the fraudulent Electoral College and the undeniable hegemony of the U.S. corporate elite. At this point in time in U.S. history, voting gives the cover of legitimacy to the corporate-owned political gangsters who run this nation, be they Democrat or Republican.<\/p>\n

Think about it. Do you want to die by suffocation, hanging, or firing squad, for these are, in reality, the euphemistic \u2018choices\u2019 that\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0voting gives you? These \u2018choices\u2019 are in fact\u00a0no<\/em>\u00a0choices at all\u00a0<\/em>for those of us who are desirous of life.<\/p>\n

It is time for the everyday people of this nation to regain our humanity by struggling for our\u00a0collective self-determination,<\/em>\u00a0as an integral part of Mother Earth\u2019s human family. Participating in the veneer of voting, especially as it pertains to the Democrats and Republicans, is a pathological exercise in both insanity and futility as it relates to much-needed, fundamental systemic change.<\/p>\n

The ill-gotten wealth of the bloated, avaricious, U.S. and global corporate elite will never be changed through the\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0voting process. This relatively small national and international corporate elite not only owns the corporate-stream propaganda media and politicians, but in so doing, owns\u00a0the political system itself.\u00a0<\/em>As Lucy Parsons noted many years ago, \u201cNever be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.\u201d We must\u00a0consciously and actively<\/em>\u00a0free our minds and think\u00a0outside of<\/em>\u00a0this corrupt and controlled systemic box, and act accordingly. Moreover, always remember the words of Rosa Luxemburg when she said, \u201cThose who do not move, do not notice their chains.\u201d We ourselves are the only ones who can \u201cnotice\u201d and break free from our systemic \u201cchains.\u201d We, the people!<\/p>\n

We must be honest with ourselves. We must stop lying to and deceiving ourselves. Amilcar Cabral was absolutely correct when he said that we should, \u201cTell no lies, [and] claim no easy victories.\u201d First and foremost however, we must \u201ctell no lies\u201d\u00a0to ourselves<\/em>\u00a0and each other. Then, we can creatively make giant leaps in this\u00a0difficult, long, and protracted<\/em>\u00a0everyday people\u2019s struggle in this nation. We must do this in conjunction with our everyday sisters and brothers throughout our precious Mother Earth.<\/p>\n

The obfuscating rhetoric of the pontificating politicians, media pundits, and other systemic gatekeepers and operatives is, when you really think about it, complex and\u00a0shallow;<\/em>\u00a0but our collective struggle is, out of principled necessity, simple and\u00a0deep.<\/em>\u00a0This is why ultimately, we, the everyday people\u2014will succeed.<\/p>\n

What do systemic \u2018elections\u2019 really mean in this nation? They are actually\u00a0se<\/em>lections, not \u2018elections,\u2019 and they mean the continuation of our political, social, and economic\u00a0bondage<\/em>\u2014and nothing less. What if they gave a war and nobody came? Indeed, what if they gave another fake systemic so-called \u2018election\u2019 and nobody participated?! It\u2019s time for the power of everyday ordinary people to take hold of this nation. At least,\u00a0think about<\/em>\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

We must\u00a0redefine<\/em>\u00a0the very meaning of voting<\/strong>\u00a0in this fraudulent, corporate-owned, \u2018democracy,\u2019 with a view towards creatively and collectively bringing about real systemic change, that is powered by the consciousness and needs of everyday people of all colors. In the immortal words of Joe Hill, \u201cDon\u2019t mourn. Organize!\u201d Be\u00a0creative<\/em>\u00a0in your thinking and in your actions.<\/p>\n

Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!<\/p>\n

Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil\/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil\/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania\/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book,\u00a0Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker<\/a>, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read excerpts from the book.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published in Intrepid Report on October 24, 2012<\/a>
By\u00a0Larry Pinkney<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNever be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.\u201d
\u2014Lucy Parsons<\/p>\n

\u201cTell no lies, claim no easy victories.\u201d
\u2014Amilcar Cabral<\/p>\n

Voting in general\u2014and in particular, voting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}