Flaw in Our Freedom

There are two main political parties in America, the Democrats, and the Republicans. These two parties keep each other in power by referring to each other in a similar way as Coke and Pepsi do. Each one refers to the other as if it's the only other choice. This two party system is going to destroy America.

Democrats and Republicans direct all their attention, comments, and energy, towards each other. The media covers this great "mudslinging fight" as if it were a real, relevant, interesting, important issue. It isn't. Have you watched a debate? They go over the same topics, the same answers, and the same responses at every one. They are taking advantage of the short term memory of mainstream society and provide cheap entertainment for us all.

The same Corporations are funding both parties, they keep the media going, and with only four companies owning virtually every media outlet we have available via TV and Radio, that isn't too much of a stretch. These companies know that they have to be on the winning side in order to succeed in business, so they fund both parties.

This way of thinking is wrong on so many levels. First of all, it promotes that one of these ideas must be right, there are no alternatives. The right idea IS on the table. Secondly it paints issues as right and wrong, black and white, either you're for abortion, or completly against it, either you want to stay the course, or withdraw from Iraq, either you are for Barrack Obama, or John McCain. There IS and in between, whether we want to believe it or not. Issues are not black and white.

The two party system also serves to create hatred and anger between the two parties. I understand that political discussions are heated, but your political identity should go beyond party affiliation. We need to have views that transcend party "lines."

Another thing that's wrong with the two party system is that it promotes animosity about petty issues. Why, in the midst of war, poverty, global warming, economic imperialism, Education crisis and many other pressing issues, did George W. Bush find it worth his while to address the issues of gay rights, abortion, and other small issues that are much less pressing? I know those are important issues, but we need to have priorities, we have all these big problems, but no one wants to spend time doing that, they want to promote their personal agendas about religious and ethical issues.

The arguments over such issues are tiresome, time consuming, and wasteful. Everybody's heard both sides, no one is going to change their position.

This brings me to the most important flaw with the twin party system: failure to fully address the real issues. When candidates speak about the war in Iraq, they speak in general terms, Barrack Obama laid out a plan, sort of, and McCain is being painfully vague. These statements are designed to reach you on a instinctual level, rather then a logical one.

They don't even talk about the most important issues. The baby boomers are going to start retiring, for the first time EVER the fastest growing demographic of the population will be senior citizens, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO??? We for sure need to do something now, because it is projected that under the current system, 60% of our paychecks will be going to Medicare taxes. Neither candidate speaks about this issue, because they don't want to hit a nerve. The baby boomers make up the highest percentage of voters, and all they care about is getting elected.

America is an economic imperialistic country. Organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank (By the way, 50%of the world bank is owned by the US Treasury) give loans to countries, and then place restrictions on what they can and can't do. They force these countries to export mass quantities of goods and to buy overpriced and unnecessary goods. This keeps the third world subservient to the first, and because this is never discussed in a debate, the American people remain largely ignorant to it.

Have you heard of the North American Union? Probably not, because it is dismissed in the mainstream media as a conspiracy theory and is therefore not worth knowing about. There is a movement to merge the United states, with Mexico and Canada. This isn't just a trade agreement it is a plan to make a single entity with no borders. It will have it's own currency, called the Amero. The same thing is happening in Europe with the European Union, and their own form or currency the Euro. This is all fact, the theory is that soon there will be both an African, and Asian union, all of which will eventually be merged into one world government.

Even if you don't believe this, you have to admit that an idea such as this should at least be in the public eye, why isn't it? Simply because the two party system and therefore the mainstream media don't think it's important that you know about it.

We have become a culture that accepts the mainstream media's viewpoints, without doing any critical thinking of our own. This is a telling indicator, of how dumbed down our society really is. My generation barely even votes! We fail to realize that we have power too, and together, we can create change.

And no, I'm not talking about Change tm. I'm talking about actual change, the abolishment of the two party system. How can we do this?

First of all, as stated above almost every form of TV/Radio is owned by four corporations, thereby making it impossible to get an objective point of view. It is therefore necessary to boycott these mediums, it is simple capitalism, if a service isn't getting viewed, it has to adapt to it's audience, if what it's audience wants is real, important material, that is what we will eventually see.

For now the internet is a great medium, as there are tons of objective viewpoints. Newspapers are also useful tools, although they do contain strong biases in some cases.

Secondly, vote for the best candidate, not the lesser of two evils. One is usually better then the other in your eyes, but look beyond the illusion, and see the reality behind it. Spend lots of time educating yourself and to some degree others about the real issues and form opinions. Don't push your viewpoints on people, but there's nothing wrong with bringing fresh new ideas to the table. Beware that others might not be so welcoming however. Change the way you approach issues, try to think about it for yourself. What logically makes sense to you? I'm not saying don't listen to other people, but again, real life discussions and objective viewpoints are far and away better then mainstream sources.

Third, and most importantly, think. Read, talk, watch documentaries, study, actually spend sometime putting your life in perspective, look for new ideas, try to put yourself in other people's shoes. All this can serve to make you less self-absorbed and more outer connected.

I am convinced that if we do all these things, we will see an election where there are more the two choices, media coverage that isn't slanderous and irrelevant, and a society that is more loving and conscious.

I believe that we are beautiful, intelligent, amazing creatures, capable of doing very special things, there is not reason I can think of why our society couldn't be one where we see all these changes, we just have to go do it.