America, you'll never vote yourself out from under a dead democracy

I circulated a Princeton study to my social media readers last week that sounded the death knell of American democracy. Not that many of us in the activist community needed a study to confirm the obvious. One of the tenets from the Occupy Wall Street movement is that the more money you have injected into elections, the less democratic the outcome. With close to $6 billion spent on the US election cycle in 2012 - the largest amount ever spent on elections in history - it's easy to imagine a newly elected (or re-elected) cadre of what my journalist pal Victor Epstein lovingly refers to as "political hookers", acting on behalf of business interests. And that is exactly what the study concluded, never mind who was in power, Democrats or Republicans. Wall Street got what Wall Street wanted. Voters be damned.

Nevertheless, the importance of academia disseminating uncomfortable truths is vital for the advancement of democratic values. In other words, we need the data to back up our slogans if we're to be taken seriously by potential allies and if we're to be effective in creating a democratic landscape. The data in this case are particularly damning to the notion that representative democracy works at all in a nation that spends more on its military budget than the next 10 highest nations combined at the expense of improving the lives of its own "poor" or "low income" citizens, currently sitting at one in two Americans. Read over 150 million people who are no where close to achieving the American Dream and very unlikely to experience upward mobility.

The study covered 1,779 US policy initiatives spanning from 1981 to 2002. The conclusion? "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy," Gilens and Page write, "while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."

What are we to take away from this study? If not rhetorical, the answer should be self-evident.

America, you'll never vote yourself out from under a dead democracy. I've been making this point for over three years to mostly self-described progressives and Democrats who still hold on tight to the reins of punditry or to the lesser of two evils voting tradition. It should be clear now that it no longer matters - if we're to look at the evidence. Not that voting, in my view anyway, should be disdained completely or discarded entirely; there are state and local ballot initiatives which certainly do matter even within our current dysfunctional system. Dems and progressives could certainly fill in this humble blank_________________________________ and still need additional space to expand on any number of issues ranging from pro gay marriage legislation to banning GMOs, to marijuana legalisation and gun control, to name only a few push-button issues making headlines after the mid-term elections last week. But do we really have a seat at the decision-making table in regards to who we declare war on, or on how many trillions of dollars we should cough up to bail out the banks? You know, the real important stuff leading to dead Americans. Jobless Americans. Homeless Americans. How about happy Americans?

If we're ever to speak of the American Dream in an un-George Carlinesque way ever again, we're going to have to change the way we look at our participation in our communities and on the national stage, in a very radical way - because realistically, voting alone isn't getting the job done. Sorry, Democrats. Your ticket was sold out to Wall Street along with the entire political system over 30 years ago. Your tired and whiny scare tactics have failed once again to mobilize your so-called base to the polls. Not that it matters. Elizabeth Warren won't represent you (remember Obama?). The independent's champion Bernie Sanders won't represent you. Libertarian Ron Paul won't represent you, even if you're desperate and drunk-reading Ayn Rand and looking for any old political hooker with a short skirt talking a good game. None of them will represent you if they ever attained the presidency. Not that it matters, evidence taken into consideration. Nor does the legislation of Congress or the rulings by the Supreme Court. None of the three branches of government or the media represent the voices of any non-billionaire constituency as things now stand. We're on our own. It's high time we face up to it.

On a side note, there's one revolutionary act in two steps we can all do to make a direct and meaningful change right now. Move your money out of Wall Street banks and investment firms: too big has failed. The second step is to get somebody else to do the same. There are a plethora of other things to do as well, beyond the scope of this short piece to cover. Consult with your local activist for ideas. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and there are endless variations on Dr. Gene Sharp's 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action. You may be surprised to discover that you may already have a few check marks on the list.

In regards to the climate change dilemma, Chris Hedges' concluded, correctly if Princeton's study is to carry any weight in the matter, that we must "...view the state, including the Democratic Party, as antagonistic to genuine reform." This goes for just about anything the Democrats pay lip service to. They have repeatedly demonstrated a lack of will to back up their progressive credentials with actual reforms, whether that be for the climate or for the ever-elusive Wall Street reforms. And please, I don't want to hear about how the evil Republicans thwarted their efforts at every step along the way - that excuse has enjoyed decades of colourful syndicated play on repeat. The Democrats are either the most lousy and ineffective party ever to step up to mainstream politics . . . or they're complicit in all offenses - from the idiotic War on Terror to the NSA scandal.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was born under the Obama Administration after the party turned its back on Americans with their empty promises once again. Case in point - to date, over 7,700 protesters have been arrested under Obama while not one single banker responsible for the economic crash of 2008 has been arrested and charged with any crime. The real criminals on Wall Street have been allowed to skate by Scot-free by the Democrats on their watch. Forget about the Republicans - we all agree they're dickheads and Wall Street lackeys. It's about time Democratic voters, progressives, and the so-called Left withdraw their vote of confidence from an increasingly right-wing regime. The voice of the people will remain unheard as long as we inadvertently silence ourselves in their voting booths. Our hands and feet are needed to advocate in the streets on behalf of our communities, pissed-off and triumphantly unapologetic.