|
CounterPunch
November
9, 2002
Mountain Party
Rising!
by CHARLES SULLIVAN
Long ago I severed my ties with the Democratic
Party, though I have always maintained an interest in its affairs.
This is in part because I hold dear many of its supposed core
values. Too bad the party has long since abandoned the values
that distinguished it from the Republicans; values that made
the party respectable to all working people and most environmentalists.
Until this year, I hadn't cast a single vote in any election
since 1972. While I chose not to vote, I have always been involved
in political issues and in my community. Voting is the least
we can do; and I have usually opted to do far more than the bare
minimum.
The mid term elections of 2002 featured
what may be an historic low voter turnout of about thirty percent.
That is thirty percent of those registered to vote--not thirty
percent of the population. As a percentage of the general population
those who voted last Tuesday is certainly a much smaller number.
I've been told many times over the years
that those who don't vote have no right to complain, because
they are not participating in the democratic process. I disagree.
In a true democracy, everyone has a voice in government, whether
they vote or not. Unfortunately, the form of government we have
in these United States is not now--nor has it ever been--a democracy.
It is in fact a Plutocracy; that is government of the poor by
the rich. Because of this intolerable situation, I cannot blame
anyone for not voting. I do blame them, however, for their apathy.
The average American, while disinterested
in politics generally, is perceptive enough to know that their
vote means nothing when the outcome is virtually predetermined
by special interest money. Why, then, should they waist their
valuable time when there are no real choices presented to them?
They are wise enough to know that the babbling idiots seen nightly
on their TV screens do not represent them. For this reason, voter
turnout has continued to dwindle; a situation that, unfortunately,
favors the status quo. Contrary to what polished politicians
say, they do not want a high voter turnout.
The vast majority of the American public
has lost faith in the so called two party system. They see it
for exactly what it is--a corrupt method of assuring the same
outcome, regardless of who is elected to office. It is not so
much who gets into office but how they get there that is the
source of the problem.
Every year ludicrous sums of money are
wasted putting special interest representatives into government.
These politicians do not represent the will of the people; they
represent the desires of the corporations whose only motive is
profit.
The current two party system is saturated
in the corruption of special interest money. Until there is serious
campaign finance reform or federally funded campaigns, nothing
will change.
There are viable alternatives to despair,
however. But in order to make them work they require ordinary
people--people like you and I--to run for and win political office.
Only ordinary people like us can represent the vast majority
of the people. We have to grow a new party from the ground up
that represents the people in government, rather than the wealthy.
Where I live in West Virginia we are growing the Mountain Party.
The Morgan County Mountain Party ran three candidates in last
Tuesday's elections. Not surprisingly, none of them were elected
to office. I know each of the candidates personally and have
worked on their campaigns. They are without exception good people
of impeccable character. They are the kind of people most of
us want to see in office.
Our Mountain Party candidates got 28%,
18%, and 10% of the vote respectively in this week's elections.
These are encouraging numbers for a party that is only a few
years old. The vast majority of Americans are turned off by the
lies of slick, professional politicians. They demand integrity,
honesty, and character. And until they get it they won't vote.
Remember that the majority of American's didn't vote on Tuesday.
It is this deep reservoir of untapped energy that the Mountain
Party of West Virginia seeks to activate. On the National Level
the Green Party is attempting to do the same.
How are we to accomplish our goals? We
will continue to organize. We will go door to door and meet the
people. We will talk to them one on one. We will enlist their
financial support through many small donations of time, money
and energy. We do not accept corporate money; nor will we be
beholden to corporations and their fleeting power schemes. We
will not accept defeat. We will not allow ourselves to be demoralized
by those in power. We will take comfort in knowing and trusting
one another; by gathering to discuss ideas while sharing food
and drink and working together in our respective communities.
Our numbers and our strength will continue to grow every year
until we become an irresistible force for change. We are sowing
seeds of dissent--seeds of hope. The movement is growing. I can
feel it in my bones. The people will rise up and recognize their
own power to evoke change. The people have the power; they have
only to recognize this fact and to act.
Charles Sullivan
is a veteran wild forest activist, writer and cabinetmaker who
resides on twenty acres of land in the rural countryside of West
Virginia.
He can be reached at: cesullivan@stargate.net
Yesterday's
Features
Bruce Jackson
Don't
Mourn, Bake!
Anthony Gancarski
Jeb
Bush: Left-Liberal?
William Evan
A Diplomatic
Strategy
How Carter and Castro Could Avert War on Iraq
William A. Cook
Blinded
by the Right
Pierre Tristam
Hypocrisy
at Camp Delta
Mayor Walid Hamad
Settlers
and Trash
Matt Siegfried
Questions
of War
Alexander Cockburn and
Jeffrey St. Clair
Nosedive:
the Democrats the Day After
New
Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- The Shafts of Death: Bush, Coal Mines, and Death
in the Tunnels;
- Speak Memory!: Carter and the Draft;
- Daniel Pipes' World: Smearing Pro-Arab Academics;
- Ashcroft's Gays: the War on Free Speech;
- Saddam's Amnesty: Could It Happen Here?
- Criminalizing Dissent: a history and preview;
- Iraq 1987: When the Going Was Good;
- Egypt in Turmoil: an Anthropologist's Account;
- Green and Grounded: Profiled at the Gate.
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
October 26
/ 27, 2002
Michael Wolff
A Place
of Tears
Ilija Trojanow
Bali Mon Amour
Ben Tripp
Crocodile Tears
Hope Shand and Silvia Ribeiro
The Great Containment:
GM Fallout from Mexico to Zambia
M. Junaid
Alam
The Wolf Who Cried Wolf:
Charging Anti-Semitism & Extending the Iron Wall
Gavin Keeney
The Fusion Thing:
Landscape + Architecture
Adam Engel
A Good Man is Hard to Misfit
Anis Shivani
Is America Becoming Fascist?
Jason Leopold
Is Thomas White Fit to Lead the Army?
Philip Farruggio
Let Them Eat (Crumb) Cake
Josh Frank
The Grassroots of Hope
Anthony Gancarski
Concerned Citizen: episode 5
Night School
M. Shahid
Alam
The Civilizing Mission
October 25, 2002
Wayne Madsen
Pappy
Bush on Wellstone:
"Who Is This Chickenshit?"
Stuart Timmons
Harry
Hay Dead at 90:
He Paved the Way for Modern Gay Activism
Vanessa Jones
Australia
Votes Green:
Historic No Vote to US War Plans
Ben Terrall
Rep.
Tom Lantos' Big Lie
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
Behind
the Drive for War:
The Escalating Bush Military Budget
Will Youmans
Israel's and Divestment
Norman Madarasz
Lula
on the Verge
October 24,
2002
Jo Freeman
How the
Christian Coalition Boosts Israel
Ben Tripp
George
W.: Caught Between Iraq and a Hard Place
Harry Browne
Ireland's Dreary Yes to Nice
Anis Shivani
A Guide
for the Perplexed:
the Major Countries of the World as Defined by the Office of
Strategic Influence
T.W. Croft
America's
New Improved War
William Hughes
A Free
Press, But for Whom?
Alan Farago
Jeb Bush and the Environment
October 23,
2002
Daniel Wolff
Pataki,
Witt and the Indian Point Nuke
Wayne Madsen
A Saudiless
Arabia
Sam Bahour
and Paul de Rooij
Abritrary
Imprisonment
Chris White
Why I Oppose
the US War on Terror:
an ex-Marine Sergeant Speaks Out
Anthony Gancarski
Back to Bali
Adam Engel
Twilight
(of the Idols) Zone
Robert Fisk
How to Shut Up Your Critics
October 22,
2002
Jack McCarthy
A Letter
to C. Hitchens
Carol Norris
This Message
Brought to You by Breast Cancer, Inc.
Joanne Mariner
Just
Say "Not Until We're Married":
Legislating Morality and Understanding HIV/AIDS Prevention
Kathleen Christison
Excuse Me?
How Israel Justifies Killing Palestinians
Linda Heard
Iraq War
Mongering:
A Game of Chess with Lives at Stake
Roger Peacock
Marketing the War on Iraq
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|