Imagine, Revisited

Can you imagine a presidential election where the two opposing major candidates were Dennis Kucinich versus James Webb?

What a win – win situation that would have been. Of course, they’re both Democrats but wholly outside its current spectra. What if they’d formed third parties? And what if those third parties had fielded a full slate of candidates and we selected our elected political leaders from among them? What it? What if? What if?

Do you know why it could not happen?

The mainstream media’s dedication to limited electoral choices for us.

In the Libertarian Party when I was in a state level leadership position (I’ve long since rejected that Party due to its stance on economic issues and have become a pure independent) we referred to the mass media’s posture on non-traditional political candidates as the conspiracy of silence. It was and is a death sentence as long as the American electorate continues to rely on that corrupt oligarchy as a valid source for news. Democracy only performs well when it has access to complete and accurate news reflecting divergent perspectives, something we’ve not had for decades.

So if President Trump is doing one thing well, it’s pointing out how horribly we’ve been manipulated for so long. Of course, his Tweeter account is not the answer. Nor is his all too frequent carelessness with facts.

The only answer is probably a reboot of the news media and major political parties and to some extent, if we boycotted all products advertised on mainstream news programs and journals, we could probably generate some change.

Unfortunately, we lack the discipline required.

And as my friend Charles J. Champion, Jr. (who I’ve not seen or heard from for a decade) would probably have observed, “Who knows just what kind of replacements we would get”.

Any suggestions?

Anyone?
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2017; all rights reserved