Critical analysis of a Reader's Comment

I have been saying all along that I would be presenting a critical analysis of comments from my readers. Well, so far, we have only one reader comment to work with but it is a comment worthy of analysis. 

AMW Writes by E-mail: 

Ok Kenny, you asked for it - 

As the last election showed, the popular vote is nothing but a facade to make you believe you have some say in your government. We live under a fascist regime controlled by large corporations, and whether or not Obama or McCain or Hillary or Jesus gets elected next won't change a thing. Exercise your right NOT TO VOTE!

"The land of the free? Who ever told you that is your enemy." - Rage Against the Machine

-AWM

This is an interesting assessment. Apparently our government is a fascist regime, according to the beliefs of this particular reader. Let's start by conducting a logical assessment of what a fascist regime is: an authoritarian and nationalistic extreme right-wing system of government and social organization. According to the dictionary in my computer (which history supports) This term was first used to describe the totalitarian regime of Mussolini. The Nazi and Franco regimes were also fascist regimes. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one ethnic or national group, a contempt for democracy, and an insistence in obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach. 

Let us consider this. Do we have a totalitarian government? Not that I can tell. In fact, our president is unable to legislate, leaving the responsibility of making laws in the hands of those who are Constitutionally responsible (the legislative branch). This branch is balanced by the executive branch's veto power, and the judicial branch's constitutional scrutiny. True, there has been growing concern about the Judiciary legislating from the bench, with several instances of this taking place over the years - Roe Vs. Wade being a prime example. However, this is an issue that the public, and in return, many members of our federal government have been pushing to correct. At no point in our history, today included, has the executive branch ever passed a single law. 

Is there any indication that the federal government is seizing power from states and localities? Not that I can tell. Other than pork barrel spending and federal taxes, I see little local influence from the federal government at all.

Do we have a government that sponsors ethnic or national group supremacy? Absolutely not. While some would claim that racism is a matter of governmental policy, the facts do not support it. Notwithstanding isolated incidents within certain communities, there is no evidence that racism or any other discriminatory practice is a matter of federal, state, or even local government policy. 

Ok, now lets look at the conspiratorial issue. AWM at least didn't use the term THEY. Instead, he carefully chose a giant entity that is the equivalent of THEY - large corporations. Are large corporations selecting our presidents for us, and perpetuating a grand scale facade in the illusion that our votes actually count? Not a chance. Here is why. In the last 8 years, we have seen the passing of some of the most restricting legislation on US corporations ever. This would be the Sarbanes-Oxley act. This act was passed to regulate the accounting and reporting of earnings (and losses) of corporations and to create a transparency into the business practices of public corporations large and small. I should also point out that the largest corporations are all publicly owned (that's us!). This means that each share of stock has a vote in the polices and practices of the corporation. I receive statements frequently from corporations whose stock I own, providing me the opportunity to vote on issues, board members, etc.. I do vote my stocks, as do many others. Meanwhile, the US government has managed to get in the way of large corporations (often to the disadvantage of the consumer). Two excellent examples of this would be the XM-Sirius merger and the continual stalling of the Pelosi flunkies on the discussion of domestic drilling. The XM-Sirius merger was held up for 18 months until congressmen and women with special interests could castrate the two companies; nearly guaranteeing their failure as a merged company. 

Meanwhile, Pelosi and her cronies have done everything they can to prevent a vote on offshore drilling, which would boost profits of the "Big Oil" companies while increasing supply and driving down prices for the US consumer. If large corporations are in control of the country, why are these corporations constantly fighting bad and overly restrictive legislation, subject to good legislation that is good for the consumer and shareholder, but unwieldy and expensive for the corporation, and at the same time, paying the largest percentage of federal and state taxes of any group in this country?

One must also ask, if we have a fascist regime, what is the purpose of the illusion of democracy, when military might -the political tool of choice for fascists- would be more efficient and productive. 

AWM's statement "Exercise your right not to vote" may sound noble, but it is nothing short of irresponsible. A better quote, AWM, would be. Bad politicians are elected by educated voters who did not vote. 

The pretense that our votes do not count is perpetuated by the Democrats, who, when dissatisfied with the outcome of the last election, requested a re-count as was their right. They received the recount and then issues were identified and carefully worked through regarding the accuracy of the recording of individual votes resulting from problems with aging voting machines. The recount did not take the vote away from the Democrats, it confirmed that they never had it. However, the uninformed are willing to accept the Democratic party's baseless whining that the election was stolen. In fact, they now claim that both the initial Bush election in 2000 and his re-election in 2008 were stolen elections. How they come to that conclusion is beyond me.

The most I can say, is that if you believe that your vote does not count, PLEASE STAY HOME!!!! The only thing worse than not voting is casting an uninformed vote. However, if you do not vote; remember, whoever wins, you are as responsible for their being there as those that voted for them.