Working People Get No Meaningful Vote in 2008 Presidential Election

By Michael Hoffman

All three major candidates for the presidency have claimed to be the candidate of the common man, the hard working Americans who are struggling to get by. They say that they are “one of us” and that they will be the agent of “change.” But no matter which one of the three wins the White House in November, no real change will be forthcoming. Why not? Because in today’s political world both major parties are ruled by corporate interests and these three candidates are no different.

Let’s start with Hillary Clinton. She’s been posing as a friend of the common man and had been endorsed by many unions. But it is hard to see how she would help the workers when one looks at her history. From 1986 through 1992, while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, Hillary was on the board of none other than Wal-Mart. While Senator Clinton was a member of the board, Wal-Mart went about its business of wiping out small town businesses and profiting off the sweat and blood of sweatshop workers. Also, according to abc News, Hillary stayed silent while Wal-Mart board members went on their anti-union rampages, although she did push for environmentally friendly policies and better treatment for female workers. The Clintons were also friends with Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, the man who personally told loaders at an Arkansas distribution center that he would fire them all and shut the center down if the voted to join a union. And let’s not forget that it was Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA into law, leading to the disappearance of American jobs.

On the Republican side, John McCain has presented himself as a maverick, as someone who does not bow down to special-interest groups. However, according to the Washington watchdog group Center for Public Integrity, between 1997 and 2006, McCain has taken $2.6 million from Political Action Committees (PACs). McCain has taken money from such corporate donors as Verizon and AT+T, the company that has been helping the NSA spy on American citizens.

Corporate donors have even tainted the candidacy of Barack Obama, a man so charming and full of hope that even I like him. Unfortunately, he too has been bit by the corporate bug. According to the Chicago Tribune, about three-fourths of Obama’s campaign cash has come from corporate donors. Also, he has received money from Exelon Corporation, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator. One of Obama’s largest donors is Exelon chairman John W. Rowe, who is also one of the board of the neo-con American Enterprise Institute.

The only way to escape this corporate trap is by voting for a third party. You could do what I have done in the past and vote for the Green Party, a party that actually cares about the future of America and its citizens. Some of its core values are grassroots democracy, social justice and environmental responsibility. If you like the latter two of these but would rather see capitalism done away with all together, you could vote for either the Socialist Party USA or the Socialist Workers Party. Or, if you love civil liberties and also the free market you could vote for the Libertarian Party, which competes with the Green Party for dominance as the biggest third party in the country. If you would like to abolish the income tax and also see the constitution become based on the Bible (a fundamentalist reading of the Bible), you could vote for the Constitution Party, although in Connecticut this party is known as the Concerned Citizens Party. Finally if you really hate alcohol, you could vote for the Prohibition Party, which wants to make alcohol illegal. Believe it or not, this party has been around since 1869 and has run a presidential candidate in every election cycle since 1872.
So, the good news is you have options. The bad news is that if you do vote for a third candidate, there is virtually no chance that they can become president. The Commission on Presidential Debates makes sure that only Republicans and Democrats can take part in debates (unless it’s a pro-corporate billionaire like Ross Perot). Also, since the corporations and special-interest groups give their money to the two major parties, who keep them rich, third parties get no money and no attention from the corporate media. Therefore, voting for a third party is rendered virtually meaningless, while voting for one of the corporate parties will not help either. The only way we can give our votes meaning is by getting rid of the two party system and by voting for third party candidates for town and state offices and for Congress which actually have an outside chance of winning. Getting third party candidates into Congress is a good way to get the ball rolling on ending the two party system and bringing real democracy to the United States.