A Voting Alternative — Americans Elect

Note for DOTE readers — I've made a few small repairs concerning links in posts. Links in the text are now underlined in a slightly different font. Here's a link to yesterday's post. Can you see it? Is it clear to you that this is a link? The links in yesterday's post have also been changed, so click on this link. Underlining in quotes is still for emphasis, but if there is a font change in underlined text within a quote, that's a link — Dave

Yesterday reader Doug Guillory referred to Americans Elect, an organization whose goal is to hold an alternative, independent political convention, nominate candidates for President and Vice-President, and get those names listed on the ballot in all 50 states.

The goal of Americans Elect is to nominate a presidential ticket that answers directly to voters—not the political system.

American voters are tired of politics as usual. They want leaders that will put their country before their party, and American interests before special interests. Leaders who will work together to develop fresh solutions to the serious challenges facing our country. We believe a secure, online nominating process will prove that America is ready for a competitive, nonpartisan ticket.

What is Americans Elect?

Americans Elect is the first direct nomination. We're using the Internet to give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. You decide the issues. You choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, you will make history by putting the Americans Elect ticket on the ballot in every state.

There is no way to fix our corrupt, dysfunctional political system. But surely no one could object to political actions that are outside the box. Amercans Elect has already signed up 1,755,707 people. If you want to participate, you'll have to register, abide by their by-laws, and so forth. I haven't registered yet and may not. As you can imagine, the whole process is going to be pretty complicated. But if the people running the show do their job right, it could be interesting and fun, too. For Americans participating, this will be their first real taste of Democracy.

That said, it seems to me that having millions of people nominating and selecting the candidates could result in utter chaos. And God only knows who the candidates will turn out to be. Your choices might be Obama, Romney and Who. This Who person may turn out to be somebody you would never vote for in a million years. Those are the perils of true Democracy.

After decades of propaganda aimed toward converting citizens into "consumers", most Americans are ruined beyond repair. They don't know what the issues are, let alone understand them. These people are called low information voters, which is a euphemism for (often opinionated) people who don't know diddley-squat. Many of them can't find China on a world map.

After decades of deterioration in the quality of our public schools and 4-year colleges, and given the general dumbing down of society promoted by our corporate-owned media, the "challenge" of recreating a society of responsible citizens is very large indeed. Some would say it's impossible. Once Empires go downhill, they only rarely rise again. That's my view.

If successful, Americans Elect will give you another voting choice 14 months from now. It may not be much of an alternative, but it's still an alternative. Voting for that person, even if you have to hold your nose to do so, will register your protest against our corrupt two-party system.

And if you can't bring yourself to vote for the Americans Elect ticket, but still feel you must vote, you can go to the polls and write in my favorite candidate, Bozo the Clown. Or you can vote for JP Morgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon in order to cut out the middle man in the lawmaking process.

Or you can just stay home.

Bonus Video