Election day is just around the corner and I must admit to being filled with something other than unbridled enthusiasm.

Should I really give a big throbbing crap if a few more right-wing intellectual midgets get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate?  

I have grown weary of holding my nose in the voting booth.  However, I do plan on voting on November 2nd.

If we lose Harry Reid as the Senate Majority leader we will have lost someone who is as exciting, dynamic, forceful and principled as a damp dish cloth.

If the right wingers lose and the complexion of the congress does not change where will we be? We will be where we are right now with a congress filled with more than an adequate supply of gutless wonders. 

If the Democratic party maintains the control it has right now what would happen? 

Would Medicare for all become a reality including all those people who do not have the proper papers?

Would we end our military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq and bring all our troops home from all over the world?

Would we make certain that all those who have been physically and mentally damaged in our wars receive proper care and employment?

Would we cease paying mercenaries to do the jobs of soldiers and stop calling them civilian contractors?

Would we stop using the term insurgents and replace it with the correct term: resistance?

Would we create real employment programs and job training programs to put the unemployed and under skilled to work?

Would we create true education opportunities for everyone who graduates from high school? This could be done in the form of a guaranteed education whether it’s in a trade school, technical school or university followed by a choice of mandatory paid public service jobs for a couple of years after graduation as a pay back with tax incentives to businesses that hire.

Will Don’t Ask Don’t tell be replaced with a simple policy for the military that says it is no long permissible to discriminate?

Unfortunately, my answer to all the preceding questions is “No” because elected officials worry more about getting re-elected than anything else.

Our political system is corrupt.  It is not worth supporting financially.  It makes no sense to get into the fund raising battle and try to raise funds to combat the cash being dumped into the system by the very rich and big corporations.

The moneybags are in control.  The answer is not having a political party gather a large amount of money in form of small donations from a large group of individuals.  We’ve seen how that turned out.  Obama got a pile of cash put together that way and then got upset because his behavior, which  was not in the best interest of the masses, was not appreciated.

We are suckers if we continue to drop our hard earned money into the stinking political pot.  We are giving in and playing the money game.  If it does not make sense to contribute money to get leftists or progressives to run for office because we are simply playing the money game what do we do?

We need public funding of campaigns with a prohibition against any other money being spent by a candidate for public office. 

We need a law limiting the length of political campaigns and a requirement for the mass media to make airtime and space available to all candidates who have qualified to be on a ballot to express themselves.  And if some organization wants to host a debate it must be required that all candidates for he office in question be included.

There's something new in New York State that seems like a very good idea. It's the Working Families Party. Their platform says:

Democratic weakness and bowing to corporate interests — is why the Working Families Party exists.

And it’s why we’re asking you and everyone you know to pledge to vote on the Working Families ballot line today.

There’s never been a better time to jump on board. And if enough people do, it’ll make news, in New York and maybe even nationally.
All you need to do is take the pledge which says:

"I will vote Working Families Party (Row E on the New York State ballot) and support the candidates and elected officials who truly share my values."

Here's a video by actor/activist Matt Damon about the Working Families Party.

What I like most about the Working Families Party is that it is not simply an effort to raise cash in the corrupt money pot system. It is an effort to give us a voice using the ballot not just bucks.

It is estimated that 3-Billion dollars will be spent on television political advertising in this election. All political ads on radio and tv must be paid in front in cash. And this huge amount of cash is going into the pockets of the corporate media so don't expect much support for public financing to come from them.

3-Billion dollars could create a lot of jobs, college scholarships or help finance Medicare for everyone.

Along with something like the Working Families Party, we must organize and turn out millions and millions of people into the streets.  We’ve done it before and it must be done again.  The anger is growing and must be directed against this corrupt system.  The power is the people.

Public election financing like I’ve described means all the nut jobs and borderline parties and candidates would have their say. 

Real democracy may not be pretty, but a so called "two" party system that looks more like a "one" party system is far uglier.

BlackCommentator.com Publisher and Chief Technical Officer Peter Gamble, is the recipient of a national Sigma Delta Chi award for public service in journalism and numerous other honors for excellence in reporting and investigative reporting. The “beats” he covered as a broadcast journalist ranged from activism in the streets to the State Department and White House. The lure of a personal computer on his desk inspired a career change in 1985 and an immersion into what he saw as the future of communications. The acquisition of computer programming skills made it possible for Peter to achieve an important level of self-reliance in the technology of the 21st century and to develop BlackCommentator.com. Click here to contact Peter.