Ten Reasons Why the Electoral Process Should Be Overhauled

America needs to maximize its political and economic capital by respecting the will of the people. Following are ten reasons why the electoral process should be overhauled as quickly as possible.

1. Money wins elections, not the will of the people. More than $4 billion was spent on the 2014 midterm congressional elections. 94% of the biggest House spenders won, and 82% of the biggest Senate spenders won. This means that powerful corporate interests determine America’s political destiny. It’s worth noting, here, that less than one in five of our congressional lawmakers have served in the military.
2. Most incumbents win elections despite Congress’ appalling performance. Only 11% of voters approve of Congress’ performance, yet 96.4% of congressional incumbents were reelected in the last midterm elections.
3. Political debate topics are usually framed in the media to either limit discourse or misdirect focus. Media constructs the parameters of debate, often at the expense of free, honest, useful, and accurate discourse. For instance, language like the “War on Terror” was conflated with the Iraq War to misdirect the American public’s focus away from actual military and political intentions in order to protect corporate interests. Framing also applies to what is and isn’t addressed in public discourse. More often than not, media focuses on social issues like gay marriage or marijuana legalization, which isn’t bad per se, but this strategy distracts the audience from a host of other significant economic, environmental, and human rights issues that those in power wish to avoid discussing, like America’s $24 trillion debt, the vanishing middle class, a deteriorating infrastructure, inevitable water problems, and so on. Framing proves especially insidious when a communication framework seen on, say, television news debates frames and thereby defines an undiscerning viewer’s thoughts.
4. The reason why all of this happens is because five powerful corporations control over 90% of the media. This means that freedom of the press continues to be restricted, damaging one indispensable tenet of the First Amendment. Diversity of viewpoints is restricted.
5. The red herrings over which Americans obsess prevent them from focusing on the corrupt power infrastructures that play a far more significant role in their lives. For instance, the Federal Reserve is the United States central bank and controls U.S. monetary policy. They change the money supply, influence interest rates, and affect the mortgage payments of millions of families, causing the financial markets to boom or collapse. In narrower terms, this behavior can cause the economy to expand or contract, which can lead to recession. The Federal Reserve isn’t owned by the U.S. Government, which means the American public doesn’t own it. It’s controlled by a cabal of powerful banks, many of which have vested interests in foreign countries. Accordingly, the Fed often operates beyond our own government’s jurisdiction and against the best interests of the American public. Meanwhile, in a preposterously corrupt scam, the U.S. Government borrows money from the Fed by selling treasury bonds. These bonds amount to an IOU that the American public must repay with interest. Then the government spends this borrowed money while incurring an ever-expanding debt that belongs to the American public. As mentioned previously, this debt is now over $21 trillion, with no end in sight. Remember, too, that these banks were bailed out with American taxpayer dollars after the global financial crisis that began in 2007, to include banks in other countries. Why? Because the same banks largely control every major government on the planet since they installed most of those countries’ politicians and regulate the dissemination of information through major media channels.
6. Conscientious Americans are intelligent enough to understand this problem and exercise the will to destroy this corrupt system. They are perfectly able to install a more functional system designed to protect the best interests of a majority of American citizens. The only peaceful way to do so is through a revolution exercised by informed voters.
7. It must be understood as well that information like this isn’t readily available or distributed in most social circles or through mainstream media. The growing Internet revolution needs to be protected and nurtured. The Internet is the last bastion of broadly dissemintated free speech on the planet, which means it, too, must be protected as such.
8. Those holding the reins of power want to maintain control, which means keeping the general populace as blind as possible to these realities. They manage this first and foremost by controlling the electoral process. The only way to rectify this problem is by voting them out. This means a growing number of Americans must become knowledgeable voters. Simply being proactive isn’t enough. People must understand what they’re thinking and doing based on informed decisions.
9. This corrupt system has done damage to America’s future. The Millennials and iGen have been saddled with a burgeoning debt they most likely won’t be able to pay off in their lifetime even if they manage to restructure the economy into something sensible and manageable. The 2007-08 financial crisis was nothing compared to what will likely follow within the next 10 to 15 years if something isn’t done soon.
10. All the circumstances above have led to a significant number of lethargic, fearful, and misguided voters. However, a growing subculture of young people are waking up to the problem and making their voices heard through various online and onsite mediums. They are America’s hope for the future. They need to make their collective voice heard at the grassroots and national levels.