Some Reflection On
American Elections
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
–-attributed to Edmund Burke, English statesman and philosopher in the 1700s
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people keep voting for the lesser of the two.” –-Phill Courtney
Last year I don’t recall having been that down about a presidential election since my first vote for president in 1972, when teenagers could participate for the first time, and I watched in utter disbelief as millions of Americans, exercising their apparent inability to judge character (or perhaps even care about it), handed Richard Nixon, one of the least honest men to occupy the White House, a historic landslide over George McGovern, one of the most.
Less than two years later, after he’d resigned before being impeached (in the days when Republicans would actually convict a criminal heading their party), it was difficult to find anyone who’d voted for Nixon. Then, in 1977, during interviews with English journalist David Frost, Nixon uttered one of his most memorable lines: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
Sadly, after Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, saying that our “long national nightmare is over” (actually, Ford was only extending the nightmare as the Supreme Court now has), since then Nixon’s comment has proven quite prescient, as the Trump era continues to put Nixon’s assertion on steroids.
Of course, many presidents from both ruling parties have often violated both international and national laws with absolutely no accountability, from George’s W.’s massive war crimes, to the most egregious recent example: Biden’s continued funding of the Gazan genocide, and one reason I’ve remained with the Green party is because it always opposes these parties when they back atrocities.
So, the question remains: how to change course? In 1998 and 2002, I ran for Congress in Riverside County not because I thought I could win and change that course (I may be idealistic, but I’m not delusional), but because we need choices. If we’re going to claim that we have a “representational democracy,” then we need officeholders in our nation’s capital with other values represented, and not just brushed aside by a two-party duopoly fine-tuned to dismiss them.
After Lincoln’s election, the two major parties solidified this “lock” on power which continues to this day, with absolutely no countervailing forces able to check them. And what’s been the result? An ability to continue committing crime after crime, with, for me, the most disturbing being the war crimes that the U.S. government has committed basically since our founding. And for those who might need it, here’s a quick refresher course on some of those crimes, starting in the 1960s:
Lyndon Johnson (Democrat) and the war in Vietnam, with millions of civilian deaths and a landscape drenched in deadly, defoliant chemicals that continue to take a toll even today. Then Richard Nixon (Republican) continuing the war to satisfy his thirst for power, followed by Ronald Reagan (Republican) and his many war crimes in Latin America committed in concert with various despots. George H. W. Bush (Republican) with the war crimes of his Gulf War, some of the worst being the incineration of some 400 civilians in a Baghdad bomb shelter, and the massive slaughter of Iraqi troops trying to retreat on the “Highway of Death.”
Next came Bill (“I feel your pain”) Clinton (Democrat) with his war crimes in Bosnia and elsewhere. Then the crimes of the second President Bush (Republican) and his illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, along with torture; an occupation which Barack Obama (Democrat) kept in place, while also allowing some torture, of, among others, the whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and launched more predator drone missile than W., killing, in some cases, not just terrorists, but entire wedding parties.
Finally, and more recently, we’ve had the massive war crime of genocide committed in Gaza by Israel, funded in large part by the Biden administration, an atrocity which has been bookended by the two separate terms of Trump, who has also continued that funding, with yet more civilians bombed during his virtual “side show” in Yemen; deaths which have mostly gone unnoticed by many Americans.
So, there’s a quick review of a horrible history—a review which actually just scratches the surface of what’s gone on—all enabled by the two-party duopoly, which has either thwarted almost all attempts by other voices who speak out, for instance, in behalf of international laws and the U.N. charter, yet remain unable to enter the halls of power, or, when they do from time to time, have been either silenced or marginalized.
Right now, the U.S. also suffers from a two-party chokehold not only on elections, but on those who can get elected, with a federal body composed primarily of the rich—by the rich—and for the rich—(Trump’s two cabinets have basically been filled with billionaires)—because, as Bernie Sanders points out, many American work paycheck to paycheck and who can afford to run for office unless you already have a secure financial foundation for your run because campaigns don’t earn you, but cost you money—unless you win.
By now it’s become abundantly clear that we need far more people in Congress who work for a living—people who understand the problems of everyday Americans because they are everyday American. Unfortunately, these are the same people who can’t get elected because they don’t have the money—and until we have publicly financed elections to elect people whom we say should be public servants, corruption will remain baked into the system.
Of course, at this point I can hear the objections of many (including my wife), who say: yes Phill, all of this makes sense and should happen, but the way you’re doing it is just too slow. In other words: it’s too little and too late. We need ways to stop what’s happening now—right now! We can’t afford the slow incrementalism of electoral reform. And to them I say (including my wife): you’re right.
But I’ve also said this: that there is a way to change all of this virtually overnight if people simply refused to vote for the corrupt two-parties and began to support alternatives. There’s no reason why that can’t happen, except we’ve seen that it hasn’t, with perhaps the “closest call” being the campaign of Ross Perot in 1992 (yes, another billionaire), who might have made it if only he hadn’t been given to conspiratorial thinking and paranoia.
Another case in point was when I ran for Congress twice in 1998 and 2002 with the Green party (putting my feet where my mouth was) against my fellow Corona High Class of ’71 grad, Republican Ken Calvert, who first took office in 1993 and continues a corrupt grip on his congressional district to this day, where he now functions as a reliable “rubber stamp” for Trump and all his crimes.
Again, citizens in that district could have elected an honest man (and I know him quite well, since it’s me) but instead chose to continue “rubber stamping” Ken’s runs, in another example of the multi-faceted power of the incumbency; the two-party duopoly; and the overwhelming influence of corporate cash shoveled to candidates they approve of.
So, the question remains: how to stop this? Well, one way is what I’ve been working on for years with an organization called Californians for Electoral Reform with our push for instant run-off voting to eliminate the “spoiler” effect of the “lesser of two evils” system.
Despite the skeptics, it’s now being used in a number of other countries and in many American cities, as well as the entire states of Maine and Alaska, where it spared us the return of Sarah Palin. For more details on how it works, check out the entry about instant run-off voting on Wikipedia.
If that sounds appealing to you, please see Californians for Electoral Reform, or some of the many other electoral reform organizations on the internet for further details. In the meantime, while I recognize the realities of our current system and will continue to vote accordingly, that doesn’t mean that I’m giving up. True democracy needs all the help it can get.
Phill continued teaching high school English during both times he ran for Congress. His email is: pjcourtney1311@gmail.com
