A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON JUNE 27

Right in front of our eyes...

Nothing is more important than the protection of our democracy. But that’s an increasingly complicated issue, as some of the biggest assaults on our democracy come in forms that are insidiously disguised. Much of our politics is a product of “manufactured consent,” a performative exercise, mere political theatre that doesn’t so much facilitate democracy as mimic it. Things seem to change - names, faces, and so forth - yet the system guarantees that nothing fundamental will ever change. Corporate control is so locked in at this point that it’s not viewed as the tyranny that it is; it’s simply a new normal to which all of us must simply acquiesce.

Today, President Biden said he would be willing to debate Trump and he laid out his ground rules for doing so. Among them is that neither Robert Kennedy Jr. nor any other third party candidate will be part of the debate. If I hadn’t had the experiences I’ve had, I might have thought, “Fair enough.” But in fact it is not fair enough. It’s for the people to decide who our President should be, and how can that happen if we don’t even know our choices? An establishment elite should not have the to power to determine what our choices are.

As soon as the President made his statement, CNN said “We’ll do it!” Donald Trump then said, “I’ll be there.” And that was that. Please view the video above for my reflections on the process.

The way to save the democracy is by practicing it. As Gandhi said, “The end is inherent in the means.” 70 % of the American people made it clear they wanted other candidates than Trump or Biden running this year, yet the political-media industrial complex responded, “Yeah well too bad.” Their power to make it appear like they’re the only real grown ups in the room is enormous. They wield that power as though they alone are intelligent enough to make decisions that in fact we the people are supposed to make for ourselves, determining everything from who gets news coverage to who gets to participate in debates or even whether debates will occur. Our democracy is devolving to a faux version of itself, right in front of our eyes.

We the people need to stand up for our democracy. Too many of our institutions no longer do.