Thread: Revolutions in the Middle East....

Middle East Uprising: Their Triumph is Our ShameOff The Markley



"Their Triumph is Our Shame


By Stephen Markley

Monday, February 28, 2011 6:11am






Democracy is on the march in the Middle East as the uprisings that began in Tunisia and Egypt and soon spread everywhere from Bahrain to Iran continue. While much remains uncertain about what will emerge from these unlikely warp-speed revolutions, one thing is for sure: We Americans should feel like lazy, apathetic garbage.

We should feel like a flesh-folded fat man watching his ripped younger brother train for a triathlon.

One has to assume that the success or failure of the uprisings in many of these countries entirely depends on how many ordinary people are ready to die in order to gain their self-determination. French officials estimate that 2,000 people have died as Moammar “They’re Putting Hallucinogens in the People’s Coffee” Gadhafi tries to quell Libya’s rebellion. Meanwhile, here in the country that claims to be “The Godfather Part II” of democracy, the majority of us simply cannot be bothered to brush the Cheetos dust from our fingers and head to our local polling place once a year.

And twice a year? Yeah, right! Even with the heightened attention of Rahmania, Chicago’s mayoral and aldermanic elections saw less than a 45 percent turnout among registered voters (so not even counting those Chicagoans who are not registered at all). Rahm’s vote total could be the lowest ever for a winning Chicago mayoral candidate.
In the most recent midterm elections—widely seen as a kind of conservative neo-revolution—42 percent of registered voters showed up, according to The Associated Press, a total of just 90 million people. 2008 marked the most impressive voting turnout in modern American history, and the AP reported only about 62 percent of the eligible voting population cast a ballot for those contests.

This is the paradox of democracy: Once you have it, once you don’t have to risk your life to protect it, it becomes far more entertaining to vote for the best C-list celebrity trying to dance his or her way back to fame than your congressional representative.
Watching people take to the streets in the Middle East should frustrate us to no end because the largest political party in the U.S. is not Democrat or Republican or Independent but Who Cares They’re All the Same.

But this is what the party of Who Cares They’re All the Same doesn’t get: By not voting, they are in fact voting. And they’re voting for the interests that care the most. They’re voting for enormous financial institutions and pharmaceutical lobbies and agribusiness and big oil and health insurance companies.

One of the greatest problems with democracies—and I sincerely wish that the people of the Middle East get to discover this soon—is that in the face of apathy, they can become captured by well-organized interests, especially those interested in turning a profit.

We wipe the Cheetos dust from our fingers to exercise the right to vote and often forget that some are still wiping away blood to exercise theirs.


Tags: democracy, Egypt, elections, Libya, Middle East uprising, Tunisia, voting.


7 Responses to Their Triumph is Our Shame

• Jacqueline Gordon
  February 28, 2011 at 4:06 pm Reply
  I read this on the train on my way to work. I started the article as a member of the “Who Cares, They’re All the Same” group and finished the article with a lump in my throat and chills down my spine. Thank you Stephen for shaking at least some of us out of our apathetic stupor.
  
  
• James
  February 28, 2011 at 8:24 pm Reply
  The link I provided as my website actually shows that voter turnout for the 2006 mid term hasn’t been that high since 1982, and for the 2008 Presidential election it hasn’t been that high since 1968.
  Except for countries with mandatory voting, the US isn’t doing so bad.
  The “Who Cares, They’re All the Same” is really an unengaged segment of the population. Should we really have _everyone_ voting? I’m not really convinced that having people casting uninformed votes to be a good thing.
  
  
• James
  February 28, 2011 at 8:33 pm Reply
  
  http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html
  
  
• Dmband
  February 28, 2011 at 10:57 pm Reply
  Markley-
  I disagree, by voting, you are casting your passive agreement that the system works in its current state.
  Most people vote because it gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling that they are contributing in some way.
  You are correct, not voting is a vote. Its vote that says I will not participate in a two party “pick the best of these limited terrible options” system.
  
  
• winstrall
  February 28, 2011 at 11:50 pm Reply
  I have bookmarked your blog , i read it often. Can’t wait for new articles
  Legal steroids
  
• 
  
• J.C.
  March 1, 2011 at 12:18 am Reply
  It is sad what’s going on, but to compare the United States to these people is comparing apples and oranges. We had our battle and blood not cheetos stained our ancestors fingers. It’s also sad that this administration is working hard at trashing everything that what fought for!
• Ken S.
  March 2, 2011 at 1:32 am Reply
  Very innocent, amusing column Stephen is pat-on-the-head idealistic. I once thought increasing voter turnout would lead to better government. Consider that one-fifth of Americans are so illiterate they cannot fill out a personal check. Should they be voting? No. Nor should citizens who cannot read English; the multilingual ballot is a terrible idea. Making intelligent choices requires a certain level of intelligence. Just showing up is not enough.
  The columnist’s other point was that by not voting, citizens are allowing scary groups like the pharmaceutical lobby, the health insurance lobby, the bankers and big corporations make decisions for us. Lobbies represent Americans. For a small membership fee, you, too, can join a lobby! And just for the record, the pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies can’t stand each other. They fight it out with big money over legislation that regulates and concerns both parties. Sometimes the little guy comes out on top. "