US elections are a charade but most Americans are unaware!

Crescent International

It is amazing to see Americans line up to cast ballot in the presidential election without knowing what goes on behind the scenes.

More than 85 million have already voted. That is 54% of all the votes cast in 2016.

In the tightly controlled system, only two parties—Democratic and Republican—are given media coverage and platforms.

There are occasionally other parties as well such as the Green Party in the race but one hardly hears about them.

The duopoly that takes turns to occupy the White House or Congress are also not independent entities despite the media hype.

Elections in the US are not about “electing” someone; it is a selection process.

Candidates of both parties are already vetted by the real masters of America: the banksters and corporate thieves that decide people’s fate sitting in the boardrooms chomping cigars.

People are treated like mice and told to choose between a white cat and a black cat to determine their future.

Not surprisingly, little changes in America despite the change of faces in the White House or Congress.

Elections are not about alleviating poverty, providing healthcare to the poor or bridging the racial divide.

Nor are they about ending America’s endless wars.

Instead, the vast majority of ill-informed Americans are riled up about some imaginary enemy and marched off to war.

For America’s corporate masters, wars are profitable business even if the US has not won a single war since World War Two.

Wars are not waged to win. They are waged for profits and for stealing other countries’ resources.

Dick Cheney, vice president under George Bush, said just before the US attacked Iraq in 2003: “They have our oil under their soil.”

Cheney was linked to Halliburton, one of the leading companies that profited from the Iraq war that was launched on a pack of lies about weapons of mass destruction.

There is another “choice” offered to the people during elections: between “the lesser of the two evils”.

It is interesting to note how for decades, the US system has only produced evil men, and in rare instances, evil women.

“The lesser of evils is still an evil,” according to Dr. Nozomi Hayase, a writer who has been covering issues of freedom of speech, transparency and decentralized movements.

She further states: “By pushing the levers for the Democrats at the ballot box, we validate the imperial machine that perpetuates war, racism and exploitation. Long before the Trump presidency, the malignancies of white supremacy, discrimination, and hostility toward women and minorities have already been present in the nation.

“The American political system, from its very inception, was never intended to be democratic. It was designed to favor the elite rule of wealthy white men. Despite the noble ideals of the framers of the constitution, the history of this republic contains internal contradictions and a dark shadow which has manifested in the genocide of natives, enslavement of blacks and the suppression of women.”

And Steven Magee helpfully reminds us: “You have the illusion of elections and we, the corporations, will purchase the elected government through lobbying and donations.”

The occasional voices that try to point out that the emperor has no clothes are drowned out by the media din and hype about elections.

Instead of discussing real issues, people are told to wrap themselves up in the flag, stand up for the national anthem or salute some criminal’s statue who is projected as a hero or great patriot.

Many people have expressed, with good reason, the fear of a civil war erupting in the US.

Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that if he loses, he would not accept the results.

He has aroused his heavily-armed white supremacist base to prevent the Democrats from “stealing” the election.

He has convinced himself that he will win.

Never mind that the pandemic has killed more Americans in nine months than were killed in all of America’s wars in the last century and this one, except the Second World War.

The jobless rate has skyrocketed yet America’s super-rich have added more than 930 billion to their coffers while the people suffer.

It is a telling reflection of America that despite having the largest GDP in the world, there are 52 million people living in poverty.

The deeply entrenched inequality has increased.

Will the election result on Tuesday November 3 (or whenever the result is announced) make any difference to the plight of these unfortunate people?

If the past is any guide, there is little hope for optimism.

In another ironic twist, the US has such a large global footprint that while the rest of the world is not involved in the election, it will be affected by it.

By all accounts, America’s future does not look bright.

Will it mean less US meddling and wars around the world? Only time will tell.