Boxing Wit' Da Black Folk

I’m one of Sen. Barbara Boxer's recently proud constituents. Total props for her chutzpah at the joint Congressional session to ratify the Electoral College votes. By standing with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to protest the certification of Ohio's electoral votes, she helped bring attention to the fact that democracy, as a political philosophy, is in a state of crisis. The United States, by choice, is supposed to be the standard bearer of democracy, the model for the world. Yet regardless of whether the events of 2000 and 2004 are deemed minor anomalies or are symptomatic of a deeper systemic illness, our system is clearly suffering from a lack of integrity. Many prefer to take the view that this is merely partisan sour grapes, but we have a serious problem in this country right now. For one thing, I don't think the two-party system is appropriate any longer for a nation that is so much more populous and heterogeneous than when the Whigs fell by the wayside. But that is, perhaps, a secondary issue. At hand is the fact that the past two elections have been openly ceremonial at best. When tens of thousands of are denied the right to vote, the end result is elections sans democracy and further movement down the road of political repression. Meanwhile, if one examines the track record of election disputes in the international community—and, I love it when we send observers—it's hard believe that democracy is truly viable.

The word “democracy,” is becoming like the word “nigger” to me—both are ridiculous epithets. So when the wrong person uses “nigger,” even affectionately, it’s pretty insulting. When we go around liberating countries in the name of democracy, even affectionately, it’s pretty insulting. Along the same lines, when the word nigger is invoked, it conjures the image of a black face. When the word democracy is invoked, I picture, among other things, Viktor Yushenko and his dioxin-ravaged features. But I also picture people takin’ it to the streets. We don’t have enough of that here. The issues of voter fraud and election reform shouldn’t fall only to the shoulders of the elected. After all, they’re biased; the fraud and flawed system is how they got there! The poisoning we can certainly do without, but next time someone steals our votes, I hope we Americans get angry enough to be a true model for the world and show them that CBC isn't the only acronym for Niggaz With Attitude. Maybe it’s time for a Black Velvet Revolution.


Black Velvet Revolution?
Photo by Luc Gnago

Back to “Boxer’s Rebellion,” as the press took to calling it for a few days. . . . I received a message in my inbox inviting participation in the online survey her office is conducting to find out what we the people believe should be priorities for the 109th Congress. I was thrilled briefly to have chance to offer some input. The survey itself turned out to be extremely simplistic: choose your top three issues from a predetermined list of 17, with the opportunity for one write-in issue. At first glance, I noticed that many items on the given list are of equal importance, making it difficult to choose one over another. Upon a closer reading, I realized that most of them are pretty nebulous, e.g. “Passing an effective National Energy Policy.” What does that even mean, exactly? I’d like to see the U.S. move away from an oil-based economy, exploring alternatives such as hydrogen, solar, and wind power. Further, I would love to see the state of California take the lead in that. But none of that is conveyed in “Passing an effective National Energy Policy.” Or take healthcare. “Making health care more affordable for families” is one of the offerings. But what about single people? And does that encompass the elderly? Not necessarily because “Preserving Social Security and Medicare” is a separate topic—and so are “Ensuring veterans have adequate health care” and “Enacting a Patient’s Bill of Rights for those enrolled in HMOs.” By the way, I couldn’t choose Social Security as an issue because I think the fact that it’s fucked—incidentally, just like the Democratic Party as whole—is a foregone conclusion, and Medicare as a program is simply pathetic. Preserve them in their current forms? Hell no. Preserve them in terms of some sort of reform? Sure, but I need details. I opted to craft my own third priority: “voting reform/election reform/elimination of the Electoral College, hopefully with the bonus result of hastening the end of the Iraqi occupation.” But I also wanted to say something about ensuring the separation of church and state even as the fundamentalists take over. 3 items? 17? Without democracy, we don't have choices; without the act of choosing and being heard, we don't have democracy. At least a helluva lot of people voted this time, even though I wish I could have voted for them.