The Battle for Free Elections

The nomination of a presidential candidate from either of the two major parties and the election of the next President of the United States of America are compromised by money, elitism, and manipulation from mainstream media. From the onset of each presidential campaign, the booby trapped road that leads the candidates to the coveted nomination from their respective parties does not end until the electronic tallies of Diebold and ES&L are reported on national television. And as Americans have discovered in recent times, should the electorate object to fraud and improprieties, a partisan Supreme Court would be willing to appoint the next president again this November, 2008. This is what we now call “free elections.”

Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of an iniquitous election process, many Americans are showing a renewed desire to change a system that has become riddled with corruption. In considering the nomination process from both Republicans and Democrats, the evidence indicates that we have a government that is opposed to free elections. Awakening to this reality is not easy for some patriotic Americans to admit, but it has become increasingly evident and a necessary prerequisite for hope and change.

Surviving the Republican’s gauntlet of prefabricated contests more commonly known as “the CNN debates” comes Senator John McCain. One should not be too surprised that the Bush-endorsed candidate slithered ahead of his adversaries with help from CNN, the Time-Warner TBS -AOL owned station that had donated more than 1.6 million to the campaign of George W. Bush Jr.

In consideration of McCain’s recent compromise on torture and his flip-flops on the Iraq War, the Christian right, and gay marriage, CNN still kept their brass knuckles in their pockets, as did most of the other news commentators from the major networks. Despite McCain’s vast record of contradictions, the media continues to simply characterize him as a great American, because of his military service. Any semblance of objective and critical reporting on this election process is a rarity. The hands-off approach to George W. Bush’s past during his bid for the presidency is all too reminiscent.

In addition to CNN’s dubious contribution to the nomination process, we have cable network’s MSNBC. The “MS” in MSNBC refers to Microsoft, the same company that donated 2.4 million to get George W. Bush elected. And the largest single company, General Electric, has media-related holdings that include television networks NBC and CNBC among several others and they also donated over a million to George W. Bush Jr. Of the greatest jeopardy to the scrutiny of presidential candidates comes from General Electric, a top 10 defense contractor, who is a major competitor in the manufacture of aircraft engines and a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. Nominating and electing McCain will assure them that their profits will continue from the war in Iraq. A promise to stay in Iraq for 100 years or 10,000 years is like giving drugs to a junkie; and John McCain knows it.