Myths - the US is a democracy: Elections

Why bother to vote?

In the 2002 elections 94 percent of House candidates who outspent their opponents won their races. In this case why bother to vote? Just auction off the seat to the highest bidder. This would save a lot of money.

The Repucrats and the Demublicans

Introduction

An honest observer of the American political scene could only conclude that the Democrats are financed by the Republicans in order to give the impression that the US is a democracy. The difference between them is similar to the difference between brands of gasoline: it's just the image.

Gore - Bush debates

Everyone expected Gore to wipe the floor with Bush in the Presidential Debates in 2000. Instead Gore mostly agreed with Bush. If this had been a boxing match the fans would have assumed that Gore had taken a dive and that the fight had been rigged.

GORE: I agree with that. I agree with that. … I don't disagree with that. … I certainly agree with that. … I would agree. And I also agree that … I agree with that, and I did support that law. … I basically agree with Dick Cheney … let me say that the governor [Bush] and I agree on some things where this subject is concerned. … And I agree with a lot of the other things that the governor has said. … I agree with Governor Bush … I agree that … I found one thing in Governor Bush's answer that we certainly agree on … I want to compliment the governor … I found a couple of other things we agree upon . … We agree on a couple of things on education. … I agree with that.
[1]

Zell Miller

Zell Miller the Democrat Congressman for Georgia votes consistently with the Republicans against the Democrats, and even took the stage at the Republican party convention to endorse Bush!

Overview

	Republicans	Democrats
Symbol
Number of senators who were willing to give a signature in order to debate the election of Bush in 2000. [2]	0	0
Number of members of congress who voted against the war on Afghanistan.	0	1
Number of members of congress who voted for the Patriot Act.	211	145
Number of senators who voted against the Patriot Act.	0	1
Enron Contributions to Party National Committees (2001)	$114,752	$102,050
Enron Contributions to Current Members of Congress, 1989-2001	$761,000 (158 Members)	$368,000 (98 Members)
Corporate Welfare and Tax Handouts to Wealthy. [3]	Supported by both parties.
Corporate Agriculture. [4]	Supported by both parties.
Death Penalty.	Supported by both parties.
Israeli Occupation of West Bank and Gaza.	Supported by both parties.
Telecommunications Deregulation - Giveaway of public broadcast spectrum to private companies.	Supported by both parties.
Landmine Treaty. [5]	Opposed by both parties.
Middle East policy (Palestine / Israel).	No difference. [1]
"Marriage should be between a man and a woman."	No difference. [1]

Notes

1. See the transcript of the Bush-Gore Presidential Debate 11 October 2000 and the transcript of the Bush-Gore Presidential Debate 03 October 2000.

2. Under a section of the U.S. Code enacted in 1887, if at least one senator and one representative object, the two chambers must convene separately to deal with the objection.

3. Bush's tax cuts will give the richest 1% over $470 billion (36% of $1.3 trillion in cuts) over the next 10 years. Democrats proposed a $1.35 trillion tax cut, compromising with Bush, and helped pass the Bankruptcy Bill, favoring credit card businesses over Americans whose budgets are destroyed by job loss or medical bills. Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act, cutting aid to the poorest Americans.

4. “Not only have taxpayers' subsidy costs exploded during the 1995-2002 period, but the biggest farms have been collecting an ever greater share of total payments, based on the recipient data made available by USDA. In 1995, the top 10 percent of recipients took in 55 percent of total subsidy payments (all categories combined), bringing them $3.98 billion. But by 2002 the top 10 percent collected 65 percent of total subsidies, a share worth $7.8 billion.”. (From the Environmental Working Group.)

5. The Landmine Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, requires the eradication of landmine stockpiles within four years, and the clearing of all landmines within ten years.