Conservative Conundrum #1: Voting Is a Social Program

Roger LeBlanc

Most people appreciate the fairness of “one person, one vote.” What many Americans fail to understand is that socialism is the foundation of their right to vote. Voting in a democratic system aims to socialize power — that is, take it out of the hands of the few and share it equitably among the many.

Voting — not Medicare, Social Security or food stamps — is America’s longest-running entitlement program.

Consider the cold, lopsided conservative view of socialism: a system full of entitlement programs that promotes laziness or mediocrity. An honest-to-Reagan assessment crams voting into that same pigeon hole:

• We don’t compete to earn a vote.
• It’s not a reward for hard work or brilliance.
• All it requires is sufficient motivation to get out of bed and submit our ballot.
• No matter the color of our skin, or our gender, or how much or how little we contribute to society, we just show up and say, “Hey, gimme this,” and it’s ours.

Conservatives, using their own definition, would be challenged to point to anything as purely socialistic as our right to vote. Yet almost nobody on that side of the political spectrum would insist on an end to voting.

The wealthier, more conservative framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized that voting turned power over to the people, and some were horrified at that reality. It shivered the timbers aboard the ships of slave runners. Blotted the spreadsheets of bankers. Laid sweat upon the brows of wealthy swindlers looking to monetize the new nation’s debt.

To preserve their wealth and power, these elitists limited voting in various ways — with gender, race and (lack of) property ownership leading the list of disqualifiers. Fortunately most of the Constitution’s original voter restrictions no longer exist. Only the Electoral College still stands, a worn and unreliable bulwark wobbling against the will of the masses.

Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign found itself at the convergence of the two streams: the socialistic flow of the popular vote, and the muddy but powerful waters of corporate-capitalist deal-making.

In the Democratic primaries voters encountered a real choice of streams to float:

• The Joe Biden rapids, promoted relentlessly by corporate media such as CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and now Bloomberg News. Biden supporters and conservative Democrats defend their convention’s system of empowering superdelegates, wealthy insiders, to overrule the voter-appointed delegates from primary elections. In an early debate Biden pledged allegiance to this vote-suppressing process built into Democratic Convention rules. The point is moot now, but Biden revealed what he and his backers stand for.

In addition the pro-Biden bloc that still rules the Democratic roost made it harder for independents in California to vote for Sanders. And they tightened rules to boot antiwar and pro-Medicare For All congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard out of debates while loosening rules to usher in billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

• The Bernie Sanders stream. Social media buzzed with voters excited about Sanders. Impassioned activists participating in these communal platforms were bashed as thugs on corporate-sponsored news outlets. The populist Sanders stream widened the flow of information and, through millions of small donations, fought to keep the electoral playing field level.

Not surprisingly the elitists holding a knife to the throat of democracy also plunge into dictatorial spasms in response to socialist policy options. Recall that President Obama banned single-payer discussions from U.S. healthcare reform efforts. And that he named two opponents of Social Security, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, to head the committee to reform Social Security.

For those who believe socialism is evil, the first step to preventing its spread is to destroy concepts such as “one person, one vote.” With their preferred candidate in place they can, as in the past, move on to dismantling unions (partially done through Clinton’s trade agreements), Social Security and other “evils” that benefit workers and bedevil the rich.

The Sanders campaign ran out of steam, but other socialists will follow in his footsteps. So if you hate socialism and want to bury it for a long time, support candidates who sabotage the right to vote. You have your choice of two in November.

Just be forewarned that future ballot boxes might look like this:

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