Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Spain shows it's possible
A typical tactic of the "moderates" and "good government" types here in America is to blame the voters for the Mafiocracy. Every day you hear Experts and radio callers saying "It's all We The People's fault. We The People don't need term limits, We The People just need to Throw Out The Bad Apples."
Nope. Won't work. This advice cleverly avoids the basic truth that the whole system is fucked. No good apples are allowed on the ballot at the federal level. Staying home doesn't help either, because the two "sides" don't want higher turnout. Unlike businesses who want more customers to increase revenue, the "parties" want an absolute minimum number of absolutely reliable voters. For the "parties", the ideal election has exactly one voter who picks My Party every time.
Spanish voters are getting much closer to an effective approach.
Here's the most important part:
In other words, spoiled ballots won the election.
Best, I think, would be an absolute majority for one non-existent character. I've voted Mr Scrooge McDuck for most offices in recent years, but there may be a more suitable candidate among modern TV characters. South Park's Mr Hankey, for instance. ¶ 3:26 AM
Nope. Won't work. This advice cleverly avoids the basic truth that the whole system is fucked. No good apples are allowed on the ballot at the federal level. Staying home doesn't help either, because the two "sides" don't want higher turnout. Unlike businesses who want more customers to increase revenue, the "parties" want an absolute minimum number of absolutely reliable voters. For the "parties", the ideal election has exactly one voter who picks My Party every time.
Spanish voters are getting much closer to an effective approach.
Proposals for voting strategies proliferated in the runup to Sunday's general election in Spain. People wrote "ballot box" on drains and toilets; others suggested cutting out the middlemen and depositing votes directly into bank machines.
This campaign of ballot spoiling wasn't a subcultural anarchist prank, but a reflection of extraordinarily widespread popular disaffection. A typical sight during a pre-election protest was a respectable middle-aged man with a cigarette in one hand and a marker pen in the other going from municipal bin to municipal bin writing "Vote here" on the lids.
"They don't represent us" and "They are all the same" – the slogans of the indignados (the Spanish progenitors of the Occupy movement, who have mobilised hundreds of thousands across the country) – are now mainstream.
Here's the most important part:
On election day the indignados got protest-voting trending on Twitter with a three-pronged strategy: to abstain, spoil one's ballot, or attempt to break out of the bipartisan system by voting for a minority party. Rather than just staying at home, people actively registered disgust at the choices on offer, and the number of spoiled ballots on Sunday was double that of the last election in 2008 – numbering, with abstentions and blank votes, 11 million: more than voted for the rightwing victors, the Partido Popular.
In other words, spoiled ballots won the election.
Best, I think, would be an absolute majority for one non-existent character. I've voted Mr Scrooge McDuck for most offices in recent years, but there may be a more suitable candidate among modern TV characters. South Park's Mr Hankey, for instance. ¶ 3:26 AM
