“Permanent Political Season.”
It’s political season. When politicians come around and promise happy days are coming, a chicken in every pot and a dessert of iced sugar plums to come, they smile. They prance. Some have been known to even do a dance. But after all is said and done, their words bring nothing to anyone, for that is the very nature of the political system and the political season.
The basic formula is fairly simple. Step one: promise everything. Step two: do next to nothing. Such a formula ensures that the status quo remains fairly static and unchanged.
That means that those in power in the beginning still hold power in the end, for real change means a social transformation in who holds power and who doesn’t. Representative democracy pretends that the politicians really represent those that voted for them.
But in truth, they represent those that donated to their campaigns. You buy it, you own it. See? And votes are free, but politicians aren’t. The politics of the present isn’t meant for change. It’s meant to preserve and protect the status quo.
To really represent people is to feel their pain and protect their interests. That doesn’t exist yet. That will be one hell of an improvement.
From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
these commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.