An enduring factor in American elections is the "lesser of two evils" (also known as "the lesser of two weasels") issue. On one side is the citizen that won't vote because the lesser of two evils is still evil. On the other side is the citizen that will vote because the lesser of two evils is still lesser. Now, I've always come down on the lesser-is-lesser, voting side -- I can usually see a better, or at least a less worse. Besides, I think that politicians are like persons of other occupational groups -- few are truly evil, but many go along with the evil that is baked into the system under which they work. And the biggest evil that is baked into the American political system may be that of legalized bribery.
As I see it, legalized bribery is the heart of American plutocracy -- rule by the richest 1% that has risen and strengthened itself since about 1980. The bribery begins with a big corporation or billionaire hiring lobbyists and donating to a politician's campaign. The lobbyists write-up the law they want and give it to the politician, who sneaks it into a bigger bill before Congress. That law then results in much more money flowing to, or saved by, the big corporation or billionaire -- and a phenomenal return on investment. Then, when out of office, the politician takes a cushy job at the lobbying firm.
Meanwhile, the 99% of citizens -- who should be the highest power in a democratic republic -- are left at the side of the road, with the occasional bone tossed their way by their supposed public servants. With the resources sucked up by the plutocracy, little is left to secure the pursuit of happiness, establish justice, promote the general welfare, or secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
But in the current primary elections there stands a candidate for president -- Bernie Sanders -- that directly fights legalized bribery.
Firstly, he opts out of the system by refusing campaign donations from super PACs -- the main funding pipeline from big corporations and billionaires to politicians. Instead, he funds his campaign right from the citizenry in the form of millions of small donations.
Secondly, his policies would rein in the wealth of the 1% and cripple the plutocracy, while promoting the general welfare of the people. For example, a small tax on Wall Street speculative transactions would be used to provide tuition-free college to any person willing and able to do the work. And, of great importance, a carbon tax, and an end to fossil fuel corporate tax breaks that would fund a total build out of clean energy, and put the nation on track to meet its share of responsibility to arrest climate change.
Thirdly, Sanders would aim at ending legalized bribery via full disclosure by big donors, public funding of elections, and a Constitutional amendment to reverse the Roberts Court's money-is-speech, corporation-is-person rulings that opened the floodgates of campaign funding and led to the creation of super PACs.
Given that Sanders has a track record of steadfast work and follow-through, and that he has finished first in the Democratic Party primaries of nine states, it gives us a real chance at knocking down the legalized bribery system and the plutocracy, and ending evil-is-evil non-voting. That chance may be the chance of a lifetime. Let every voter seize it and vote Bernie!