10.07.03: The irony of democracy begins a new low today. John Locke is already rolling in his grave over federalism deteriorating to the level of multi-national corporations removing the ability to decide for oneself. Now, the Governator is about to be elected.

It was Locke in his 1690 Second Treatise concerning Civil Government who advocated the ability of the people to remove consent from an common judge in civil society. His political dream became a nightmarish reality.

It is hard enough for common people to be elected to office without the millions of dollars it takes to run a successful campaign in modern commercialist capitalism. Now, a bad actor is going to be running the fifth largest economy in the world.

What should be obvious to all is that (again) a conservative republican actor with no political experience will be running the state. Remember how well that worked before?

What should be obvious is that Californians can only vote for a candidate based on knowledge of the issues. All the media is pumping into our collective consciousness is Arnold or Bustamante. Either rich, groping, muscle-bound, Kennedy family Republican or limp-rag, status-quo, rich Democrat. Neither choice is appealing.

But, you object, there are over 100 candidates! How many of them do you hear about: perhaps ten, all of whom are either professional politicians who helped cause the mess or celebrities with no political experience.

The California deficit is $38 billion; that's larger than every state's deficit combined. So, what is the option? Put in a conservative Republican who will cut revenue and screw the economy even worse. Or, cut spending and allow the rich to get richer on the backs of the increasingly poorer. Please remember in 1994 when Arnold backed Prop. 187 to cut services to immigrants, the very same services he has benefited from as an Austrian immigree.

The irony of representative democracy is roundly denied. False consciousness keeps the individual faithful in the system. The media reinforces ideology to prevent the system from spontaneously combusting. Nobody wants to admit that the American political system has made itself a fucking joke since the 2000 Un-election that gave us the last round of fascist neo-cons. The ship is sinking, and the band is still playing; people are dancing and laughing. We are all slowly heading for a watery grave.

The lesson to be learned: if you're rich and marry right you can do anything. That's a modified version of the speech we all got in the third grade about democracy and capitalism: that you can do anything you want. They left out the part about the means to get there.

Who's deciding the vote? Some of the richest areas in the US are in California: Orange County, San Bernadino, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and all of the other rich individuals whose taxes will be cut by the Governator are the ones deciding.

Perhaps Sinbad, Arnold's co-star in the cinematic classic Jingle All The Way, should be running for Governor in his home state of Michigan. Or, perhaps, we'll elect Mickey Mouse the Governor of Florida. Oh, wait, we already did.

Modest proposal: vote Gary Coleman. At least then we'd start being transparent about the irony of democracy.