DBP
>>one way [to defeat big money is by] – voting and overwhelming the monied opposition with sheer numbers
–I just can’t see it, because by the time the vote rolls around, Big Money has already done its damage. Even by the time of the caucuses, Big Money has pretty much determined who you get to choose from. At least on the national level.
For the most part, voting doesn’t lead to structural changes and never will. As the old anarchist maxim goes: “If voting could really change anything, it would be illegal.”
I’m not an anarchist, and I don’t think it’s a BAD thing that voting can’t change “the system.” In fact, I wouldn’t WANT the system to change every time we had a vote, because then the system would be lurching all over the place.
>>the second way is to buy your own candidate and opposition, which is essentially what the tea party is
–I think you’re misreading the Tea Party here. They’re essentially an anti-establishment movement on the right, just like Occupy was on the left. They may field candidates, but to the extent that they end up “buying” their own candidate, they will have forsaken their own first principle, which was to make the Republican Party more responsive to voters and less responsive to money.
>>i think that not voting is the easiest way out, and it’s tantamount to burying your head in the sand. and it’s a guarantee that your interests will not be represented, that money will continue to win elections, and that you will have zero ability to affect any meaningful changes.
If you vote and do NOTHING else then you will still have almost zero influence.
If you don’t vote but DO get involved in your community and DO put pressure on your elected represenatives (even the ones you don’t like) you will have MORE influence than if you merely voted and didn’t do anything else.
Voting can just as easily be used as an excuse (for doing nothing) as NOT voting can be. In the final analysis, you gotta get off your butts and really holler if you want politicians to hear you. In other words, you gotta WORK for it.
Sorry if that’s not the answer some people wanted to hear . . .