The general elections are right around the corner and once again the people will have the opportunity to participate in deciding, for good or bad, the future of the state, the country and the entire world.
When we put it this way, the call to vote should make any of us ordinary citizens feel important, filling us with enthusiasm, optimism and hope to participate in such a civilized, democratic action. Of course, right?
Unfortunately, California, like the rest of the world, is very far from being ¨Alice in Wonderland.¨ The economic, climatic and social situation these days is a calamitous nightmare. Those responsible for such misfortune are the rich, the powerful and the servile political machine.
The planet is in agony and is crying for attention. It is urgent to take drastic measures to reduce environmental pollution, however in the upcoming ballots we have Proposition 23, which will do the opposite. As if the situation will continue to wait.
“No es por hacerles desaire, es que ya no soy del vicio…”, from the bad habit of believing all the corruption and deception from these politicians and their elections. Enough already. I would love to say the same about my tax payments, but they´ve got us by the neck and besides, they want to make us believe that through voting, our opinion actually counts.
I come from a small, poor and long-suffering country, whose current situation could be excused, given the ups and downs of its history. Now, I am a citizen of a powerful, enormous and wealthy country where I cannot find a single reason to excuse it from being condemned to such a dire economic situation.
But it´s not just that. How can it be that the government (current and past) of this country, which vainly boasts of being the world´s guardian angel, can limit its people´s access to the basic resources of a first-world society, such as health and education?
No, here mom and dad have to work extra hard to make money in order to send their kids to college. But the families who don´t earn enough wanted to ¨believe¨ the offers of the military and decided to go and fight in pointless wars, convinced that the government would award them later (if they didn´t return insane or dead) in paying for school.
The elections will continue being a farce while our taxes (the fruits of great daily sacrifice) continue being wasted on invading, destroying, slaughtering and torturing ordinary citizens like you and me in other parts of the world. And all to maintain the status quo of the rich, the powerful and the unscrupulous politicians who want to convince us of the opposite. Or will we let ourselves be taken for fools?
California is falling to pieces. Yes, California. The state that one time was the fifth economic power in the world. Let´s remember how we waited more than three months until the policymakers agreed on a state budget. The numbers do not coincide with reality. Such is the desperation that some have viewed the legalization of marijuana as a solution to the economic crisis, and the people opposed to Proposition 19 are those who have the monopoly on legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol.
Esteemed politicians, your electoral proposals and the system for which you work is unattainable and complicated for the average citizen, although one doesn´t need to know much to find it illogical that so much money is being wasted to fight a war on the other side of the world, while investing in health and education here would be much more inexpensive.
Who actually thinks about terrorism when paying for rent, medical insurance, the car, or feeding and educating their kids? Please, fool someone else. Or could there be hidden interests involved? Perhaps having a healthy, educated society would limit the manipulative power of those who benefit economically from our ignorance and the weakness of the population.
It is convenient for those in power to maintain a vicious circle where almost everything revolves around the 40-hour or more work week, the television as a best friend/adviser and a pathological consumerism in the style of Hollywood celebrities. We are exhausted, but without options we continue, continue and continue doing the same because we need to pay for our credit cards, among other fantasies.
Education and health. Let´s talk about that and compare how we stand in relation to the Nordic countries, for example. Why not? Isn´t the United States the greatest country in the world? That is what the people have put into their heads, although many have not yet had the opportunity to visit Canada or Mexico.
Elections? For what? To legitimize the absurd decisions of politicians and the unconditional support for the megaprojects of the powerful? No thanks.
—Translation Damon Bennett