I turned 18 in March of 1996, and therefore became eligible to vote in elections of the USA. I followed politics a little bit, but I definitely wouldn't say I was fanatical about the subject. However, unlike these students:
I could tell you who was vice president, when the USA became independent, from who they won independence from...hell, I could even tell you who the attorney general was in 1996...not a big deal..right? Anyway, I never exercised my right to vote, until 2004. Even at a young age I knew that anyone I voted for, it wouldn't really matter because they're all corrupted people. The above video is featured in a Salon.com article in which the headline is "College students were asked simple questions about politics and history and their answers are a dramatic wake up call about the state of our education system" I'm sure we can all agree that education systems throughout the world certainly have a lot that could be improved upon, but the reason these students failed to answer the questions about politics I don't think have much to do with the education system. I think the education system does teach students when the USA won it's independence and from who. I think the education system does teach students who the current president is and who the vice president is. The reasoning behind why these college students don't know who the vice president is but can tell you who Brad Pitt's first wife was, has to do with what these individuals prioritize in their lives and why these are priorities. It's not the education system's fault that they care more about Brad Pitt than Joe Biden. If politics were more of a priority than entertainment, then I'm sure this wouldn't even have been brought up.
This is a table of voter turnout for the USA dating back to 1824. I have one immediate question regarding this. According to Wikipedia, in 1932, 75,768,000 people were considered 'eligible' to vote, and 39,817,000 voted, which is 52.6%. 35,951,00 people did not vote in the 1932 election. Who are these people and why did they not vote? Were they unable to make it to their local voting booth because of sickness? Transportation? They were refused because of their ethnicity? They didn't know that they had the right to vote? Or, they simply did not care? But fast forward to 2012, again wikipedia numbers here, 235,248,000 people were considered as 'eligible' to vote, and 129,235,000 actually did vote, 54.9%. That means 106,013,000 people did not vote. Why? Were these people sick and couldn't make it? Did they not have the transportation to make it to the voting booths? Were they refused because of their ethnicity? Did they know that they had the right to vote? Or, they simply did not care? You know, ever since 1912, the voter turnout in terms of a percentage rate, has never been higher than 63%. In terms of what a democracy is or at least what it's supposed to be, a 63% voter turnout in my opinion, doesn't paint a good picture of democracy.
As stated above, I never took advantage of my right to vote, until 2004, but that doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention to what was going on. Back in November of 2000, when I heard on the news a couple days after election day, that James Baker and a team of legal experts and lawyers were being sent to Florida on behalf of George Bush, I immediately said "James Baker????!!!!!! How the fuck is he involved in this?" The more that election 'situation' dragged out, the more apparent to me it became who was working for who and who was being supported by who. I thought the whole thing was fascinating and an embarrassing circus act at the same time. I personally don't care what the results of Florida were, whether they were done properly, whether these people had the right to do this, or whether these people had the right to do that. I only care about one thing and one thing only:
Popular vote for George W. Bush 50,456,002 vs. popular vote for Al Gore 50,999,897.
This is a difference of, 543,895 votes in favor of Al Gore. I'm not at all saying that Bush stole the election, he won it according to the game rules. But you cannot deny the following statement: "In the 2000 USA presidential elections, the person who received the greater amount of votes, lost." The only thing this did for me was add to the amount of skepticism I have of this particular individual and day by day, month by month, during his administration, it kept on growing larger and larger. Here is a video rightfully called Ultimate George Bush Stupidicy video
From the bullshit I heard come out of his mouth following the events of September 11, 2001 to the reasoning and the actual happening of the war in Iraq, I would have these feelings of astonishment that this person was in fact a president. I was DETERMINED that I would in fact vote in 2004. I didn't care who I was voting for, I just wanted to make sure it was NOT George W. Bush. So that night came, and I was standing in line, and throughout the whole day I would hear on the news how "people were showing up in record numbers" and I had this feeling of pride and I actually felt united with EVERYONE in the country because I knew there was no way in hell that George Bush would be re-elected. It was impossible! The next morning when I turned on the TV, my mouth fell open, he won. How the fuck did this happen? Who the fuck voted for him? Why the fuck did they vote for him? Are they that blind? Have they not witnessed what this man has done the past four years? Was John Kerry that bad of a person in which a voter thought that George W. Bush was a better option?
I want to go back to voter turnout. Here are the wikipedia numbers for 2004: Eligible 219,553,000 number of people who voted 122,349,000, which is a 55.7% rate. This means that approximately ten million more people voted than in 2000. Did they all vote for Bush or for Kerry? But still............97,204,000 people who could vote, did not. Why? I'm sure there are lots of people who were sick or people who really wanted to vote, but just couldn't. But I highly doubt that it's fifty percent of the 97 million. I even doubt it was 25 percent of those who did not vote. I'm more than willing to bet that a good majority of the 97 million people who could vote, didn't because they simply don't care. What does this mean? I have my opinions, I'm sure everyone else who cares about politics has theirs. What I do know for a fact though is that last year, more than 114 million people watched the Superbowl. I'm very curious to see what percentage of these people voted. I'd be more than willing to bet its not more than fifty percent. Entertainment wins again!
So, my landscape changed to Greece in 2010. I've always known that Greeks living in Greece have been passionate about politics. I didn't grow up here so I never felt that I had the right to comment on a lot of stuff. However, after 2011, I became a Greek citizen, and had the right to vote. I was actually told by my family that I had to vote or else face a fine.......technically true, but it's never enforced, just like the four times since I've been living here in which the government has passed a "No smoking in restaurants and bars" legislation, it's enforced for two weeks, and then it dies out. So, I voted in 2012 while I was in the army. I actually felt proud to vote, just cause I had gained citizenship, not cause I was interested in the outcome. I voted for some rinky dink small party, they didn't win, I didn't care, end of story. In 2015, I was forced or intimidated to vote by my family, so I made sure I would vote for a small party I KNEW wouldn't win, because I originally wanted to vote with a blank paper, only to find out that the blank paper only counts as a vote for the winner. I voted, the party I chose didn't make it, I didn't care....but I definitely followed what was happening. SYRIZA, a left wing party, had won, and I was pleasantly surprised by this because it wasn't New Democracy or Pasok. I've always viewed Greek citizens as fucking idiots because for decades, they only voted for three parties, ND, Pasok, and the Communist party, which is always a steady 6% of the vote. This time it was different, and they handled themselves differently. SYRIZA had become somewhat of a 'rockstar' spectacle. There were a lot of new faces to come with this. People such as Zoe Konstantopoulou
and Nantia Valavani
and George Stathakis
These are people who I may or may not agree with their politics, but in the way they handled themselves during interviews, I just got this "I like this person" type feeling. Alexis Tsipras for me, was someone who I had no respect for because the only time I'd hear words out of his mouth, it was only to attack his opposition. But even that changed. I saw a party who supported gay rights, was not officially 'religion' oriented, and was not associated with the political parties of the old.
But then there was this guy:
Mr. Yannis Varoufakis. This guy is my hero out of all this. I was so intrigued by his accent, his knowledge of the English language, and not to sound 'bandwagon' about it, but he was definitely a rock-star. I started watching any and all videos I could of him. He used the English language so articulately, which of course led to numerous misunderstandings.
SYRIZA had a 'left-wing agenda' and the rest of the EU leaders or colleagues or members or whatever the fuck you want to call them, were immediately concerned about this. Immediately after their election, you started hearing comments from various EU countries saying things like "we know that there is a newly elected party in Greece, but they still must obey to the agreements signed for by previous parties." I started to get some type of feeling that the rest of the EU was terrified of Greece. Ha! A big FUCK YOU to all the bailout agreements right? Well, for the next five months, SYRIZA was in power, I think in terms of actual legislation, they only managed to pass one bill, which was for humanitarian aid/rights to those affected by the economic crisis of the last five years. Maybe they did more legislation, I'm not sure, but I am sure that the good majority of those five months were dedicated to talks between Greece and it's fellow EU members on negotiating a new deal. This deal was expected to be more 'left' influenced. I am very certain that NO ONE in SYRIZA ever imagined that a new 'bailout' deal was ever going to be even considered. I'm also pretty certain (and this is just my opinion, I don't have anything to reference) that the newly elected SYRIZA government was very prepared to stick by their beliefs, even if it meant an exit from the EUROZONE. Drachma? Drachma it is! And you know what? They almost did it! In June/early July, talks were non-stop. Media coverage was incredible! Who is going to budge first? Who is going to win? What will happen to the EU? What is the future of Greece? Even after missing a deadline date for payment to the IMF, the SYRIZA government was not bowing in to the EU's demands. Then Mr. Alexis Tsipras and his cabinet (and I say his cabinet because I can't imagine only one person wanting to do this) they literally threw the biggest punch in the face to the EU: Alexis Tsipras would not sign any deal until a referendum vote was done on July 5, 2015 asking the Greek people to vote on whether or not they approve the terms and conditions of the suggested agreement put forth by the EU and Greece. SYRIZA had crossed a line. They pissed off EVERYONE involved in the talks with Greece....and they would pay the price.
I actually think I did a blog about this at the time. I know that various political leaders and the media here, twisted this into "this is a vote to stay or exit the EUROZONE," but technically speaking it wasn't that at all. I was at the beginning kinda torn on this issue. Man, it would suck that my property would be devalued into Drachmas and man, if we go back to the Drachma, it's going to be fucking chaos! But with each passing day, I was telling myself, the Drachma would in fact be better for everyone involved, so I should vote No. So on Sunday July the fifth, 2015, I went to the voting booth and voted NO...OXI!!!!!!!!! I actually felt kinda proud about it. Later on that evening, when the results were just about finished, I saw something that I never thought I would see: Every state or regional unit in Greece, the result of ALL 74 of them was a NO vote! I couldn't believe that! From what I was hearing from other people, I kinda knew that the NO vote was popular, but I sure as hell didn't anticipate on every state to have an end result of NO. During one of the commentaries of the election that night, one of the news anchorwomen said "The entire map is red?!!!!!!???" Yep, the NO vote won!
What did this mean? Well, the NO vote translated into more angry faces within the EU, and just a few days later, came the bomb....Alexis Tsipras had signed a new bailout deal, the third one Greece had signed within the past five years. Whoa! What the fuck happened? Well, only the people involved in the negotiation talks will ever know what the fuck happened, but it was being rumored that Alexis Tsipras was being 'crucified' during the talks. I wish I was a fly on the wall to listen to what various leaders were telling this guy. Whatever was being said, and in my opinion, they didn't say anything, they literally threatened him..maybe with his life, or some other way, it had to have been catastrophic. How can someone flip-flop so easily after months if not years, of being against the whole idea? It sure as hell couldn't have been the closing of the banks, which began before the referendum was even announced. Also, a few months later, it had been discovered that the government was indeed actually planning a return to the drachma. They were very prepared for it. But it wasn't going to happen. This is when I realized that no matter how much money is given to Greece, no matter how just or corrupt the Greek government can be.........as long as the EU exists, Greece will always be a part of it. I only have one reason for saying this: The powers that are allied with Europe, do not want Greece to become allies with Russia or anyone else 'east' of Europe.
The economy of this place is extremely minuscule if not insignificant compared to other economies, but the geopolitical location of Greece is VERY important and important to a LOT of major 'powers'. How important? Just look at whats happening right this very moment in Greece: The migrant/refugee crisis. This is something that is about to hit home for me, and I literally mean home. There will be a new refugee camp opening up within the next few days right where I live. I have spent a good deal of my own energy and thoughts on being negative about Greeks and Greece, but in this case, I think a good majority of Greeks actually do want to help these people. After all, at one point in time, a good majority of Greeks were in fact migrants. They sought to move to a different country in hopes of a better life, be it economical, or social. However, where I live? I'm very afraid. I'm afraid because this town I live in is very xenophobic. Athens and Thessaloniki have a good deal of migrants who have been living there for years, it's somewhat commonplace to see migrants and for quite some time. However, where I live? The only migrants are Albanians, because you know, Greeks are 'hard working people'. There is also the issue of the farmers protests. These idiots are blocking roads throughout the country of Greece and also the borders in protest of new reforms being taken on their pensions. You know, if twenty years ago, I borrowed money from you and then bailed on you, and then twenty years later I have some type of conscious moment and apologize to you, does that mean that my responsibility to you is over just because I apologized? I would hope that we could work out some type of plan so that I could repay you, or perhaps, you could see my situation and forgive me as long as I own up to myself and realize what I did was wrong. This is how I view Greeks when they mention 'financial crisis'. For decades these people did not pay taxes, cheated the government, and continuously elected these corrupted assholes as their political leaders. Today, they can't cheat their government anymore and it's bothering them. They are protesting when in fact they only have themselves to blame. I'm not at all referring to any bailout agreements. I think the bailouts speak for themselves in regards to the levels of corruption among the IMF and EUROZONE. I'm talking about the local level. Still to this day, you will not always get a receipt when you make a purchase. Still to this day, there are common people looking for loopholes to avoid paying taxes. I have no sympathy for them in regards to pensions because they are probably pensions they shouldn't have had in the first place. I'm definitely being very general with this, there are obviously hard working people who had nothing to do with the 'corrupt' ways of the country and who are paying the price. But a good majority of these folk are responsible for the crisis because they were a part of it's corruption.
Anyway, to my point....I'm very afraid that there will be lots of protests where I live because these locals don't want refugees here because they are scared. Scared of the crime that may happen, angry that they will be the ones who will pay for supplies and housing for the refugees. Insulted because a good majority of the EU is not doing it's part in regards to responsibility for the migrants/refugees. I can sort of agree with them, but in the end, I cannot at all understand how anyone would want to deny someone the right to a safe environment because it costs too much or because of what crime may happen as a result of. I have recently sent an email to an organization asking if I can volunteer to help. Hopefully I will hear back within the next few days. But I am a bit nervous considering what backlash may happen as a result of one of these camps being set up here. I'm also nervous because I have never done any type of volunteer work in my life. Will it be very difficult for me?
I want to end this with a recent video from my hero:
this is a brief description that TED has given of the video:
Have you wondered why politicians aren't what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis, the former Minister of Finance for Greece, says that it's because you can be in politics today but not be in power — because real power now belongs to those who control the economy. He believes that the mega-rich and corporations are cannibalizing the political sphere, causing financial crisis. In this talk, hear his dream for a world in which capital and labor no longer struggle against each other, "one that is simultaneously libertarian, Marxist and Keynesian."
I have since given up on anything politics, no talking about it, no caring about who they are and what they 'claim' to believe in. It's a game, it's a fixed game, the poor lose, and the rich win. It doesn't matter if you're a liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, it's all a fucking game and unless you're in the inner circle, you lose. We are no longer citizens, we are consumers.