Top Two and Democracy Destroyed by Cindy Sheehan

(The following piece was authored by Cindy Sheehan and originally published on her blog, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.)

The primaries are over in California and there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is that, as of this writing, almost 90k Californians voted for left-wing candidates (Luis Rodriguez, GP: 48,000; Me: 39, 000), but the VERY BAD news is that California had less than 20% voter turnout and the Top Two vote getters are both corporatist members of the establishment in every way.

The tragic news is that MANY Californians, who voted in the Top Two law in 2010 do not understand it. Top Two is what’s called an “Open Primary” where party affiliation doesn’t matter and each voter can cast a vote for any candidate, but only the Top Two vote getters in the primary move on to the general election in November. Already, voters are contacting me to tell me that they will be voting for me in November, even though I came in 7th and my campaign is over.

In 2010, Top Two was originally sold to the voters here in California as a way to weed out people who are at the extreme right or extreme left and we know what that means: it means anyone who has a vision for something different from the Corporate establishment and its theft of wealth and resources.

So, again in November EVERY office has either a Democrat or Republican to choose from and not one 3rd party or independent candidate will be on anyone’s ballot and this is contributing to the descent into a one-party state where even though the “centrists” are in charge, social services and education have been decimated while Brown’s friends in Big Oil, Banks, and Private Prisons are being rewarded. 

Neel Kashkari, the Republican who will be facing Brown in November, is an ex-Goldman Sachs executive who managed Obama’s TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) program and is just another member of the parasitic 1% class.

Of course, Democracy USA style is a only a myth but at the beginning of the last century, California led the nation in progressive reforms. The Top Two scam is the nail in the coffin unless we stand up to overturn it and support bills in the state legislature that will at least ameliorate the horrible effects. However, how can we change something that few really understand?

I am excited that I finished 7th in a slate of 15 candidates and the votes are still coming in. So far, I know that 39,085 Californians voted for an unashamed, unapologetic, radical Socialist, peacenik, and, to me, that’s a good base to build upon to organize for the future.

Also, with the co-operation between my campaign and the campaigns of other Peace and Freedom and Green Candidates, I believe an infrastructure has been put into place for a relevant Red-Green Alliance of disaffected people to wrest this state and world from the hands of the Corporate Oligarchy. 

We the people must demand it because of the urgency of now.

Cindy Sheehan for Cal Gov, 2014 is deeply grateful to everyone who donated to the campaign,  voted for me, or volunteered. 

Venceremos! Hasta la victoria, siempre!