"Hip Hop Suffrage" by Dubroc

Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007

The crossfire of ads will inform everyone of high-profile, extremely pertinent information about the contestants. The prospect’s sex life, psychedelic past, love for dead presidents, and the obligatory “National Guard” enlistment will all become part of the common banter.

Of course the usual arguments will also be re-re-re-redressed. Gay Rights anyone? Is Global Warming better than Centralized Air (the beauty of the uninformed is painfully obvious to the MAN)? Queries of big government, little government, religion, campaign finance, etc. will be thrust with the vigor of Lil’ Kim fondling a package of…Bob Evans. The biggest kielbasas will be the “conflict” in Iraq, and the lack of conviction in Afghanistan. Sidenote: Issues of the poor will be saved for the late poll push.

Of us, those molded by beats and rhymes, where do we fit in? We fit in the section of support. We as a collective provide commerce with billions of dollar-votes. From our music, to our fashion, to our comedic stance, this thing of ours is serious. This fact should force the American Wealth Pageant contestants to look upon this thing of ours as serious also. Though for some reason I cannot see a message tailored for us outside of the race card, as in a political strategist saying “cue that beat-up violin for Toby’s uncontrolled rage”. The simple reason as to why our value is a blip on the screen is because our voting numbers are actually a blip on the screen.

The usual excuses for non-involvement get projected as easily as the usual issues that resurface every year. Sentiments of the voting tally’s ineffectiveness toward the outcome, the ineffective moves toward change regardless of party, and the overall convenience of helplessness become slogans of self-inflicted disenfranchisement. Yet despite the amount of non-activity by the “righteous” critics, critiques of those in office are abundant. This position in football terms is called an armchair quarterback, a heckler sitting still while watching others make progressive moves.

Here’s the deal. The system, for all of its failures, is ours. It belonged to us once blood was sacrificed to take part in the game, the process. Our sacrament was derived from the courage displayed by taking action, when a trip to the voting booth could end up as a detour to the swamp. That was our people’s gift to us, their line drawn in the sand while staring death in the eye… With all of the inconsistencies happening on our watch today I try to fathom what our gift will be. Will the history books convey the story of Toby getting mad at Don Imus and then putting his head back down? Or even better, of how the Three Fifths Clause was kept alive by the very people it was comprised to destroy. Simple math can be the key to many obscure truths, just ask four of your friends if they vote…if you care that is.

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