Steve Marmel: ‘No, The 2 Parties Aren’t The Same’


“There’s no difference between the two parties!”

You’ve seen it on Facebook. And twitter. On Tumblr. All over the place. Usually by “libertarians” who – if you dig further into their likes – it’s all Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Paul Ryan.

You know… conservatives embarrassed to call themselves conservatives.

Here’s the thing: I believe “there’s no difference between the two parties” is a coordinated effort to disillusion the democrat vote. And I think after six years of a constant conservative negative drumbeat, it’s working. It is exhausting, after all.

Is Obama the perfect candidate? Did he deliver everything he promised? Is the world super awesome? No. It is not.

But what are the alternatives? President McCain or Romney? Can you imagine what the Supreme Court would look like today? What health care would look like today? What marriage equality would look like today?

We would be living in the Christian equivalent of a Muslim theocracy. Is that what you want?

Because every person who says “I’m not voting, there’s no difference,” is handing a vote to someone who is saying “I want to roll back everything. Your rights. Social security. Work place protections. Air quality. Healthcare.”

ALL OF IT.

We need to stop being so precious with what we expect in leaders and administrations and we need to start looking at the long haul.

Don’t like drones? Me neither. Don’t like having to fight for “Net Neutrality?” Me neither.

Do you like the idea of those fights being the least of your worries?

The GOP has been whittling away at Voting Rights and Campaign finance for years and guess what? Now, 2014 and 2016 are going to be a bare-knuckle brawl for the rest of this decade.

Ideologues smell blood in this election. And laziness could let them land a death blow.

Nobody wants to live in a world where they have to “hold their nose and vote.” I get it. But you know what? I’d rather hold my nose on the first Tuesday in November than do it for the rest of my life.


I am not as progressive as some of you. I get that. And I am not discounting disappointment, fury and frustration.

All I ask is that you think on this: Do you truly believe you’re going to get the country you want if it’s set back 150 years in 2014 or 2016?

Or do you think you’ll be setting EVERYONE back, and it will be another 150 years before we get back to what we had just one generation ago?

“Both parties are the same.”

No, they aren’t. And if you push that, you’re pushing a falsehood for a reason. If you buy it, you’re buying a falsehood because you’re tired of fighting.

And we’re all going to get the government we allow – and by extension deserve – if we don’t get out the vote.

16 days. Mark your calendar.


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