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if an american wants to exercise his or her "democratic rights" and participate in the two major parties' activities to nominate presidential candidates, the good news is that as long as he or she can get enough votes of support, he or she can participate in the national convention of his or her party even if he or she casts a "no statement" vote. the bad news is that what the group that casts a "no statement" vote can do and say at this convention depends on the mood of the party bosses, and whether freedom of speech can be achieved "depends on the rules of the party."

in february this year, abbas avi, the leader of the "no statement" movement in the united states, received hundreds of thousands of votes in the democratic national primary, winning nearly one-fifth of the support. however, squeezing into the venue does not mean that you can stand on the podium. he negotiated with the democratic leadership for weeks to get palestinian americans to speak at the democratic national convention, but in the end, an official of the democratic national committee called on august 22 and gave a simple and rude answer: "no!"

ironically, the day before, the parents of an israeli-american hostage held by hamas had just given a speech at the democratic national convention. abbas avi and other delegates, who were "shocked" by this operation, could only sit on the sidewalk outside the convention venue for a night to protest after "exhausting all our efforts and working from within to no avail." however, the protest was also ineffective.

under the spotlight of the national congress, the delegates who stood out through the election had their microphones rudely snatched away and were even kicked out. this farce exposed the hypocrisy of american "freedom of speech" and "democratic rights": there is a checkbox on the ballot to "not express a position", but it is just for show. if you take it seriously and want to step out of the circle, then you will be served by the "big stick of democracy".

polls in recent years show that 66% of americans do not believe in freedom of speech, and 8% of americans even think they do not have any freedom of speech. the 2022 u.s. state freedom of speech index report pointed out that 35 of the 50 states scored less than 50%, and restrictions on freedom of speech in various states of the united states can be seen everywhere. specific cases are even more shocking. cnn reporter jim acosta asked about "caravan immigrants" and "russiagate" at a white house press conference, and was snatched away by white house staff and his white house reporter's interview pass was revoked. in 2023, at least 12 journalists in the united states were arrested or faced charges, and many journalists were criminally convicted for normal news reporting. after the washington post reported on twitter's large-scale deletion of posts on its twitter account, twitter in turn blocked the washington post's twitter account.

the above cases are just the tip of the iceberg of the united states' interference in freedom of speech in the field of journalism. the united states has a long history of trampling on freedom of speech in political struggles, using false information to manipulate public opinion, suppressing and banning "whistleblowers" who dare to speak the truth, adopting discriminatory policies against specific races, strengthening campus control to suppress freedom of speech, and interest groups using social media to hinder or even infringe on freedom of speech. in 2023, a video about pfizer pharmaceuticals considering developing a new coronavirus variant under the protection of national regulators became a hot topic. pfizer urgently contacted youtube and successfully put out the fire by deleting the video on the grounds of "violating community rules." the us media revealed that financial tycoon george soros used hundreds of millions of dollars to bribe hundreds of media networks from 2016 to 2020 to build a personal media network and manipulate public opinion... the us capitalist ruling class and interest groups "call the shots" in public opinion, forming a "filtering mechanism" to select and distort facts. under the banner of "freedom of speech", they are doing disgusting things to suppress and destroy freedom of speech.

by covering the mouths of the people, american politicians can do whatever they want, serve their financial backers wholeheartedly, and only push the blame but not take responsibility for national governance. to this day, the victims of the "drug train" derailment accident in ohio are still struggling, the nuclear power plant leak accident concealed by minnesota for 4 months is still shrouded in mystery, and the freedom of speech of more than 150 million tiktok users in the united states on the platform is still being suppressed and damaged... facts have repeatedly proved that american democracy is nothing more than a "rich man's game" based on capital. the so-called "one person, one vote" is actually a "money election" and "money rule" of a few elite ruling classes. in the context of the donkey-elephant dispute, the two major parties in the united states have always limited mass political participation to a narrow range. for ordinary voters, they come when they are called during the election and go away after the election. most people are just running a small role in this political farce.

what makes the american people even more desperate is that even if they want to participate, they are powerless to change the situation. the "no statement" movement and the "give up xxx" advocacy that appeared during the primary elections of the two parties in the united states this year show that the american people's dissatisfaction with the authorities has accumulated to the point of erupting. however, in the circle drawn by the american capital bosses, they see no hope and cannot come up with any new options that can change this political dead water. they can only be "extras" again in a noisy manner. after the show is over, not only can they not even have a sense of "presence", but they will also be hit by the "big stick of democracy"...