The robocalls from my Republican Congessman have begun. As have the live calls soliciting volunteers for his Democratic challenger. And the party and PAC emails begging for money to fight for or against various political causes are starting to clog my inbox.

The stench of this year’s election is rising in the air and will intensify through to the fall, when no matter who wins, the country will likely continue to devolve into a political system that is turning citizens into mere consumers.

Welcome to the Cynical New World of corporate hegemony, where the rich and powerful engage the rest of us in a kabuki dance of electioneering where politicians strut their agendas with sound and fury signifying nothing because nothing ever changes the dynamics of power in America.

In 2012, $9.8 billion was spent on campaigning in elections at all levels, according research published in Advertising Age. More than 68 percent of the total went to broadcast and cable television.

The paid-for propaganda was bolstered by a steady stream of contrived political affairs shows where partisan spin doctors attempted to focus attention on what divided voters, all the while ignoring any common ground we all might share.

There’s no reason to think anything will be different this year. And when we’ve all had our fill of bread and circuses brought to us in HD, little — if anything — will be different.

No matter which party wins control in Congress, Wall Street and war profiteers will still call the shots Washington.

And in states and communities across the country, the gap between haves and have-nots will persist. As will the chasm between women who want to exercise their constitutional rights and the Christian Taliban who wants to keep them in their subservient place.

Our soldiers and innocent civilians will continue to die in wars in faraway places that only make sense to the sociopaths who run the military-industrial complex.

Meanwhile, our privacy and other civil rights will continue to erode.

That’s why I plan to tune out the noise that will pollute the airwaves until November.

I will continue to boycott local and network so-called news programming. I will record any entertaining and informative shows that interest me so I can fast forward through the breaks during which both the commercial and political shills try to sell me something I don’t want or need.

I will vote — as much out habit as anything. And beyond the primaries, I will vote a straight party ticket. Not so much because I think all Democrats are great and good. But, on balance, because their party is the lesser evil in a political system that is more like the NFL than a constitutional democracy. (One party is like the AFC. The other is like the NFC. And players in both conferences are subject to the rules set by Wall Street and special interests that own them.)

In lead up to election day, I will also hang up on any political calls I receive, delete any political emails and drop any political material that arrives in my mailbox directly into the recycle bin.

It’s my constitutional right to do so.

Moreover, in an electoral system that is driven by misinformation, I think it’s prudent to be uninformed. It enables me exercise clearer judgment in responding to actions I cannot control.
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Robert Douglas is a former union official and former business editor for The Palm Beach Post and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. You can contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .