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Chapter 2.1.1, Disenchantment with Politics: 2 Parties, 1 Vote, No Choice:
Futurama takes this topic on by using Fry and Bender as stereotypical consumption-depraved and politically unenlightened persons. At the beginning of A Head in The Polls (S02E03, chap 2, min 0:30) the two are sitting in front of the TV, watching The Scary Door, a skit of mystery TV series like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. It reports about the last man on Earth, trying to enjoy solitude by reading books 'for all eternity.' Suddenly he breaks his glasses, but consoles himself by turning towards the large print books. Then his eyes fall out, but fortunately he knows how to read Braille. Then his arms and head fall off. Fry and Bender discuss the utterly stupid programme; both shudder and are given the creeps. Bender's analysis of the just seen ('Cursed by his own hubris.' S02E03, chap 2, min 1:30) is simply inapt and excessively profound. Leela joins them and switches to a presidential debate featuring the candidates, John Jackson and Jack Johnson. Bender and Fry fall asleep immediately.
Leela: There's a political debate on. Quick, change the channel.
Bender: Hey, that's what Fry said when we turned on the debate.
Leela changes the channel.
Announcer: C-Span Nine presents: The Thrill of Politics.
Bender and Fry start snoring. Leela wakes them up.
Leela: Look, I know there are no car chases, but this is important. One of these two men will become president of the world.
Fry: What do we care? We live in the United States.
Leela: The United States is part of the world.
Fry: Wow, I have been gone a long time.
(S02E03, chap 2, min 2:32).
Not only are they not very well versed in politics, Fry and Bender do not have the slightest interest in it.
Fry: If I were registered to vote I'd send these clowns a message by staying home on Election Day and dressing up like a clown!
Leela: You're not registered?
Fry: Nope. Not vaccinated, either. Besides, it's not like one vote ever made a difference.
(S02E03, chap 2, min 2:32).
Fry is not registered. Casually, he mentions that he is not vaccinated either. It is well known and very obvious that it is careless and irresponsible not to be vaccinated; the same attributes could be assigned to not-voting. Someone who does not get his tetanus-shot might think that he will not need it anyway, but if an infection occurs and he or she has to bear the consequences, the 'inconvenience' of going to the doctor and getting vaccinated seems slight. It is the same with voting: one might think that a single vote does not make a difference, considering the millions of other voters, but every each and single vote determines who gets to represent and run a country. Only the votes of a majority of the citizens can guarantee that lunatic fringes do not come to power. This is also on the behalf of those who are not going to the polls. Groening gives the same regard to both voting and vaccination, because both are equally as important and necessary and should go without saying. Fry gives both the same disregard, because he is obviously being incapable of being responsible.
In Futurama, New New York offers its citizens an incentive to register, so the Planet Express-Crew goes to a 'registration fair'. A banner over the entrance to the venue promises: 'FIRST 100 CUSTOMERS GET EXTRA VOTE' (S02E03, chap 2, min 3:14). Fry and the others inspect the assortment of political parties, which are presenting their political agendas: The Futurama-equivalent of the Democrats are the Tastycrats, while the the Fingerlicans refer to the Republicans.
Prof.: The problem with both parties is that they always want to give your tax dollars to the less fortunate.
Fry: The less fortunate get all the breaks.
Zoidberg: You know, Fry, you could join a third party, maybe.
Amy: Only weirdoes and mutants join third parties.
(S02E03, chap 2, min 3:17).
This conversation tells the big parties and the third parties apart. Socio-politically, the two big parties do not differ much (only in their approach); the third parties seem to offer 'real alternatives' to the political agenda of the big parties. Since 'only weirdoes and mutants join third parties,' it is conjecturable that their political goals are very special. There are several third parties represented at the 'registration fair' too. Some of them with and some of them without real-life examples:
The Green Party, represented by green-colored aliens.
One Cell, One Vote, a party of colossal unicellular life forms.
Dudes for the Legalation of Hemp, a party with a single goal.
The NRA, written out in full as the National Ray-Gun Association.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans, represented by Martians.
The Brain Slug Party, a party of parasites, manipulating their aboulic human hosts.
The Voter Apathy Party, a contradiction in terms.
Other Parties present are the Rainbow Whigs, the Antisocialists, and the Bull Space Moose Party. Some of them are merely gags, but the others refer to real parties or political topics. The discussions, the protagonists have with the party representatives, reveal some typical voter notions and bear some statements of the Futurama team on political topics.
The Green Party is of course referring to the actual Greens, those political parties which are especially concerned with the environment. Concurrently it alludes to the Martians, which are representing the party in A Head in The Polls, and are also referred to as 'Little Green Men'.
The One Cell, One Vote Party refers to the slogan of the women's movement 'One Woman, One Vote'. This mere reference gag provokes in another context. It raises the question after its right to exist. Unicellular life-forms - even though they are organized in a party in Futurama - are too simple to be even able to have an opinion, let alone consciousness or apperception. Every democracy knows the phenomenon of small third parties, which represent such small factions, that their political influence is almost nonexistent. These parties are represented in Futurama by such exotics.
There were only two American 3rd Parties in the 20th century that were quite successful: Ross Perot with his Reform Party gained 19 percent of the 1992 Presidential Election. This was the highest result a third party ever achieved since Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party, which received 27 percent of the votes in 1912. The Bull Moose Party is caricatured by the Bull Space Moose Party that is present at the registration fair. 'The party's popular nickname of Bull Moose was derived from its characteristics of strength and vigor often used by Roosevelt to describe himself.' None of the attributes describing Roosevelt seem to apply to the Bull Moose sitting in the booth. This reference seems to simply comment on that uncommon and admittedly funny name for a party.
Prof. Farnsworth informs himself at the NRA-counter (S02E03, chap 2, min 4:18), the contents of this conversation will be attended to under 2.2.2 The Right to Bear Doomsday Devices.
Brain slugs are small gelatinous alien life-forms, which suck themselves to human heads and control the brains of their victims. The humans then serve their parasites by carrying out all orders, even those that harm them. The Brain Slug Party is represented by a man and a woman, both with Brain Slugs on their heads and staring into space.
Woman: We favor unreasonably huge subsidies to the Brain Slug Planet.
Fry: Okay, but what are the brain slugs who control you going to do for the working man?
Woman: Attach brain slugs to them.
Fry: Sure, you say that now.
(S02E03, chap 2, min 3:48).
Fry tries to get informed but his mistrust of politicians prevents that he really understands what they are saying. He assumes empty promises behind political agendas and is biased against them. Attaching brain slugs to the working man would actually mean to enslave him. This is more a threat than a promise. Fry does not grasp that, because he takes everything told by politicians for a lie and does not really listen. Admittedly, it really occurs that promises are made during campaigns but not kept in the term of office. Bender and Professor Farnsworth know about such a case.
Leela: That's not true. The first robot president won by exactly one vote.
Bender: Ah, yes! John Quincy Adding Machine. He struck a chord with the voters when he pledged not to go on a killing spree.
Prof.: But, like most politicians he promised more than he could deliver.
Leela: The point is, one vote can make a difference. And even though it won't, I'm still taking you to get registered.
(S02E03, chap 2min 2:42).
In this scene, Groening stresses once more the importance of voting. At the same time he addresses again the paradox of the single vote, which can make a difference without really making it. Additionally, he brings up the cliché that elderly people are obsessed with voting, although they are not too much engaged in society anymore. However, this scene can also be understood differently: Since wisdom is the virtue of old age, Professor Farnsworth realized the importance of voting as soon as he was 'wise' enough to do so. The name of the Robot President John Quincy Adding Machine is a reference to John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States. There is nothing in Adams' biography that indicates any allusion connected with Adding Machine's name, empty promises, and/or killing spree; apparently, Adams has been chosen rather randomly as an eponym for this anecdote. But what is interesting, is Professor Farnsworth's comment on politicians. According to him politicians break their promises very often.
These examples express deep disappointment and also mistrust towards politicians. It seems to be the fruit of unsuccessful political commitment and the realization that it is not always the good and right things that prevail. Yet, it is rather unlikely that Groening and his co-writers only want to express their frustration.
I want to show that the authorities are not on your side, even though they want you to believe that [.]. Their rules are not in your interest but on their own behalf. What we are trying to get across in both series [Futurama and The Simpsons] is: Don't believe everything you're told.
Groening claims to try and raise the viewer's awareness and his ability to think critically. Firstly, he leads Fry's opinion on voting ad absurdum with the vaccination-comparison. Then he brings up many prejudices and political clichés. The following subchapters on Richard Nixon and other real US- and fictitious Earth-Presidents will deepen the insight of which clichés and prejudices Groening uses.
