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Voting is pointless
I’ve come to the conclusion that it is pointless to vote in the upcoming election.
The entire Washington establishment has made a complete mockery of our system of governance, our Constitution and our laws. Congress, being legally obliged to enforce our laws, has instead allowed this president to commit unspeakable crimes against the country. The total disregard of the legal and moral obligation is more than I can take. I see a condition where we are presented with little, if any fundamental difference between republicans and democrats. The stark reality is that Bush made a conscious choice to send Americans to Iraq under a known false pretense. In so doing over 4000 Americans have lost their lives. There is just no way to dismiss this. We have been witnesses to a crime of unspeakable proportion which apparently no one will be held to account for.
I could care less for all the BS reasons for this. We give our government over a trillion dollars in taxes per year. Apparently that isn’t enough. What this amounts to is a level of fraud and extortion that cannot be put into words. Our government has fully endorsed a behavioral pattern inconsistent with anything even remotely resembling justice. Every word uttered by our national leadership is a lie. This is an undeniable fact. There is no way around it. The precedent that has been established logically absolves every citizen of any requirement to obey even our strictest laws. Setting this example as one of permissible conduct establishes that power, wealth and privilege are unbounded by any law, moral or legal. I don’t think I want to vote for that.
Comments (20)
Good strategy.
What's your plan for beyond the election?
That's sarcasm. ;-p
Yeah, we're definitely in a f*cked up place right now. We have to figure out a way to fix it. Or start to fix it.
What else can we do? There's no acceptable alternative.
At least we have this--TPM Muckraker and TPM Cafe. It's a start.
June 12, 2008 4:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
John, you're absolutely right.
You, above all, should avoid voting.
And not just in November.
EVER.
That will show them.
June 12, 2008 4:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Acknowledging reality sucks. That we are unable to change it is worse still. Democrats running congress made a conscious choice framed by the political. That choice is no different from the ones Bush has made. Both choices have rendered everything we supposedly believe in moot. There is no way to change when the persons holding all the power are corrupt. This brings into very clear perspective exactly why citizens have the right to bear arms and why the constitution explicitly refers to all enemies foreign and domestic. Our reality is as ugly as it can be. There is no way, with the resources that are available to our government, they can make such poor decisions except by willful intent. Anyone who thinks differently is a fool. I'm a Vietnam vet and have observed this crap for my entire adult life and with each election can't help but note that nothing changes and in fact grows worse. The evidence supporting this perspective is irrefutable.
June 12, 2008 5:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
If y'all are so bummed out about national politics, I'd suggest you go get involved in your local political scene. You may not get to see the results of your efforts on the teevee, you may not get the instant gratification, but you will get a chance to participate. And you'll encounter failure. And disillusionment. But just maybe you'll meet some real people who give you hope that not all is lost, or who at least help get your mind right about what it is that we're all fighting for. At the very least, if you get involved, I suspect you'll find out that it's not about guns, it's about good ol'-fashioned civic participation, which there's never enough of, but which never improves until the boobs turn off their toobs and go figure out what small role they can play to make things better.
Sorry, but you gotta get outta the house more. There's a country full of decent people out there, and you're moaning because you don't know any of them. They're not on the teevee, they're next door, you paranoid wannabe revolutionary.
June 12, 2008 6:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately the human condition prohibits us from observing and objectively measururing the result while simultaneously being a participant. That's why we have referees and players. You can't do both. The logical conflict is irreconciable.
June 12, 2008 6:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
It occurs to me that we're the referees. Problem is a lot of us are blind in one eye and can't see out of the other with a goodly number who aren't even watching the game.
June 12, 2008 6:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't not voting even more pointless?
June 12, 2008 7:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've decided that eating is pointless. It all just ends up turning into shit and getting flushed down the toilet anyway. Why should I bother? Oh, woe is me. I think I'll curl up in a little ball and die.
June 12, 2008 7:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I forbid that! Who's going to post incandescently scathing yet hilarious comments? There is much work for the bunnycat.
June 12, 2008 8:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Plus, I hear bunny pellets make good fertilizer.
June 12, 2008 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not to mention breathing.
All that does is take perfectly good oxygen and replace it with carbon dioxide, thereby further contributing to global warming.
June 12, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
The point in voting is to select persons who ostensibly and based upon their own words, will perform their duties in support of the public good. When that outcome isn't achieved in a routine fashion then what is the point? And that is particularly applicable when a given candidate says one thing and then is undeniably proven a liar by doing the opposite. For sixty years I have watched one president and one debacle after another. The collection of major screwups is unbelieveable. And I've voted in every local and national election throughout my life. Hasn't changed a thing. Still f*****d up. The only good thing is right now I live half a block from my polling place so I don't have to burn gas to make the f****** oil companies rich by having to drive. Which I would guess by all indications is what George and Dick have in mind.
June 12, 2008 8:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
As the old adage goes: Don't vote, then don't bitch.
June 12, 2008 8:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
It does seem pointless and it is very discouraging. It doesn't look like there is much difference between the two parties at times and change is so slow that it appears glacial most of the time. Politicians in both parties have public and personal agendas and most of the time it is impossible to tell the difference. The system is corrupt, it is entrenched, it is difficult to overcome but the problem with not trying is that we never get the chance at all to do something different.
You mention the war and that is a good example of why we need to vote. If those people who sat it out in the 2000 election had voted for Gore we wouldn't be in this horrible war, if they had voted for Gore, we would be a little closer to improving our chances to mitigate global warming and improving the environment. If they had voted for Kerry, we would be leaving Iraq and cleaning that mess up and discussing the health care problems in this country and a little closer to our goals.
Voting may not make a big difference in our lives, but to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers stuck in the deployment pattern or already over there dying and fearing death every single day, it does make a difference who is in that office - it is the difference between life and death for them, for the millions of citizens in this country who are going to truly suffer in the coming recession, having unemployment benefits extended is going to mean them having food to eat and a roof over their heads. Compared to many people in this country we lead fairly comfortable lives, but to the millions who don't we owe them at least the chance of hope that things will change enough for them to live with a few less worries in their lives, if one soldier or soldier's family can rest easier at night knowing that he is coming home sooner rather than later, then my vote has accomplished something and I'll take that over nothing any day of the week. I don't vote for me, I vote for those people.
June 12, 2008 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
A lot of people were saying that in 2000. See how well that turned out ...
June 12, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, except Gore won.
June 12, 2008 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah - the single highest profile person saying that was good ol' Ralph Nader, wasn't it?
Sleep well, Ralph? Nader voters? Thanks a bunch, you guys have been great...
June 12, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except Gore won.
June 12, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Two words:
Flor...
...ida
June 12, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think that Obama will get us out of Iraq anytime soon, despite what he says. No American president would destabilize a region that has 60% of the world's remaining reserves. I'd like to believe otherwise, but I'm not naive enough to believe that any mainstream candidate could get through the campaign finance gauntlet without coming out a double talking cash whore.
I know this is crass but the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrat's use lube. The living standard hasn't increased for people of my working-class(white trash) back-round in over 30+ years.
I'm resting my hopes on systemic collapse.Maybe that makes me sound like some psycopathic chicken little, but with peak oil, an unwinnable war, and 9 trillion dollars in debt, I don't feel that utter economic collapse is far off.
Maybe when the power no longer works and people can't feed themselves, they'll get off their overindulged fat asses and look around at the nightmare we've created. At this point i'll be happy to trade my high minded ideals for a piece of bread or a shiny new assault rifle, and in concert with all the other browbeat masses maybe we'll see actual change happen. Until that point, I feel like my vote would be an endorsement of their knavery, and I have no intentions of being complicit.
June 19, 2008 6:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
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