by Ray Jason
This November, I heartily encourage all Americans to
exercise their civic duty by going to the polls and voting for one of the
dignified Presidential candidates that have amazed us this election cycle with
their wisdom and compassion.Got ya! APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!
Unfortunately, this is not a laughing matter. A large segment of the U.S. population is now very aware of the fact that our political and economic systems have become totally corrupt. And yet these knowledgeable people still cling to the delusion that this tragic state of affairs can be changed by voting.
Every once in a while I gently attempt
to discuss this topic in “polite company.” It is astonishing how ferociously these “polite”
people defend the myth of the ballot box.
And so in this essay, I will strive to disabuse these well-meaning citizens
from this idealistic concept, which has been relentlessly programmed into us since
grammar school. I assure you that I
received the same brainwashing, and I once believed in the power and nobility
of casting ballots. And indeed, voting
probably did “make a difference” at one time.
But the world of power politics has changed
drastically. I contend that voting is
not just meaningless in our present situation, but that it is actually harmful. That is a pretty bold and provocative
statement, but I will now do my best to defend this contrarian belief. I will strive to do so in a concise but
comprehensive manner.
· WHO ENCOURAGES YOU TO VOTE? - Is it the factory worker
who lost his job due to NAFTA? Is it the
college graduate with $25,000 in student debt and a job at Starbucks? Is it the Senior Citizen spending their
supposed Golden Years working as a Walmart Greeter?
No, the voices
championing the sanctity of voting are the politicians, who benefit so obscenely
from the status quo. They know that the
ordinary person is struggling more and more just to get by. And so these
Malignant Overlords cynically reinforce the deception that citizens can control
their destiny by voting. They make
glorious speeches about the power of the ballot box, while knowing full well
that they are just shoveling bull feces.
· THE INCUMBENTCY PARADOX - Here is a perfect example of
how broken the election system is. The
job satisfaction ratings for Congress are justifiably pathetic. Most surveys have them at the 10 to 20%
approval level. And yet the vast
majority of these incumbents get re-elected. How does this happen? The answer is relatively simple. Money.
Only rich people, or those willing to sell their souls to rich people,
can afford the insane costs of campaigns these days. Regular people are essentially locked out of
running for office. How many school teachers
or welders are there in the Senate these days?
· THE TWO PARTY MONOPOLY – The Democratic and Republican
Machines – oops, I meant Parties – make it nearly impossible for a third party
candidate to run for high office. It
starts with the gigantic voter registration demands that must be met in every
state. Then the unlevel playing field
becomes particularly apparent when an independent candidate is not allowed into
the National Circuses – oops, I meant Debates.
The media greatly assists in this duopoly by marginalizing any third
party candidate as “unelectable.”
· THEY ARE NOT ELECTIONS. THEY ARE SELECTIONS. - The normal person has
absolutely no say in who the people in charge will anoint as the designated
candidates every four years. So, exactly
how much power do the people truly wield if they only get a choice of two candidates
who have both been pre-approved by The Malignant Overlords? And of late this choice has boiled down to
the lesser of two evils.
And for those who argue
that the primary elections express the will of the masses, you are deceiving
yourselves in at least three ways.
First, almost all of those running in the primaries have already been
vetted by the moneyed interests. Second,
the concept of Super-delegates makes a mockery of the entire process. And third, as we may witness this year, if
those in charge are not happy with the prospective nominee, they will attempt
to derail that choice in the backrooms of the convention. The euphemism they use is a “brokered
convention.”
· CAMPAIGN LIES – NOT PROMISES – Do you remember, “I
will close Guantanamo on my first day in office.” Or how about, “Read my lips…no new
taxes.” Anyone who doesn’t realize that
candidates will say whatever it takes to get more votes, might want to relocate
to the Republic of Pollyanna. But just
as the promises are false so are many of the supposed differences between the
two parties. Regardless of which party
is in power there seems to be very little significant change.
The War Machine keeps plodding along.
The banksters don’t get prosecuted.
Privacy rights keep diminishing, etc.
It is almost as though there were invisible players behind the scenes pulling
the strings. Oh, wait there are
invisible players behind… And these
elite untouchables continually pit the regular people against each other as
part of their divide and conquer strategy.
· VOTING IS A SEDATIVE - As long as people believe that the ballot box can change things in
a positive fashion, then the Malignant Overlords can feel more secure in their
power. But if the citizens realize that
voting is an exercise in futility, they might opt for more vigorous methods of
expressing their displeasure with the status quo. They might chain themselves to the White
House fence, or Occupy Langley, or go even further into the realm of wooden
shoes and monkey wrenches.
· CITIZENS UNITED IS ACTUALLY CORPORATIONS DELIGHTED – Here
is a quick review of the state of American electoral politics. We have a status quo in which only rich
people can even run for office.
Predictably, they will not represent the interests of The Little Guy,
but of the mega-wealthy people who got them elected. Thoroughly enjoying all of the perks that come
with high office, these supposed representatives of the people spend an
enormous percentage of their time in office raising money for their next
election campaign.
The puny attempts at
campaign finance reform that were already in place were totally vaporized by
the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.
(Observe the double-speak here that would make even Orwell proud. What accurately should have been termed
Oligarchs United was instead called Citizens United!) This legal decision took the gloves off of
the corporations who could now saturate and distort the election process with
boxcars full of money and unbelievably slimy TV attack ads.
· eFRAUD - If our
elections are such sanctified rites, why is there no paper corroboration of the
results? A cynic would claim that it is
because such a back-up would reveal the tampering with the electronic
balloting. Wander around the alternative
media for a while and you will find convincing evidence of ballot counting
irregularities. Such high-tech
criminality makes the old Chicago mantra of “Vote early and vote often” seem
almost quaint.
· I’M VOTING FOR “NOBODY.” – Probably the only tactic
that would lure me back to voting would be if they included this option on
every ballot: “NONE OF THE ABOVE.” Such
a simple change might revolutionize the people’s ability to actually have some
real power when they step into the voting booth. Since they will obviously never include this
option on a ballot, I suggest a massive boycott. On election day “just don’t go!” If there was a 5% turn-out perhaps that would
finally awaken the pundits to the reality of how widespread the discontent is
out in the land.
· IS VOTING HARMFUL? – My original contention back at
the beginning of this essay was that not only is voting useless, but that it is
actually harmful. The reason that it is so
detrimental is that it allows those who control us to justify their domination
by proclaiming that “we elected them.”
As I have tried to convincingly demonstrate, the election process is so
bogus and flawed that while a diplomat might call it a charade, a truth-teller
would call it a fraud.
And even though politicians
claim that they are public servants, I believe that in your heart of hearts you
truly understand. You KNOW that they do
not “represent” you - they “rule” you!
