Why I (usually) don't voteWhen I tell people that, as a matter of principle,
I rarely vote, they look at me as if I'm a leper who also happens to be a
convicted murderer.
I have heard that, because of my choice not to participate in the
"democratic process" I should stop complaining, leave the country, take a
flying leap, or worse. This attitude shocks me.
The choice to vote is not a primary indicator or gauge of freedom. Communist
countries consistently report near-perfect turnout for all elections and the
reason is simple: citizens are forced to vote. The decision to vote or not
to vote is derived from the freedom to think or not to think. This is what
this country's freedom is truly about, not some secondary concrete such as
the right to cast a ballot.
The wars the United States have been involved in, those that were proper,
such as the Revolutionary War, were fought for the freedom to think and act
as individuals. This being the case, if I cannot bring myself to find a
candidate whom I support, why should I have to vote? Why should anyone? The
lesser of two evils is still evil.
Beside, in the modern political landscape of the U.S. at the dawn of the
21st Century the choice is between more government and more government. I
want less government, and a return to a proper understanding about what the
function of government really is. Not to shock you, but this is not
forthcoming in November.
Liberals want more of my income to distribute freely as they choose;
conservatives want to ban movies and books and install a theocracy. Each
group, in other words, want control: the liberals of my labor, the
conservatives of my soul. I want both to myself. Hence, I normally don't
vote. Why perpetuate an illegitimate, often illegal, and certainly immoral
system? Do you consider it moral to fork over the majority of your income to
the State, or to send your sons and daughters to Bosnia? I don't either, and
neither would have Thomas Jefferson or James Madison.
To those who say if you don't vote you shouldn't complain, I say this in
response: if the government quits taxing me and allows me to keep what I
rightfully earn, I'll gladly shut up. Until that time, why vote for more
bozos who actually, with no qualms, publically parade for pork like it's a
great thing?
Instead of voting, I contribute money to philosophical groups and think
tanks that are fighting for the right ideas in the academic and public
policy realms. For any true, lasting change to take place it will have to do
so in the ivory towers, not in Congress. For it is in our colleges and
universities where public officials learn the ideas, and get the moral
sanctions for them, that they then forge into law to burden individuals and
businesses.
The point bears repeating: the choice to vote is not a primary. It is a
derivative of the right to think, which is what this country was originally
about. We were formed by thinkers to escape tyranny of the mind, not to
enshrine and vote it into office as we are doing in America now.
Occasionally I do vote for the Libertarian presidential candidate, because
their party message is one I, for the most part, endorse. This does not make
my pro-vote friends any happier, though. I then hear that I'm throwing away
my vote. Oh, well. The message seems to be: VOTE...but only for a Republican
or Democrat.
Unfortunately, I foresee a day where obtaining a driver's license is
directly tied to whether or not one is registered to vote. You read it here
first. The "Get out the vote" faction is so fanatical that such a measure
could probably pass with‹guess who?‹the government's total support.
Our freedoms are being eroded daily by a government that we are supposed to
dutifully and unquestionably sanction at the polls every few years. I don't
care to support the charade any longer. And to tell you the truth, I'll feel
much more patriotic sitting at home reading a good book on election day then
going out and playing the game that is rigged so that we all will lose. DBJ
 

Al Gore a throwback

I was positively astonished at the Presidential debates. Admittedly, I
didn't watch every second of each one, but I did watch a lot. I felt as if I
had re-turned to the Sixties. Al Gore must have been too busy over the past
35 years learning a zillion facts with which to impress people than he has
spent pondering the meanings inherent in those facts.
Just as I had developed hope that the "new" Democrats were finally getting a
grip on what really fuels the economic engine in this country, here comes
Gore sounding for all the world like a sixties radical. Class warfare,
government welfare, arrogant self-righteousness, and any means justifies the
end (getting him elected).
While Gore certainly doesn't have Clinton's predilection for sexual
peccadilloes, he also doesn't have his brains. Their most commonly shared
attribute is a complete inability to tell the truth when prevarication is a
possibility. The scary thing about Gore is that he tells these tales so much
better each time that I think he is beginning to believe them himself.
Clinton certainly plays loose and free with the truth, but at bottom he
knows which is which.
The entire Sixties shtick was built on obliterating truth with myth and
legend. Most of us from that generation either didn't believe it then or
have outgrown it with maturity. I'm not sure whether Al Gore really still
believes that corporate America and "the top one percent" are really arch
enemies of "the people" or whether he just believes that this retro-populism
sells better to his natural constituency. Either one is equally dangerous.
Either way, not just his words, but his inflections, expressions, sighs, and
general body language indicate the kind of contempt for other people that
comes only from the certain belief that he is right and everyone else is
wrong. This is a primary trait of megalomania and has been the downfall of
many a previous world figure, from Napoleon to Hitler.
Can a man this convinced of his own perfection govern America, the land of
consensus? I think not. Will the partisan stalemate in Washington worsen
under his leadership? I think so. Will the American people become even more
cynical about the veracity of their government? Most definitely. When truth
becomes a joke, the joke is on society - and it is what we used to call a
"cruelty joke."
Will Al Gore's incitement of class and economic hostility add to the
divisions already sapping the strength of this country? By all means. Will
his economic plans destroy what is left of a good economy struggling to cope
with the oil crisis? You bet.
While he is attempting to ride the economic coattails of a Republican
Congress and an economically moderate President, Gore doesn't seem to
understand that the long period of prosperity is because we haven't had the
kind of government he wants.
This man who tells tobacco farmers that he has spent years laboring in the
fields, picking and stripping and packing tobacco; this man wants us to
believe that five months of writing articles for service newspapers - all
the while protected by a bodyguard - lets him understand "our boys" over
there; this man who told people he had worked for seven years as an
investigative reporter, when his sole stint was seven months of minor
reporting; this man who has taken credit for half of the accomplishments of
the twentieth century; this is a man who is either totally deluded and makes
the Man of La Mancha look logical or he is a man who thinks the American
public is the absolutely most stupid and ignorant body politic of all time.
I'm tired of myth. I'm tired of people who hate and bite the hand of those
who feed them. I'm tired of polarized groups who refuse to look beyond a
special interest to see the larger picture. I'm tired of politicians who
have contempt for the people they profess to serve. This country needs to
pull together for the common good. It needs to regain enough respect for
truth to demand it from everyone, but particularly from politicians. The
words integrity, honor, virtue, courage, propriety, and yes, even morality,
should come out from hiding and be understood other than in the context of a
nineteenth-century novel.
I fear for this country if we continue to vote for the likes of Al Gore
because we like to hear that he will make government our parent. If we want
government as a parent, we have completely lost our freedom. As I've said
before, I don't fear "Big Brother" - of the novel 1984. It's already here. I
fear "Big Mother." She will only tell us what she thinks we want to hear -
which is rarely the truth - and we will all be grounded for life.