I am not going to vote today and I've been asked a couple of times, "Why not?". That's a reasonable question from those that know me since with the exception of some few city or county level elections I've always voted, even when deployed overseas. I considered voting to be a duty, a responsibility of every citizen.
So - "why not?" - why am I ignoring the duty, refusing the responsibity to vote today?
The short answer is that over my 62 year life time I've become jaded; jaded to the point that I just plain don't care anymore. I feel like the great country I grew up in has gone to pot and there is nothing myself or anyone else can do about it; at least not by voting.
I've watched this nation turn from one where parents told their children in the morning who were on their way out the door, "be back before dinner" and told it to kids as young as 5 years old without much regard for where they were going or what they would be doing and certainly were not concerned about their safety. I can't imagine that happening in this day and age.
I've watched this nation turn from one where people regularly left their homes without locking up, left their cars unlocked, could walk the streets at night and not have to worry about whether or not they'd make it home without incident.
I've watched this nation turn from one where kids went to school shouldering a rifle, stored it in their locker during the day and bagged dinner with it on their way home to one where a gun locked up in a car on a school parking lot results in hysteria from educators, school lockdown and the presence of numerous police.
I've watched this nation turn from one where personal responsibility was lauded as a personal attribute to be acquired by everyone to one where it is the norm to blame anyone but one's self for the consequences of choices made.
I've watched this nation turn from one where being "on the dole" was something you worked hard at not to be to one where you're considered a fool if you're not taking every handout the almighty government is willing to redistribute your way.
I've watched this nation turn from one with a strong moral foundation to one where anything goes in a society that considers morality relative.
I've watched this nation turn from one where the sanctity of unborn life was paramount to one where a million babies are murdered by abortion every year.
I've watched this nation turn from one where being born out of wedlock was scorned to one where in some demographics it is not only not scorned but statisticly is the norm and used as a means of getting even more handouts from our almighty government.
I've watched this nation turn from one where our education system produced students that ranked #1 or #2 in the entire world in the fields of math, science, history and social studies to one where we're now not even in the top 10.
The list grows on and on and on and I grow tired thinking about the ill conceived choices and the resulting changes.
There was a time when I believed that the people's votes actually did count for something, that the people could control the direction the nation takes. But no more.
The only power the vote has ever represented is the power to replace those that rule and that power has been stolen from us by the very people we've chosen. Over the many years the chosen have made law that rigs the system. OH, we have the illusion of choice but when the choice for who to vote for is made for us by the parties in charge and we only get to choose between dumb and dumber, bad and worse, same ole and same ole and replace the old guard with a new guard that's no different from the old then there really is no choice. Vote is irrelevant.
Sure - on occasion we can replace the old guard with the odd individual here or there with stars in their eyes and a true desire to do what's right. But how long does that last. The rules have been rigged in the elected bodies in which they operate to the point where the rule is to get along go along or you will be made irrelevant.
Irrelevant - that's what our votes have become - irrelevant.
And Where has our votes gotten us? Almost 18 trillion dollars in debt. And people that's a debt that can't ever be paid off - EVER! 18 trillion is a number so huge that the human mind can't even comprehend it. That's more stars than there are in our galaxy. More grains of sand than there are on a typical beach. 18 Trillion is a number so large that I doubt if even GOD! bothers to think on it.
And you know what's worse than a debt that can't be paid off? It's politicians that won't even try. And why not? Because they're afraid. Afraid of what could happen if they stopped spending to a point that would even make a dent in the debt they created in order to gain the power they now have by creating it. They're afraid of what the takers who will soon outnumber the makers will do if they stop getting the handouts that the people we voted for are giving them.
No - votes don't matter because -ultimately - we've become a nation where soon, very soon, the takers will outnumber the makers. And when that day comes its all over.
So why bother voting?
We can't replace the thieves and power mongers in office now with anything better - not going to happen and history supports that conclusion.
So I'm not going to bother, not wasting my time, not going to waste the gas it takes to go to the polling place and most importantly:
I'm not going to support a critically broken system that won't ever be fixed by the illusion we call voting.
Note: Some of you may toss out in rebuttal the notion that by not voting one disrespects all those who fought and may even have made the ultimate sacrifice for our right to vote. You can say it - GOD knows enough politicians have said it - but that won't make it true (I spent 13 years in the service and never ever heard anyone I served with say it). Once the bullets started flying those men weren't fighting for a cause anymore (assuming they ever were). I cannot speak for nor do I intend to speak for every soldier who has experienced combat but in my experience they were not fighting for any cause; they were fighting for their lives and the lives of their buddies. That doesn't make their sacrifice worth any less but to say they fought and died for freedom is what a politician says to grow enlistment rates and make civilians who have lost loved ones feel better. It is not what men who have fought would say.
So - "why not?" - why am I ignoring the duty, refusing the responsibity to vote today?
The short answer is that over my 62 year life time I've become jaded; jaded to the point that I just plain don't care anymore. I feel like the great country I grew up in has gone to pot and there is nothing myself or anyone else can do about it; at least not by voting.
I've watched this nation turn from one where parents told their children in the morning who were on their way out the door, "be back before dinner" and told it to kids as young as 5 years old without much regard for where they were going or what they would be doing and certainly were not concerned about their safety. I can't imagine that happening in this day and age.
I've watched this nation turn from one where people regularly left their homes without locking up, left their cars unlocked, could walk the streets at night and not have to worry about whether or not they'd make it home without incident.
I've watched this nation turn from one where kids went to school shouldering a rifle, stored it in their locker during the day and bagged dinner with it on their way home to one where a gun locked up in a car on a school parking lot results in hysteria from educators, school lockdown and the presence of numerous police.
I've watched this nation turn from one where personal responsibility was lauded as a personal attribute to be acquired by everyone to one where it is the norm to blame anyone but one's self for the consequences of choices made.
I've watched this nation turn from one where being "on the dole" was something you worked hard at not to be to one where you're considered a fool if you're not taking every handout the almighty government is willing to redistribute your way.
I've watched this nation turn from one with a strong moral foundation to one where anything goes in a society that considers morality relative.
I've watched this nation turn from one where the sanctity of unborn life was paramount to one where a million babies are murdered by abortion every year.
I've watched this nation turn from one where being born out of wedlock was scorned to one where in some demographics it is not only not scorned but statisticly is the norm and used as a means of getting even more handouts from our almighty government.
I've watched this nation turn from one where our education system produced students that ranked #1 or #2 in the entire world in the fields of math, science, history and social studies to one where we're now not even in the top 10.
The list grows on and on and on and I grow tired thinking about the ill conceived choices and the resulting changes.
There was a time when I believed that the people's votes actually did count for something, that the people could control the direction the nation takes. But no more.
The only power the vote has ever represented is the power to replace those that rule and that power has been stolen from us by the very people we've chosen. Over the many years the chosen have made law that rigs the system. OH, we have the illusion of choice but when the choice for who to vote for is made for us by the parties in charge and we only get to choose between dumb and dumber, bad and worse, same ole and same ole and replace the old guard with a new guard that's no different from the old then there really is no choice. Vote is irrelevant.
Sure - on occasion we can replace the old guard with the odd individual here or there with stars in their eyes and a true desire to do what's right. But how long does that last. The rules have been rigged in the elected bodies in which they operate to the point where the rule is to get along go along or you will be made irrelevant.
Irrelevant - that's what our votes have become - irrelevant.
And Where has our votes gotten us? Almost 18 trillion dollars in debt. And people that's a debt that can't ever be paid off - EVER! 18 trillion is a number so huge that the human mind can't even comprehend it. That's more stars than there are in our galaxy. More grains of sand than there are on a typical beach. 18 Trillion is a number so large that I doubt if even GOD! bothers to think on it.
And you know what's worse than a debt that can't be paid off? It's politicians that won't even try. And why not? Because they're afraid. Afraid of what could happen if they stopped spending to a point that would even make a dent in the debt they created in order to gain the power they now have by creating it. They're afraid of what the takers who will soon outnumber the makers will do if they stop getting the handouts that the people we voted for are giving them.
No - votes don't matter because -ultimately - we've become a nation where soon, very soon, the takers will outnumber the makers. And when that day comes its all over.
So why bother voting?
We can't replace the thieves and power mongers in office now with anything better - not going to happen and history supports that conclusion.
So I'm not going to bother, not wasting my time, not going to waste the gas it takes to go to the polling place and most importantly:
I'm not going to support a critically broken system that won't ever be fixed by the illusion we call voting.
Note: Some of you may toss out in rebuttal the notion that by not voting one disrespects all those who fought and may even have made the ultimate sacrifice for our right to vote. You can say it - GOD knows enough politicians have said it - but that won't make it true (I spent 13 years in the service and never ever heard anyone I served with say it). Once the bullets started flying those men weren't fighting for a cause anymore (assuming they ever were). I cannot speak for nor do I intend to speak for every soldier who has experienced combat but in my experience they were not fighting for any cause; they were fighting for their lives and the lives of their buddies. That doesn't make their sacrifice worth any less but to say they fought and died for freedom is what a politician says to grow enlistment rates and make civilians who have lost loved ones feel better. It is not what men who have fought would say.
