Key West The Newspaper

 

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 INCUMBENCY 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!

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