teleen_fiction | On Voting (Reply)

I've voted about half a dozen times in my life. Actually, if I thought about it hard enough, I probably could tell you exactly when I voted.

I voted at the age of 18 in local elections because my dad was big on voting and it was my first chance to vote - that was the year that my dad got two votes because I voted exactly as he did.

When I was 20, I voted for Bob Dole because my dad was a Republican.

I missed the 2000 Presidential election, but I would have voted for W if not for a rainstorm, which is almost enough to convert me to the idea of a god.

I voted AGAINST Bush in 2004 (not FOR Kerry, which I feel is an important distinction). That was also the year I voted for the smoking ban in Columbus (more on that in another post) and against a gay marriage ban that fucking passed.

In 2006, I was living in Las Vegas and I voted to decriminalize pot (which didn't happen), in favor of gay marriage (which also didn't happen), and for the Democrats to take over Congress - something that did happen, at least.

In 2008, I voted for Obama and can honestly say that he was the first Presidential candidate I've ever voted FOR.

In this past (2010) election, I voted Democrat because they're the lesser of two evils, and for the most part, got to feel as though my vote didn't count.

And that's what this post is about, really.

I always hear, "If you don't vote, you can't complain."

Bullshit.

We have a broken system in the US, a system that says that we're allowed to vote on individual rights and human dignity.

I voted in favor of gay marriage, but my vote didn't count and because 51% of the population can vote to say that the other 49% doesn't matter and isn't human.

I took time out of my day to say, "This is wrong," and one could argue that if everyone who was bitching took time out of their day to try and fix this stuff, there would be no discrimination.

More shit.

There will ALWAYS be more stupid people than smart and there will always be asshat morons who vote against their own self-interest while at the same time voting against the freedoms of others because they want everyone to be as miserable as they are.

Yeah, I voted so I have a free pass to bitching, but a lot of the time, my vote doesn't count.

So I'm saying, right here and right now, not voting doesn't mean you're not allowed to bitch. Your individual rights should be protected regardless of if you go and pull a fucking lever that half the time is broken anyway.

Piled higher and deeper.

As Bill Hicks once said, "I think the puppet on the left is best for me. No, I think the puppet on the right serves my interests better." "But, who's holding the puppets?" "Shhh, go back to bed, America. Your government is working for you."

If you vote, you have a right to bitch. If you don't vote in this broken system, in some ways I feel that you have MORE right to bitch because you aren't continuing to participate in what's obviously a farce in the name of freedom.

Democracy doesn't protect the freedoms of all; only the freedoms of the majority.

What system do I think would be better? No fucking clue. But I don't think that we should all vote on it.

And before anyone gets cute - no, I don't think that a dictatorship is the answer. How about a Republic? That seemed to work pretty well for Rome... for a while, anyway.