Still not voting
I've noticed that this meme about the importance of voting has gotten more dogmatic this year. I mean, there's a certain frantic nature to some who are worried that McCain will win the election unless YOU PERSONALLY GO OUT AND VOTE RIGHT NOW but to be fair, most people are far calmer. Most people just tell us that we should exercise our rights, that we should make our voices heard, etc etc.
The thing that bugs me, I guess, is that I've stopped seeing any actual attempt to persuade people to vote. Now it's just reminders. "Don't forget to vote!" Seriously? Like, how many rocks would someone have to hide under to have even the remotest chance of being able to "forget" to vote? I know I'm not being fair to the large number of McCain supporters who don't seem to know it's the 21st Century let alone what day it is - they probably need to be reminded. But something tells me it's not these people that we're talking to.
Some talking head on MSNBC - probably the wacky Chris Matthews - said that he can't imagine anyone not voting because anyone who votes this year might potentially be interviewed in the year 2100 about their participation in this historic event. I'm not even making this up.
I get the point - voting now has the feeling of participating in something huge, something historical, and that's exciting.
The problem for me is that people keep comparing this to the election of Lincoln and FDR - in my opinion, two of the worst presidents our country has ever had.
Sure, Lincoln freed the slaves - that is, he freed the slaves of the people that his side was fighting against. That's a great tactic, but a very cynical one. Lincoln was perfectly content to leave the slaves in Union states enslaved because it was the politically expedient thing to do. Lincoln was dead when the thirteenth amendment passed. To make it perfectly clear, Lincoln freed the slaves in much the same way that Bush liberated the Iraqis. And Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and presided over the most bloody war in American history.
And don't even get me started on FDR.
I'm certain that Bush will be remembered for his failures. Which is fine with me - he failed to live up to his campaign promises and he fucked up everything he went near and now everyone hates him with pretty good cause.
What worries me, though, is that Obama will have great success at doing something awful. He'll have great success at choosing the right wars to be in. He'll have great success at regulating the economy. He'll have great success at securing government control over vast segments of our lives. And no matter how great Obama himself is, his legacy will be yet another series of huge, unprecedented government expansions in domestic and foreign policy, to be capitalized upon by future tin-pot idiots like Bush and Cheney.
I don't so much mind Obama having lots of power because he seems to be a good person and a competent leader. What bothers me is that Obama is the exception and not the rule. In fifty years we might all bemoan the precedents that Obama could set.
I can't guarantee that, though. Maybe he'll do some good.
In any case, there are people who literally cannot comprehend my lack of enthusiasm right now, who don't understand why I don't want to exercise my right to make my voice heard. Who are so persuaded by the immense social pressure to vote that they aren't even aware that there are principled arguments against voting and that not voting could be a valid choice for some people.
So look - I'm not asking you all to change your minds. I'm not demanding you all become cynical radial anarcho-libertarians or whatever the hell I am these days. I'm not telling you all not to vote. All I'm asking is that you stop and consider that voting is not an end in itself and it is certainly not the end of political participation. That there might even be better ways to participate in democracy than making a simple binary choice between two people neither of whom really represent one's interests.
And maybe we should consider that the institution of voting in presidential elections distracts from the important issues and releases voters of their responsibility to be participants in democracy without actually having them exercise any actual responsibility.
Who do you vote for if you opposed the economic bailout?
Who do you vote for if you oppose the war in Afghanistan?
So before I have to hear one more time about how voting is the voice that we have I just want to point out that it is a very unspecific voice - more like honking a car horn than having a conversation - and that if that is the extent of our voice as American citizens then we are in deep shit.
The thing that bugs me, I guess, is that I've stopped seeing any actual attempt to persuade people to vote. Now it's just reminders. "Don't forget to vote!" Seriously? Like, how many rocks would someone have to hide under to have even the remotest chance of being able to "forget" to vote? I know I'm not being fair to the large number of McCain supporters who don't seem to know it's the 21st Century let alone what day it is - they probably need to be reminded. But something tells me it's not these people that we're talking to.
Some talking head on MSNBC - probably the wacky Chris Matthews - said that he can't imagine anyone not voting because anyone who votes this year might potentially be interviewed in the year 2100 about their participation in this historic event. I'm not even making this up.
I get the point - voting now has the feeling of participating in something huge, something historical, and that's exciting.
The problem for me is that people keep comparing this to the election of Lincoln and FDR - in my opinion, two of the worst presidents our country has ever had.
Sure, Lincoln freed the slaves - that is, he freed the slaves of the people that his side was fighting against. That's a great tactic, but a very cynical one. Lincoln was perfectly content to leave the slaves in Union states enslaved because it was the politically expedient thing to do. Lincoln was dead when the thirteenth amendment passed. To make it perfectly clear, Lincoln freed the slaves in much the same way that Bush liberated the Iraqis. And Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and presided over the most bloody war in American history.
And don't even get me started on FDR.
I'm certain that Bush will be remembered for his failures. Which is fine with me - he failed to live up to his campaign promises and he fucked up everything he went near and now everyone hates him with pretty good cause.
What worries me, though, is that Obama will have great success at doing something awful. He'll have great success at choosing the right wars to be in. He'll have great success at regulating the economy. He'll have great success at securing government control over vast segments of our lives. And no matter how great Obama himself is, his legacy will be yet another series of huge, unprecedented government expansions in domestic and foreign policy, to be capitalized upon by future tin-pot idiots like Bush and Cheney.
I don't so much mind Obama having lots of power because he seems to be a good person and a competent leader. What bothers me is that Obama is the exception and not the rule. In fifty years we might all bemoan the precedents that Obama could set.
I can't guarantee that, though. Maybe he'll do some good.
In any case, there are people who literally cannot comprehend my lack of enthusiasm right now, who don't understand why I don't want to exercise my right to make my voice heard. Who are so persuaded by the immense social pressure to vote that they aren't even aware that there are principled arguments against voting and that not voting could be a valid choice for some people.
So look - I'm not asking you all to change your minds. I'm not demanding you all become cynical radial anarcho-libertarians or whatever the hell I am these days. I'm not telling you all not to vote. All I'm asking is that you stop and consider that voting is not an end in itself and it is certainly not the end of political participation. That there might even be better ways to participate in democracy than making a simple binary choice between two people neither of whom really represent one's interests.
And maybe we should consider that the institution of voting in presidential elections distracts from the important issues and releases voters of their responsibility to be participants in democracy without actually having them exercise any actual responsibility.
Who do you vote for if you opposed the economic bailout?
Who do you vote for if you oppose the war in Afghanistan?
So before I have to hear one more time about how voting is the voice that we have I just want to point out that it is a very unspecific voice - more like honking a car horn than having a conversation - and that if that is the extent of our voice as American citizens then we are in deep shit.