Democracy is okay I guess. I mean, according to the Bible the best form of government will be a dictatorship ruled by a despot, but as far as government this side of the kingdom, democracy will do. I grew up with more than just a “it’ll do” opinion of democracy. I actually held to a version of democracy that went something along these lines: “If everyone would JUST vote, man, we could really change things.” According to Wikipedia, there have been only two elections where the percentage of the voting age population was higher than 81%: 1860 and 1876. The results of the 1860 election was a Civil War that killed around 800 thousand people. The results of the 1876 election was that the guy who did get the most popular votes and probably got the most electoral votes did not become president. The highest turnout in my lifetime thus far was 2008; Obama won that, and it could have been much worse, McCain …
Anyway, after the Kavanaugh hearing I got around to registering because I really think the Democrats exhibited their tyrannical nature. My choice here in Texas is between Beto, Cruz and a Libertarian. But then I read a headline last week on Zerohedge that said something to the effect of: the party that will win will be the party that is most afraid. I realized then (well I was reminded of what I already knew) that I have nothing to be afraid of. I have no particular affinity toward Ted Cruz, and voting for the Libertarian party is the same as not voting. Well, actually, statistically, voting for anyone is the same as not voting, except that voting takes time and effort, so if it’s going to count for nothing anyway, it seems that the easiest thing to do would just be to not vote. That’s what I’m pretty sure I’m going to do. Who knows, though. It’s a free country. Maybe I’ll wake up on Tuesday and decide to go vote.
What is so weird about the way voting is viewed though is that it is viewed almost as a religious act. And it comes with slogans like, “Make your voice be heard!”. Your voice is not heard in any way by voting. And to the extent that it could be heard, not voting carries the same message as voting, so again, why not do the thing that takes less effort. Most bizarre though is the sexualization of voting. “Grab them by the ballot” is an initiative by liberal women. To prove their point they took off their clothes. Weird. Then, there’s ANOTHER one with celebrities talking about “My first time.” It gives the impression they are talking about, don’t say it, SEX, but ACTUALLY they are talking about voting. Weird. A famous libertarian line is something to the effect of, “If voting actually changed anything, it would be illegal.” I’m not sure that’s precisely right, but all of the peer pressure to vote probably shows that if not a bad idea it is at least a pointless one.
First and Second 