It’s Election Day here in the U.S., so if you live here, don’t forget to vote.
For the last twelve months we’ve been hearing from the lunatic fringe about how our new president is about to have a coup, put people into gulags (tastefully decorated with multicultural art and images of same-sex couples), turn us into an evil socialist state by making it possible for us to buy health insurance that actually insures us, etc., etc. I can be pretty cynical but I have been surprised that there are so many people with even less faith in the political system than me. Today is the day that citizens can boot out the people who they don’t like (if they choose to bother).
Here in Houston we’re electing a mayor and city council. (Well, more likely we will choose two candidates for a runoff for mayor.) Very low turnout is expected. Considering how much Houstonians like to complain about their property taxes, the police (we have an understaffed department and need more, which costs money, which comes back to that property tax issue, but… oh well), the lack of planning in the city, the results of that lack of planning in the city (think of the endless Ashby High Rise whinging), and so on. Today is the day we pick the leader of city government and the council that passes laws. And a majority of Houstonians will not participate.
(A message for those, although I doubt many are reading: shut up. Stay home today, you cede your right to complain without sounding like a buffoon until the next election.)
I am one of those people who vote ever time, even when there’s almost nothing to vote for. I’m also one of those people who makes sure to read up on the candidates before voting. If you haven’t been one of those people in the past, I’d like to suggest that you become one.
My guess for today in Houston is no surprises in the council races and Annise Parker and Peter Brown heading into the runoff. We’ll see if I am right!
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I always say to the non-voters: You can’t pontificate if you don’t participate.
Unfortunately, some of the us who vote don’t actually participate either. If you mail in your ballot, chances are your vote isn’t counted. If you’re in the military and vote from overseas, chances are your vote isn’t counted. If you’re African American and live in the South, there’s a chance you won’t be allowed to vote, for one reason or another.
And even if your vote is counted, the massive amount of misinformation on the issues and the difficulty in obtaining accurate information on the issues, and actually understanding the accurate information and how it interconnects with other issues, often makes voting an exercise in futility. Add to that the fact that few, if any, politicians can be trusted, once in office, and one no longer has to wonder at voter apathy.
Our governments are, by and large, controlled by corporate America. Even if we do manage to get our “man/woman” elected, chances are s/he will be co-opted by lobbyists, and other corrupting influences, long before they can implement the platform promised to voters.
Perhaps American voter apathy is part of a growing worldwide disillusionment with liberal democracy and capitalism.
Stephen, do they make you take off your tinfoil hat before you enter the voting booth?
I am, perhaps, one of the few voters in California that actually reads the contents of every proposition and constitutional amendment before voting on them. What they actually say bears almost no resemblance to what is advertised by the campaigns for and against them. It is almost impossible to foresee how most of them will impact other issues.
As for politicians being corrupt, and often criminal, I have found this to be true of just about every elected politician I have ever voted for/against — I’ve been voting for three decades. While I still have my tinfoil hat on, let me name just a very few:
Bush, Jr.: illegally invaded Iraq, wrongfully invaded Afghanistan, torture, renditions, numerous other violations of the U.S. Constitution.
Clinton: Illegally suppressed unions, illegally bombed civilians and civilian infrastructure in Serbia, lied under oath.
Obama: illegal torture, illegal renditions, illegal war in Iraq, illegal war in Pakistan, wrongful war in Afghanistan.
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