Dear Ignorant People, Please DON'T Vote

Dear Ignorant People,

Please don’t vote today. Don’t exercise your rights today. Don’t participate in the sacred democratic ritual. Just sit on your couch and watch reruns on Bravo, or whatever it is you do with your time. But please don’t vote. Please, dear God, I beg you. Don’t vote.

And realize, friends, that I am not insulting you. The word ‘ignorant’ simply means ‘lacking knowledge and awareness.’ It doesn’t necessarily mean stupid or idiotic. It doesn’t mean bad or evil. It just means that you do not have all of the necessary information to make a considered and thoughtful decision. That’s OK, really. Maybe there’s even something to be said for it. But it doesn’t belong in the ballot box. Not now. Not when there’s so much at stake.

See, although I am pretty well informed about current events, politics, the functioning of government, and most of the important issues of the day, I am admittedly ignorant in other areas. Perhaps even all other areas. It’s with great shame that I confess to being completely mystified anytime the conversation turns to quantum mechanics, auto repair, interior design, French cuisine, the history of equestrian semi-nomadic civilizations in 3rd century central Eurasia, basic mathematics, Arctic zoology, plumbing, astrology, and approximately 40,000 other subjects.

Therefore, if I’m asked to teach a math class, or fix a broken toilet, or cook a dozens crepes, or predict future events by analyzing the constellations, I will decline the invitation and leave the matter in more competent hands. Particularly if there are already a million more qualified people on site, taking care of business.

In other words, I’m not going to be the guy who pulls over at the scene of an accident to “help,” even though there are six other cars stopped, plus two ambulances, a police car, and a fire truck. There is nothing else for me to add. I can be of no assistance. I do not bring anything to the table that the emergency personnel and the half dozen other shameless rubberneckers can’t provide. If I stop, it will only be because I want to feel important and then drive home and regale my wife with the exaggerated tales of my heroic deeds.

That’s what voting day has become in America. Half the people who show up are only in it for the “I Voted” sticker and the feeling that they’ve Done Their Part. Except, unfortunately, you haven’t done your part if this is the only day you Do Your Part.

Being an active and engaged citizen means keeping up to speed, getting involved, and participating in the discussion every day. It means learning about how our government is supposed to work, how our laws are supposed to be made, and how our Constitution is supposed to dictate all of these things.

And then it means learning about how our government actually works (it doesn’t), and how our laws are actually made (by executive fiat), and how our Constitution actually factors into this equation (not at all).

If it were up to me, there would be some kind of short, easy, very straightforward quiz determining who gets to enter the ballot box today. Nothing complicated. No trick questions. Just fundamental things like:

-When was our nation founded?
-Who is the Secretary of State?
-What is the First Amendment?
-How many states are in the Union?
-Name one Supreme Court Justice?
-What does the term ‘national debt’ mean?
-Are you only voting for the candidates who gave you a pin at the state fair last month?
-What planet are we on?
-What galaxy is this?

I’d say we could weed out 40 percent of the electorate with the first six questions, and then another ten with the last three.

I wish there was an easier way of doing this. Maybe in the future they’ll invent some kind of Ignorance Test — kind of like the pregnancy kind — where you pee on a stick and it comes up either “+This person has a clue” or “-This dude has no freaking idea what’s going on.”

Until such a thing exists, there needs to be at least some sort of filtration system. We must erect barriers to guard against the Walking Discombobulated, who wish to pounce upon our Democratic System and devour its guts while it screams in helpless agony.

Alas, there is nothing to protect it. We are exposed and vulnerable. They are all invited in: the perplexed, the uninitiated, the illiterate, the obtuse and the benighted. The gates are opened and they stream in by the thousand to eat our country’s soul and take Election Day selfies.

Indeed, we don’t just make it possible for ignorant people to vote, we encourage it.

The idea has taken hold that voting should be the easiest, most comfortable, most uncumbersome thing you do all year. The future and fate of our entire nation hangs in the balance and we think it ought to be decided with the same energy and effort it takes to soil your underpants. If any semblance of purpose or competence is required of this apathetic mass known as the American electorate, we stomp our feet and shout that a great injustice has taken place.

Maybe it is an injustice. Maybe every single human being, no matter how willfully dense and repulsively complacent, should have the exact same power and responsibility as even the most in-tuned, eager, and knowledgeable citizen. Maybe a man who pays attention, pays his bills, and pays his taxes ought to be weighed precisely the same as a man who has never in his life paid any of those things. Maybe that’s ‘fair.’ I don’t know.

But what I do know is that it’s not how any Democratic system, including our own, was ever meant to function. And I do know that it leads invariably to disaster and ruin.

It’s not your responsibility to vote just for the sake of voting. It’s your responsibility to stay engaged and apprized of the national situation — and then vote. If you haven’t completed the first step, do not proceed to the second. Dear God, please, do not proceed to the second.

This is a conspiracy, don’t you see it? A conspiracy. An honest-to-goodness conspiracy. The Powers That Be know that active and enlightened voters are the greatest threat to their oligarchy. They also know that they cannot (yet) physically prevent those primed and savvy individuals from casting a ballot, so instead they drown the informed votes in a sea of bewildered ignorance.

They carry in the Oblivious and the Self-Satisfied, and pour their incomprehension all over our nation’s polling places until the smart votes are sufficiently diluted. It is a brilliant scheme, and it has paid dividends for them.

That’s why the elites in government love “get out the vote” campaigns starring a rapper and a B-list feminist celebrity.

If you need Lil John and Lena Dunham to tell you to vote, then you shouldn’t.

As a matter of fact, if you are even a fan of either person, then you shouldn’t (remind me later because that needs to go on the entrance exam).

Ignorant People, the greatest service you can provide today is staying as far away from a voting booth as possible. Your nation is calling on you, Ignorant People. It needs you, in this moment of great consequence, to do the right thing. And, in this case, the right thing is nothing.

Stay home.

If you want a sticker, I’ll make some for you. They’ll say: “I DIDN’T vote today!”

Wear it with pride. You earned it.

Thank you and God bless.

Sincerely,
America

David Letterman’s monologue last night included some observations that stood out for me:

“This is what happens when we have the midterm elections. The Republicans, of course, have turned against Obama, and the Democrats have also turned against Obama. That’s a lonely, lonely gig being president, ladies and gentlemen.

“Take a look at this: gas under $3 a gallon – under $3 a gallon. Unemployment under 6%, whoever thought? Stock market breaking records every day. No wonder the guy is so unpopular.”

As the saying goes, it’s funny because it’s true.

***

In her latest Washington Post column, Rachel highlighted the role of fear as a campaign theme this year, adding, “For all the end-of-the-world clamor around this year’s elections, you’d never guess that the economy is growing at 3.5 percent, unemployment is below 6 percent and gas prices are way, way down. Even Halloween candy was cheap this year. But good news, schmood news. This year, we’ve decided to be miserable and afraid.”

At this point, I’m not even sure what conditions would have to look like for the mainstream to see the nation as being on the right track. We have falling unemployment, increasing growth, rising stock indexes, a shrinking deficit, and increasing economic confidence. More Americans are gaining access to affordable medical care. More Americans are graduating from high school and entering higher ed. Gas prices keep dropping. Even the federal response to the Ebola threat has turned out to be pretty darn effective, and Joni Ernst’s opinions notwithstanding, only one guy in the country actually has the virus.

Putting aside whether the White House gets credit for any of the developments, what exactly would a country moving “in the right direction” look like? Shouldn’t current conditions meet that standard?

sphinx wrote:
I strongly suggest you all read (and I mean read not watch - the film missed the point) Starship Troopers.

Lone Wolf wrote:

sphinx wrote:
I strongly suggest you all read (and I mean read not watch - the film missed the point) Starship Troopers.

I read 'Starship Troopers' back in the 1970s...

I then saw the movie some 20-odd years later when it first came out ~ any links between the book and the film are pretty thin and tenuous by comparison..

Considering it was written in 1958/'59, we had a world still rebuilding after WWII, in the middle of the Cold War, McCarthyism and "Reds under your beds" scares running riot across the USA back in the day, and fallout and big questions after the Vietnam War still some years off; it certainly gives an interesting reflection of the type of recruit that the military would have been aiming for back in that era, and what it would have expectd from its soldiers and officers.    

Brasidas wrote:First of all:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/apr/28/ukip-national-newspapers


Second I think UKIP is a 3 policy party.
Immigration.
EU
Nationalism


So again you perceive wrong which is a massive failing where you already perceive wrongly what others views are. If you predict what they are then again it will be a failing. My view is more people are supporting UKIP based off fear, fueled by them off the 3 points stated, where also many people are already disllusioned by main stream parties. Though they will soon see as I have just read the policies how short sighted their policies are which do not offer again how they will finance this. Much speculation based around leaving on a path they themselves cannot predict.

You also get agitated over your party very easily, when just debating here, that is not good either, which is also a failing where you will fail to convince people to the point it is not defensive but anger at people for being at odds with your views. I am open to many things but it is very easy to read behind the lines of what UKIP stand for. As stated, their 3 main views are based upon fear, they thus play up to fears of people.

I have read the links and as I rightly stated to you, they provide little to how their policies will be viable, they are reliant on many things happenning, which can easily fall flat on them espcially when they have to negoatiate with many nations. It leaves not only the UK in a very vunerable position but could create a disater for the UK. UKIP does not factor in hardly any propblems they may occur and take the view they will be able to sail through negoatiations, it is again a massive failing, one that will be brought to attention more and more as the general election looms.

So yes i am open to many things, and the biggest is how UKIP has no contingency views on its policies, and this will spell them disaster in a general election. They will win some seats but will become more and more xposed to the problems of their policies, all of which you yourself cannot answer. hence why I stated to you just posting me their polices where they do not factor in many aspects which you yourself wish to shy away from answering is not going to convince anyone.

Not the best at convincing people are you Sphinx, if this is your view to show hostility. Think you need to rething your strategy, because let me say I am very happy at how you are responding as you will gather little support this way. You need to understand people to win them over, clearly something you need lots of work on.

Ben_Reilly wrote:We've got to do something to fix this. I heard about a survey of voters where many respondents said they were googling candidates' names the night before the election to figure out who they'd vote for. Really, if this is your approach you don't deserve any political power.
Meanwhile ... WHAT THE FUCK, America? What is everyone so angry about?

In her latest Washington Post column, Rachel highlighted the role of fear as a campaign theme this year, adding, “For all the end-of-the-world clamor around this year’s elections, you’d never guess that the economy is growing at 3.5 percent, unemployment is below 6 percent and gas prices are way, way down. Even Halloween candy was cheap this year. But good news, schmood news. This year, we’ve decided to be miserable and afraid.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/no-wonder-the-guy-so-unpopular

Cass wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:We've got to do something to fix this. I heard about a survey of voters where many respondents said they were googling candidates' names the night before the election to figure out who they'd vote for. Really, if this is your approach you don't deserve any political power.
Meanwhile ... WHAT THE FUCK, America? What is everyone so angry about?

In her latest Washington Post column, Rachel highlighted the role of fear as a campaign theme this year, adding, “For all the end-of-the-world clamor around this year’s elections, you’d never guess that the economy is growing at 3.5 percent, unemployment is below 6 percent and gas prices are way, way down. Even Halloween candy was cheap this year. But good news, schmood news. This year, we’ve decided to be miserable and afraid.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/no-wonder-the-guy-so-unpopular

nail.on.head.
fear. nobodys helping me so why should I help others. let the working poor continue to receive a non-living wage and that should keep the welfare benefits enrollments high cause God forbid those brilliant hardworking corporations or billionaires cant get another yacht or jet that they can write off.
case in point. my state of Arizona. 43out of 50 in education. $400 million in debt and all under a republican governor.  but hey lets spend billions on getting the Superbowl here cause that's the best! or were not going to help federal agencies because they Suck but when a disaster strikes here you can betchya we'll be screaming holy hell for federal support.

I feel sick.

veya_victaous wrote:sometimes the left do use fear too. fear of big corporations, fear of the USA (maybe why you don't get it in the USA   ) environmental fears and even econmic inequity is partially fear based. here LW is probably seen as safer for your job if you are lower worker and RW if you are higher or with aspirations.

I think either side focuses of different fears. RW has become more fear driven (currently) but at its core really should not be (it is actually pro risk in economic outlook)

Original Quill wrote:

I agree...but those are piddlin' problems.  They shit green bricks over education or feeding the poor, and blame the Feds for reckless spending, but then the idiots will vote to spend $-trillions going to war in a campaign over which end of the egg to break.

Even a film script has to make sense...and it has an ending.

Lurker wrote:You know, they estimate that 2/3 of eligible voters nation wide DID NOT VOTE!. That's disgraceful.

Lurker wrote:You know, they estimate that 2/3 of eligible voters nation wide DID NOT VOTE!. That's disgraceful.