Show The races are won with or without you Jeff Dixon Copy Editor Elections are supposed to be about people having choices choices- If they didn't have havea e a discernible choice or at least a choice with an actual chance the whole ordeal would be a mere charade In some countries only members of the ruling party are eligible for office People still go to the polls In others even in the US U.S. long ago folks are bullied and bribed in to voting a certain way in public elections Some of our labor unions still haven't grown out of this shameful tactic But sure were we're thankful to theoretically have this least worst of systems Democracy But the state of our electoral process with the aid of a complicit corporate media is to democracy what boxing is isto isto isto to competitive sport Its It's real but its it's really not And today as people read this a great mass of citizens will ambulate inand in inand inand and out of their polling places making the same choices for the same reasons and lamenting the sad fact that they are by and large getting the same I lousy results na Einstein would call it insanity Nietzsche simply called it Were We're conditioned to find every reason not todo to todo todo do something different or support someone in whom we believe He wont won't win Hes He's not like me Hes He's too vague He made a gaffe Hes He's old Hes He's ugly Hes He's too reserved Hes He's too temperamental Hes He's not presidential He doesn't worship my god His skin is Hey we need to be highly selective with the right criteria But to the point that were we're restrictive of ourselves Really what is the point of watching them debate following news coverage of the races perusing the issues issues' page of their Web sites or honking when he or she waves on the street all the while ignoring our well well justified justified suspicions and common sense which tells us were we're limiting that choice tomorrow to the least lousy of the likely leaders We Ve know whose interests politicians really represent when given a ahard ahard ahard hard choice their donors' donors And most donations dont don't represent a last name but a abrand abrand abrand brand name Moreover what does it matter whether or not nota a candidate has a chance to win if that person represents you best Dont Don't bet on the horse you like bet on the one you think will win Right Why vote for anyone but the likely winner in this winner-take-all winner system if that's the rationale Why vote for if McCains McCain's going to win Utah Why show up if you are not in the majority Your voice wont won't be heard anyway Its It's an exercise in futility Why vote Why care That inevitable defeat whether real or perceived begets excuses excuses' I However the only inevitability is that those very excuses will beget apathy and inaction because youre you're going to realize that nothings nothing's happening Until we buck the trend Please consider What principled conservative would vote for McCain McCains McCain's a big- big government foreign and economic interventionist whose idea of family values is marrying in to a valuable family And what principled liberal libera would vote for taken more money from Health Insurance Pharmaceutical Financial Services and Defense interests than McCain by large margins in each How much change will they allow So I was torn tom between Ralph Nader and Bob Barr because I have instincts that lean toward both ends of the spectrum Did I throw my vote away when I settled on Nader I believe him when he speaks and I trust his sense of justice I could have I said the same albeit to toa toa toa a lesser degree for Bob Barr Regardless I voted for someone who's probably going to lose tonight Yet I know that he would not have let me down in key areas of policy And he certainly would not have been for sale The only way I would have thrown my vote away would have been as an old socialist once said to vote for the eventual winner only to be let down For those who need an excuse to vote their conscience the race is already won in Utah Youre You're just one person Your protest vote if you want to call it that willbe willbe will willbe be significant to you yet inconsequential to the outcome bo o join Jom me tellow Bruins Send fa- fa small but butt very important message that youre you're someone who wont won't compromise to the point of complacency who wont won't let the media decide who your choices are Please the madness will not change until we start bringing more voices and more choices left left right and center to the ballot to the news coverage and to the debates Power is too concentrated million people have more than two ideologies We deserve more than two sanctioned choices Please consider voting for a third-party third candidate today And if you do remember which finger to use |