The age of the Internet has expanded the political
awareness of people in several ways. We can visit the official websites of
candidates for the Presidency to make more informed (or misled) choices. We
can tell ourselves we're deciding for ourselves whether or not a candidate
is just another puppet or truly someone interested in improving America. We
can contribute campaign money with the click of the mouse while we're there.
We can not only read the editorial pages of hundreds of newspapers, but many
thousands of blogs by people with strong opinions. But beyond these
advantages for the dissemination of information, the Internet has also
verified something the average American previously dismissed as communist
propaganda, or at least as pessimistic thinking - the game is rigged,
the entire electoral process is a sham. Just like since our inception as a
nation, the candidates the public wants are not allowed to run effectively
because they haven't been approved of by the people with billions at stake
in the outcome.
It certainly didn't take long for the field of
candidates to be narrowed down to a dismal three... two radical leftists and
one wannabe liberal in an elephant suit. But where is the true voice of
America? None of those three frontrunners reflect the everyday concerns of
the average citizen; these three have simply been addressing issues they've
convinced the average citizen they should be concerned about... "and pay
no attention to that man behind the curtain." Each of the three offer
either business as usual or murky half-revelations about their true
intentions.
Unless we're prepared to declare democracy dead and
accept a totalitarian, socialist government, then Senator John McCain is the
only frontrunner worth electing. But one can not help but feel that we're
once again settling for the lesser of evils by electing him. He's not a bad
guy - but aren't there other people in this country who would do better? Of
course there are, but they aren't running for office. They aren't one of the
boys (or girls) sitting at the big political table, where you must be at
least marginally corrupt and willing to sell out America to enable the
movers and shakers to make their billions.
Who else has managed to make their aspirations known to
the general public? Well, we have the extremists: Ron Paul who'd push us
back to 1910, Mitt Romney who'd push us back to 1810, and Mike Huckabee who
push us back to 1710. I agree with some of their ideas, but not nearly
enough to see them in the White House... not that they have a chance in hell
of getting there anyway. Their purpose in the process isn't to run for
office and win, their purpose is to be used as also rans to
convince the voters that they did have choices but that those nominated (by
a corrupt system) are the best choices.
So what to do? The Internet is exposing the game for
what it is more and more with each passing election. Do we flip a coin
believing that it really doesn't matter which of the bums gets into
office? Do we delude ourselves for the sake of peace of mind that one of the
two parties is truly dedicated to the welfare of the American people? Is
either party interested in doing more than tossing down a few bones from the
table to keep us at bay while they squander our tax money on overseas deals
to enrich their cronies?
American science fiction
writer/philosopher Robert A. Heinlein once stated "of course the game is
rigged, but you can't win if you don't play." That's what it's all about,
isn't it? Winning. Survival of the fittest. Dog eat dog. More for me and to
hell with you. As unkind as it sounds that makes sense, for the health of
humanity. That's why I'm voting a protest vote. There is no other choice for
a voter who hasn't got millions of dollars at stake. Let the power
elite know that you know what's going on and that you disapprove. Vote
Green. Vote Ron Paul. Vote Libertarian. Vote for whomever you desire, even
though you know they'll never make it. If everyone did that the message
would be sent. The average voter is unhappy with the game. But what
if voting for Ron Paul takes a vote away from McCain and he loses to
whichever socialist he's running against? Stop and ask yourself, does it
really matter? Neither will stop the war overnight, magically fix the
economy, solve our major social problems... both have already been approved
by the MONEY.