There was a time when I truly believed that voting was a right, a privilege, and a civic duty. I used to think that voting made a difference and led to change for the better. It took three decades of bitter disappointment to disabuse me of that naive notion.
I don’t vote in political elections anymore; not on the local level, national level, or any level.
Politicians have never been honest, but lately they’re not even bothering to pretend anymore. The late great comedian George Carlin observed that politicians are a reflection of society:
… it’s what our system produces. Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders.
Carlin was, of course, referring to American society and politics, but a similar situation is endemic worldwide. You only have to observe the clown show masquerading as a government administration in the US right now to understand how utterly corrupt, bereft of morality and selfish these supposed representatives of the citizenry truly are.
Carlin maintained that, contrary to the popular opinion that you have no right to complain if you don’t vote, you have the right to complain because you can’t logically be held responsible for electing dishonest, incompetent people.
Carlin was convinced that the whole system is rigged. Elections give you the illusion of choice. According to him, the entire electoral circus was a big club and you ain’t in it.
Hopefully, someday, we’ll have public representatives who are not owned by or whoring for big corporations or other narrow interest groups, who are honest and not selfish bastards. However, I ain’t holding my breath.
lenny unencumbered 