Max: Will Your Vote Be Counted?
It says something -- an unflattering something -- about this country that this is not the lead story in every news source. Where are the torches and pitchforks, folks?
posted by Max Dobberstein at 9/10/2008 07:07:00 AM
4 Comments:
This sucks. I'll grant that.
However, what you are forgetting is the major ugly truth about our "democracy":
Individual votes do not count.
At least not in national elections. And, let's face it, outside of the local area, who cares about local elections, right?
Due to the electoral college, my vote doesn't mean dick. Neither does yours. No one's vote, outside the college, matters.
And, if one side can hack, so can the other side. So, even in local elections, the side with the best hackers will win. But, this is nothing new, a paper based vote hacker is called a "box stuffer". The last gubernatorial election here in WA went like that. The election happened. The losing candidate asked for a recount because "uncounted ballots" had been found. The election was overturned. The now losing candidate did the same thing because she "found" certain "uncounted" ballots as well. End result: the first cheater sued the second cheater, but the second cheat was done so well, the second cheater has been governor for four years. The two are about to meet head to head again, we'll see who gets the last laugh.
I gotta tell ya, I'm starting to think that monarchy might be the way to go. Representative government doesn't scale. Individual views are not represented in such a large mass society. The only ones with any sway in our governments are those with billions of dollars to throw around, and there are so many of them that even they are losing representation. Our governments do nothing well - most of the time they just spin their wheels and what little action comes out is so retarded it's usually more harmful than helpful. So, why even have an election? Get a stadium, put a bunch of melee weapons in the middle, allow all comers. Whomever is left gets to pick who rules. It's as good of a system as what we have now. And it would make good TV!
Max, your ideas on anarchy might have been ahead of my curve, but I'm nearly there now.
As a poli sci student and math geek, I can go at length into why one vote is meaningless.
As a history geek with paranoia, I am well aware of past electoral shenanigans.
Still.
Genetic monarchies don't come with any sort of failsafe. If a syphilitic retard is next in line for the throne, them we will be subject to the whims of a syphilitic retard.
I am in favor of a milder form of anarchism called "devolution". Simplified, the central government would be shrunk to Libertarian size, handling military, foreign affairs and conflicts between two or more states that they cannot solve on their own. State governments would handle interstate affairs and any matter that affects more than one county. Everything else would be on the county/municipal level . So St. Louis City (a county unto itself) could be a social democracy, St. Louis County could be a mishmash of hippy enclaves and wealthy libertarian paradises and Jeffco could provide a place where all the rednecks can go and hid behind their guns and religion.
This would do absolutely nothing to end ballot stuffing/hacking. But it might change the overall dynamic in this country when you know where the person who speaks for you in most governmental matters lives and can go kick him in the nuts. Or punch her in the ovaries.
I guess my point about going with a monarchy is that our government is so broken, we might as well allow a king/queen to rule. This way we don't have to spend the time or money to "elect" someone.
And we might as well. If Papa Bush is going to keep putting his sons on the throne - "syphilitic retard" indeed!
He may not be syphilitic - but sometimes I wonder about W's Fetal Alcohol Syndrome! Look at these symptoms, taken directly from the CDC website:
# low birth weight
# small head circumference (!)
# failure to thrive
# developmental delay
# poor socialization skills, such as difficulty building and maintaining friendships and relating to groups (!)
# lack of imagination or curiosity (!)
# learning difficulties, including poor memory, inability to understand concepts such as time and money, poor language comprehension, poor problem-solving skills (!)
# behavioral problems, including hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, stubbornness, impulsiveness, and anxiety
# overpowering need to blow up middle eastern countries to impress one's father (!!!)
Ah, for the good old days when Syphilis was a death sentence and you could get a real crackpot in charge. Tell me it wouldn't have been awesome had Shrub mooned Pelosi at some point during his last State of the Union.
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