Why would I do such a thing?
You've heard, perhaps even uttered the phrase, "I wouldn't do that even if I was paid to." Or perhaps it was, "There's no amount of money you could pay me to do that."
Voting is something which millions of our countrymen have sacrificed everything to allow us to do. There's no voting tax, there's not really much of a qualification to be able to do it, you just have to have the desire to do it. A lot of people, myself included, have been so incensed at what are laughingly referred to as our "choices", and that we are not allowed to vote "None of the Above", that we often simply don't vote as protest. Unfortunately, that doesn't work any better because it only strengthens the voice of those who aren't really smart enough to vote.
In any form of motivation, there is the stick and the carrot; that is, the punishment for not doing right, and the reward for doing right. One without the other often doesn't work, but when both are used, you usually get results. For instance, we personally don't have to make much of a sacrifice to vote; the only stick is that we get no voice at all. What's needed is a carrot, and that's where the $100 comes in. If I give you some money to go vote, you'll go do it, right?
Maybe you think your vote isn't for sale, but what's even more ironic is that people sell their votes all the time for far less than $100. A simple pat on the back from a particular candidate is often enough to do it. Even a PERCEIVED pat on the back - which is to say that the candidate did NOT single you out, he simply mentioned some group you're a part of and praised them and got you to think he cares about you that way.
But there are people who sell their vote even cheaper; in fact, who PAY to cast their vote. I'm talking about the people who blindly vote the party line. "It's the Republican/Democrat candidate, and I'm one of them, so I will vote for them and not consider the other person for any reason." A person like that has paid dearly, whether it's by suffering from party values which rob him of his retirement or his paycheck, or whether it's supporting ideas which are against his core values and therefore forfeits his soul, that person has paid to vote for someone he wouldn't believe in if they were a member of the "other" party.
I hear a lot of people say they want change and fairness and equality, and then they go and vote for a Republican or a Democrat, neither of which has their interests in mind, and both of which have a long track record of lying to get elected. What would it take to get you to snap out of your trance and vote for someone else? Someone who actually would do what you wanted him to do? Someone who would cater to YOUR needs? Someone who was honest and open and worthy of the position you're electing him to?
Is there any price anyone could pay to get you to vote for that person?
Because there are a LOT of people who have paid with their lives so that you WOULD DO JUST THAT.
There IS a person like that, who IS running for President. He can't do it alone. He can't do it without you. He needs you to stand up for yourself and support him so that he can support you, so that he can safeguard your lifetime of work and your retirement and your well-being and restore the rights which the two ajor political parties have trampled in favor of the over-wealthy special interests. Unless you stand up for your rights, you won't have them.
Can I pay you to love your country?
Simply go here and sign up because I want to give you $100 if you help me get Buddy Roemer elected. (The nature of this payment will take the form of a stronger economy and a better income for you when Buddy gets elected and puts into action his plan to kick the corruption out of Congress.)
I thank you, and your country thanks you.
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The only way a man like Buddy Roemer could get elected President of these United States would be if there were a weeks-long national convention of third-party factions to decide upon a single coalition front for storming Washington. Media coverage of the event would have to be enormous, which would therefore require several "fringe" main-liners (Ron Paul for example) to publicly defect from their own parties in order to attend this convention and lend legitimacy to this forming movement. A declaration from a variety of leaders of the small parties would have to publish some document beforehand explaining how this convention was to be run and what its goals were to be (call it a Moderate's Manifesto, if you will). Furthermore, the convention would have to result in a determined and tightly bound coalition of the parties, who would then as a unit publish a second document outlining exactly what the platform was to be for the next election.
ReplyDeleteSuch an event would of course have to be followed by caucuses and debates surrounding the selection of the Coalition Candidate, a spectacle similar to what has happened with the Republicans this year with characters rising and falling and whining and so on. The sheer novelty of the party being both not-Republican and not-Democrat would in theory be helpful; and if the third-party had a few vitriolic spitfires to stir up resentment against the current system, specifically ones who could portray the Republicans and the Democrats as fundamentally identical, there would be enough of a circus for the media to train its eye on the underdogs.
If I were bent to study politics, I would consider it my mission in life to make such come about, filling in roles as needed, whether it were vitriol, strong leadership, or a back-seat anonymous organizer that became necessary.
I wonder why I'd rather not.
Well, when you put it like that, it's a wonder any of us has ever had enough money to eat.
ReplyDeleteWhat's needed is for people to CARE. Right now, we've been infested with a gimme gimme gimme attitude. This country was built by people who GAVE, and we've all gotten used to having all these things that our parents and grandparents paid for. We take them for granted.
Frex, it's highly disturbing that people seriously consider GIVING AWAY our road system and other vital infrastructure to corporations so they can tax us directly for using roads WE paid for. We had a strong economy precisely BECAUSE we ALL paid for the infrastructure and we ALL benefitted from it.
It's like protesting against paying for public education just becausee you don't have a kid. Guess what? Without public education, you can't hire an intelligent employee, you have to spend big bucks to train him yourself from scratch. And what happens when that major investment wants to quit working for you? Well, that's why you create employment contracts, to re-establish legal slavery again so that people can't leave you.
Ever wonder what those cell phone contracts were really for? Getting us used to the idea of being slaves.
But as to your points... Yeah, it might be some work, but if enough people gave a damn about the wonderful things they have and take for granted, not only would doing all that NOT be work, someone would make it so that all that grief wasn't necessary any more.
We all tell our kids they can be anything they want, right? We all tell them they can be President if they want, right? Is that going to be just one more lie, like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, or shall we make an effort to deserve the trust and respect of our children this time?
I've made my choice.