Yes, You Should Vote…!

(Because The Government Clearly Does Not Want You To)

by Bud Stratford

Sunday, August 7th, 2016

Like anybody else on Facebook these days, my news feed is often saddled and sullied with all kinds of crazy catcrap. Probably because crazy catcrap is the one thing that Modern Americans can readily produce both efficiently, and consistently. Especially on the internet. Because nothing really brings on the crazy catcrap like unabashed anonymity does.

Today, I read another un-original, echo-chamber op-ed piece about why you shouldn’t bother to vote. As if we didn’t have enough ignorant apathy floating around as it is. In this piece, the author claimed (like so many other ignorant and apathetic morons are claiming these days) that this whole election is bought, paid for, predetermined, and rigged anyway. As such, “wisdom and reason” dictates that your vote will be rendered meaningless by some shadowy power structure somewhere. Namely, within The Government itself. Or, The Privately Owned Federal Reserve. Or, The New World Order. Or, The Illuminati. Or, The Moneyed Elites. Or, whoever is supposedly running the world these days.

Of course, this flies completely against any semblance of “wisdom and reason”. Especially when everyday, practical experience flies in the face of these assertions. Of course, you should vote. Of course, it matters. And of course, it will count. Because if it really didn’t matter, and if it really didn’t count… there would be nobody, from anywhere, trying to dissuade you from doing it.

But of course, everybody and their frenemies are practically falling over each other this year, trying with all their might to keep you out of the voting booth. Including The Government, itself. Which is the best reason of all to make the time and effort to do it. Specifically because, The Government doesn’t want you to.

The Government has a long, detailed, and endlessly documented history of making the things that it wants you to do, quite easy. Likewise, it also has a long, detailed, and endlessly documented history of making the things it doesn’t want you to do, quite difficult. Nay impossible, actually. We all know it’s true; common sense tells us at least that much. Even if we don’t remember it that often. And what The Government clearly does not want you to do, is to get up, get out, and vote.

A couple months ago, I got a ticket up in Holbrook that illustrates my point perfectly. The officer stopped me, checked my credentials, went back to his cruiser, and returned holding a citation for me. Yup, I got a ticket. But being relatively new to Arizona, I wasn’t entirely sure what my options were, or how to go about pursuing them.

Basically, I had two options. Fight the ticket, and “prove my innocence”… which immediately runs contrary to our rule of law and common sense, of course. How in the world can you ever “prove innocence”, anyway? And aren’t we already innocent until we’re proven gulty…? Well, it was explained to me by my friendly officer (that my tax dollars bought and paid for, mind you) that because he, the officer (who is respected by the law) wrote the ticket… then I, the defendant (who is clearly not respected by the law) am automatically guilty because the “preponderance of evidence” immediately goes against me in the court of law. “Preponderance Of Evidence” in this case meant that because he thought I was guilty enough to write me a ticket, then clearly, I must be guilty as hell.

But if I really wanted to fight this stacked and staggered system, well, I was still free and clear to do so. All I had to do was to plead not guilty on my ticket; send it to the court; make the five-hour trek up to Holbrook to appear in court on a day and time of the court’s choosing (not mine); and bring irrefutable proof of my innocence along with me. Easy enough, you might say. Although it seems like a ginormously impossible pain in the ass to me.

Or: I could choose to simply plead guilty, and pay the fine. That involved signing on a dotted line on my citation, writing out a check, and dropping it in the mail. And, I had a whole month and a half to do it before I’d get into any further trouble. Much, much easier. Even you’d have to agree with that.

This isn’t an isolated case. Everything The Government does is aimed at getting you to do what serves their better interests. Like, paying taxes. Figuring out which deductions you’re entitled to is again, nay impossible to do (unless you’re a high-priced CPA or a tax attorney). However, actually paying the taxes is remarkably simple. Again, it’s as simple as signing a dotted line, and mailing a check. Funny how The Government works, huh…?

Signing up to give your life to The Military is pretty easy, quick, and simple to do. Getting your life back, though…? Nay impossible.

Paying fuel, excise, and highway use taxes is really easy. We do it quietly, silently, and automatically every time we buy gas. But getting that pothole fixed in your neighborhood…? Yeah, right. You might as well just forget about that one.

Voting is just like anything else. They make it a giant pain in the ass in the hopes that you won’t do it. Wouldn’t it be great if cops pulled you over, just to verify that you had voted? “Oh, you haven’t? Here, it’s really simple. Just take this ticket, pick a candidate, and mail it in before November 11th (or whatever). Take your time, it’s no rush.” But of course, that would cost revenue, not generate it. And it would be a public service, not a public disservice. So of course, the government will never do it.

If government really wanted you to vote, they’d make a phone app that would let you do it from anywhere, anytime you wanted. They would let you vote from your home or office computer. Funny that you can file your taxes from your home office, but you can’t vote from there. Clearly, it’s because government would rather have your money then your vote.

Then, you have all of the other factors keeping you from voting as well. The candidates both suck. There is very little access to third parties… which I’m sure is orchestrated by the two “major” parties to keep themselves in power. Do you think that maybe the two “major parties” exert some pressure on the media to not cover alternatives…? I’m sure they do. Then, candidates routinely lie through their teeth and break laws, and yet they never seem to be held accountable by anyone at all. I find it strikingly odd that the president… the most powerful elected official in the country… is subject to term limits, but nobody else is. Then, you have massive media telling you that voting is a huge waste of time and energy, and that it doesn’t count for anything anyway. And then they wonder why voter turnout is in the toilet. But secretly, I think they all prefer it that way. They probably love having their candidates voted into power by a small minority of ignorant and insane (but, highly motivated!) citizenry that is blissfully aligned with their own special interests. But all the while, nobody is looking after our collective interests as a nation. Because the majority of us are still sitting at home on our couches, convinced that we can never make a difference.

If we… the silent, apathetic majority that “can’t make a difference” actually decided to get out and vote en masse, we could make a huge difference that could never be rigged, tampered, “lost”, or thrown away. You might be able to “lose” a few thousand ballots here and there, but you can’t possibly hope to “lose” millions. You might be able to stop a leaky faucet, but stopping a sea change is a hell of a lot more difficult. If we ever hope to take our country back… well, we have to stand up, and start taking it back. Exercising your right to vote… which is one of the few rights that we still have left to freely exercise, by the way… is a damn good start.

I think that’s the best reason of all to stand up, be counted, and make that happen.

And if The Government doesn’t like it, oh well. Screw them.