Week of 11/01/2010

Just Focus On The One
– by David Matthews 2

Every year at election time I hear the same old tired mantras from the statists in the political world when it comes to alternatives to their usual zero-sum “lesser of two evils” argument. That “they’re spoilers”, that “they take votes away from the other candidates” (boy, talk about an ENTITLEMENT program), and of course the most pompous of pompous pronouncements…

“They cannot win.”

Good luck on using history to refute their arguments. They have their own to fall back on. Good luck on using voter dissatisfaction. After all, the whole purpose of negative campaigning is to get those dissatisfied voters so disgusted that they will stay home instead of voting.

No, these political cultists have their minds fixated on their zero-sum “with us or against us” extremist mindset and they will go to their graves reciting those mantras.

Even worse is that these political cultists are in positions of influence in the media, able to recite their zero-sum “two-party only” beliefs to the masses and having it unquestionably accepted as being “truth”. The destructive effect of this mantra is even magnified by the glaring corruption, abuses, and gross incompetence of both halves that of that “two-party only” cult. When you are convinced that there are “only two sides” and both of them end up being detrimental to human discourse, there’s really no incentive to fix things.

But things DO have to change. These “two-party only” evangelicals need to be shut down, or at the very least hounded away from center stage so that REAL change can take place in society. THEY certainly don’t want change, because it takes power away from them. But change MUST be made, because the way things are today, it is just not healthy for any society to continue like this.

So how do you do it? How do you TRULY fix a problem this extensive?

The quick-and-dirty way would be to say “government”, but that’s really not a solution. That’s actually another part of the problem. In fact every attempt to impose a government solution has ended up reinforcing that same extremist “two-party only” cult. That’s because the government is also infested with status-quo cultists, and getting them to accept more than two political parties is like getting Christians and Muslims to accept Buddhists as equals.

So how do you bring about change given the insurmountable odds stacked against it?

You do it in the same way that the status quo crept into society in the first place…

You start with yourself.

Let’s get brutally honest here… these “two-party only” evangelical cultists have a vested interest in getting you to vote their way. Their power rests in convincing you to give up your own when it comes to the ballot box. So the first step to bringing change is for you to not give them that power.

Bringing about change first must from YOUR OWN vote. Not your neighbor’s vote; YOURS. Change doesn’t just happen because you want it to, and change is not going to be easy. It means having to explain why you aren’t following the “preferred” choices, putting up with accusations of “wasting your vote” or of being a “spoiler”.

Yes it means enduring the slings and arrows of making your choice, but if you think about it… making a change against a destructive system means weathering some abuse. Look at some of the biggest changes in history. How many of them were without misery or torment? Being accused of “wasting your vote” or of being a “spoiler” is pretty much on the low-end of consequences.

Besides, if your vote is ultimately so inconsequential to the “bigger picture”, why are the statist evangelicals so concerned about it? Well the answer is simple: because EVERY vote counts, no matter how small they are; and their sense of entitlement demands that they lay claim to EVERY vote out there, including - and especially - YOURS.

Consider one of the previous elections where there were “X” percent of the populace that did not vote, thus fulfilling the ultimate goal of those negative ads. What if half of those non-voters actually showed up and wrote in “NOTA” to any particular office? Sure “NOTA” wouldn’t win, but it would send a message to both sides of that “two-party only” cult that there is a segment of the populace that isn’t happy with the choices being forced on them. Plus it would open the door for better candidates that would normally be excluded from running by those party bosses. Just by you writing in “NOTA” (or “None Of The Above”), you send that message of dissatisfaction that starts the wheels of change rolling.

All of that starts with just one vote… your own.

Once upon a time this commentator believed that a truly “wasted” vote was the one that didn’t vote, but after listening to the statist evangelicals over and over and over, I have been forced to revise that definition. A truly WASTED vote is not just the person who doesn’t vote, but also the person who sells out his principles and votes for the “lesser of two evils” instead of voting for the candidate that he or she feels best represents them.

True change starts not with the collective, but with the individual. Don’t worry about the million votes needed to win, or even a thousand votes. Just focus on that one vote… your own. And make it TRULY represent you.