Voting Day Blues: An Unorthodox Explanation as to Why We Hate Our Elected Officials

We've made it. Voting day. We all have those representatives that we can't wait to see the back of. How many times have you heard someone express adoration for their elected officials? Try thinking over the course of your whole life. Still a pretty slim number. Other than Presidents, every other representative has dismal approval ratings. And yet, they keep getting re-elected. Over and over and over and over...until they die in office and their widows continue their legacy.

Why is this? Why do we continually elect people we don't care for to represent our interests in a seat of government? If Albert Einstein's definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time, then the American people are the very epitome of insane. The first Tuesday of November, every year, we line up and vote. While we're voting, do we think, This is it? This is the year it all changes? Or do we attach our name to a vote while shuddering and thinking, Ugh! I don't like either of these people? Isn't there a third option?

You're Not Alone

My brother-in-law, an Iraq war Veteran, was there in-country at the time of the Parliamentary election. Yet, he had never voted himself. He voted for the first time in the 2012 Presidential Election. Many will read that and be appalled. How could someone who is willing to give his life for this country, not vote for it? His response? I've never liked my choices. I didn't want to vote for someone I didn't believe in.

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

He isn't the first to have this attitude, and he won't be the last. Another saying we're all likely to have heard, If you don't vote, you have no right to complain about policies. A valid argument. But, by that same logic, does that mean if you do vote, you're only securing your right to complain (which is inevitable)? So what's the solution?

Bye-Bye, Primaries!

I don't feed my children breakfast, and then immediately pressure them into making a decision as to what it is they might potentially want to eat for dinner. Where's the sense in that? They're full! They're not thinking about food!

How many sports scouts attend the tryouts? None. They wait for the big games. They trust that the coach did an adequate enough job weeding out the undesriables several months ago. So, why are we, as Citizens, asked to submit a dinner selection first thing in the morning? Why are we required to attend the tryouts to decide who deserves a shot at that University scholarship?

The Problem With Primaries

Ask yourself, did you attend this year's primaries? Did you vote by absentee ballot? So many people complain about their choices in November yet they don't fully grasp that their choices come from a pool of people anywhere from nine to two months prior, depending on the state. A lot of people think, I don't really need to choose a candidate. Whoever's chosen is better than a _____ (fill in the blank with either Democrat or Republican). These same people are loyal to their parties. So much so in fact, that they are a straight, party line kind of voter. No research is done. They don't care how moderate, liberal, or conservative the candidate is, so long as they don't belong to that other party.

This kind of proud, backwards thinking is asinine. But, you know who it helps? The corrupt, all-powerful, two-party system. The party leaders know this is how people think. They count on it. No one benefits more from the Primaries than the parties because it ensures that they get their candidate into the all-important November elections.

What If?

What if, we lived in a world sans Primary elections? How many more faces, names, ideas, and principles would we see on the ballot? Instead of two, maybe three choices, we'd see how many? Eight? Twelve? More? Less? I know what you're thinking:

There'd be less votes per candidate if it was done that way.

So what? There would probably be more overall votes.

People would need to do research on the candidates so they'd know who to vote for. People are lazy and they'd never do it.

They don't do research now! And why don't they do research? Because they don't have to! The one candidate-per-party system has robbed them of that civic responsibility! So many show up and vote for whatever name is in front of their party. That's it. That's all there is to the process. There's no soul. There's no passion. There's only the two or three candidates and choosing who you think is the lesser of the evils. Then, when the results roll in, they spend the whole of that person's term thinking about how much they loathe them (even if they voted for them!).

Someone Else Will Do It

One of the biggest problems with primaries, is voter turnout. At the end of the day, a primary will spew out one Democrat candidate and one Republican. A lot of people don't care who is on the ballot. They think, Meh. Someone else will vote for me. At the end of the day, there's going to be a Democrat/Republican name on that November ballot, so does it really matter if I vote now?

Someone else will do it. We run to this anytime we're disatisfied with anything in life. Someone else will fix my problems. Someone else will make me happy. Someplace else will be more fulfilling. We don't realize our power as individuals, let alone as a like-minded group. Each year we allow this system to continue, is another year we continue to screw ourselves at the expense of a two-party system.

In Conclusion

Both parties are corrupt. Both parties only care about one thing. Power. They politicize everything as a means to retain the power they have and gain more. They're a slave to it. Nothing else matters. They will lie and cheat and tell you whatever it is you need to believe to make you theirs. They are movable with no principles and nothing tangible to ground them. Oh, they'll tell you want to hear. But, parties today are united only by their insatiable lust for control. They may have been founded as a means to represent a like-minded collective, but not any more.

The majority of those names on the November ballot don't answer to you. They answer to the party.

How are we going to escape the government we've created? By eliminating Primaries. Give power back to the people by putting more names on that November ballot, and you'll start to see real change. You'll see leaders and Representatives that are beholden to their ideals and to their constituents as opposed to the political machine that keeps them on top. The strength of principles will return. Change will happen. Power will be broken up and returned to the people. People will vote not based on what political party accompanies the name, but rather will vote for who best represents them.

Chew on that while you're waiting in line, while you're standing in that booth, hating the options you have. Share this. Get the idea in motion. Do your part to impart real change for your posterity.