This seems rather appropriate to discuss at this point in time because I can not seem to escape it. It is all over the TV, radio, internet, newspapers, etc. Let me start by saying that I am not talking in favor of, or against, any particular candidate or party. In general I will be bashing the entire process for it’s time consuming wastefulness and relatively damaging impact on our society. I am a very patriotic American and do feel that democracy, in general, is usually better than any other choice of obtrusive government. I think it is a great honor and privilege to be able to have our individual voices heard and to have a say so in whom the leader of our great country will be. The question here is of course, do we as citizens actually elect the President?

During the formation of our government, it was decided that the average citizen was just too damn stupid (read ignorant) to be responsible for electing the leader of the free world. Based on this revelation, an institution called the United States Electoral College was put in place. Essentially this group of 538 ‘representatives’ meet every 4 years to officially elect the President of the United States. Now each representative is suppose to cast their vote in a manner that reflects the overall majority of their district/constituent base. Theoretically, this should be a very effective way of electing the President; that is of course if you trust your representative to vote the way he or she should based on the majority vote of their constituents. Now in most of the elections throughout our history, the popular vote has matched the Electoral College vote. Three times it has not.

• 1824 - Adams vs Jackson
• 1876 - Hayes vs Tilden
• 1888 - Harrison vs Cleveland

In these elections, the candidate who won the popular vote (the citizen vote) did not win the Electoral College vote (the representative vote) and therefore was not elected President. Are these three isolated events enough to cast aside the entire process? Of course not, but it does show three times in history where the citizen’s voices were ignored. I believe that this style of leader electing is dated and does not really apply any longer. The average intelligence level of all citizens is staggeringly higher today than it was over two hundred years ago.

On the other hand, I was watching a news broadcast the other day where the correspondent was interviewing two college kids (intentionally leaving the name of the university out as to avoid embarrassment) about the impending elections. Of course one student was a Democrat and the other a Republican. Both students were equally ignorant on the issues and their respective candidates view on those issues. It was very disheartening to see two students that were suppose to be intelligent pursuers of higher education resorting to what basically seemed like a popularity contest. Maybe this was due to the fact that the only election experience they have probably had before was one where a prom King and Queen were crowned. This single interview made me glad we have such a thing in place as the Electoral College. I think I would go bat shit crazy if the fate of my great country was left in the hands of such ‘intelligent’ citizens.

Alright, so we have a system in place to protect us from the idiots out there that just happen to be 18 or older, great. What system do we have in place to limit the amount of wasteful spending that goes on during an election? Actually we do have a system in place. You know every year when you file your taxes and are asked if you would like to donate $3.00 to the presidential election? Yeah that is it. If a Presidential candidate was to take taxpayer money for their campaign, they would be regulated on the total amount they are allowed to spend. Unfortunately, Presidential candidates are not forced to take taxpayer money for their election and most, if not all, do not take it. On a side note, don’t you think that if no candidates take tax payer money, that money should be returned to it’s rightful owner? Anyway, not taking taxpayer money allows each Presidential candidate to spend as much money as they can raise. Raise from who though? That’s right; most of the money a candidate will spend during the election process comes from big business in the form of Washington lobbyists.

A lobbyist is a person or group that represents the interests of a large corporation or sector such as tobacco or alcohol. These lobbyists fork out major amounts of money for Presidential candidates that they feel will have their best interests in mind if and when they make it into office. Now the newly elected President has favors he or she has to return to the lobbyists who paid to get them where they are at. This entire process reeks of corruption and fraud. I am completely astounded that it is allowed to continue. Other elected officials such as Governors and Mayors have spending limits on the amount they can throw down the drain during their election, why are Presidential candidates allowed to simply opt out of this?

So it appears that my little tiny vote is competing with much more than we are led to believe. Is that all though? Of course it is not. In this day and age of media, I am constantly bombarded with news report after news report after paid advertising about who I should vote for. It is not enough that I have to endure social brainwashing through the form of advertising but it now seems that the actual news agencies themselves are getting in on the action. When I watch the news I expect to be told unbiased information about the day’s activities. Not getting an obviously slanted story on why one party sucks more than the other and who the owners of the news agency think I should vote for. It is no secret who each one of these news agencies is backing and we are forced to hear their loaded message about it day in and day out. How is this allowed? To me, this is the exact same as politicing from the pulpit or the class room. Isn’t it illegal, or at least unethical to use a position of power to push your ideology? How is this different than a news agency using its influence to tell their viewers how to vote?

Pile all of this on top of the fact that there are never any really good candidates to back and it is no wonder that voter turnout is at an all-time low. I always find myself trying to figure out who is the least likely to cause any serious damage, as apposed to who is the best. Trying to find a decent politician is more difficult than trying to find a woman who is still a virgin on their wedding night. It just doesn’t happen any more. Back in the day, our leaders and politicians did it as a service to society and usually benefited very little from it. This has not been the case for a very long time.
Oh and the lies that are spewed from all of their mouths during an election is enough to make you want to punch yourself in the face about twelve times. Not a single Presidential candidate ever does what they say they are going to do while they are campaigning, once they get into office. Remember how Social Security was a huge topic in 2004? What happened to that? Has it gotten magically better and no one told us? It will be the same with universal health care this time around. The really sad thing is that the ineptness of all Presidential candidates to deliver what they said they would deliver is usually not their fault. The machine is too large and any good that is ever attempted is immediately shot down by our wonderful system of checks and balances. Oh no, we can’t have a Republican President do anything good for the people when we have a Democratic congress and Senate or vise versa. Partisanship gets in the way of absolutely everything and it is a complete shame.

God please give me something to restore my faith in this country’s ability to lead by example. I am not surprised one bit by any nation who chooses not to convert to democracy if all they have to base this decision on is the United States and its terrible corrupted processes. We desperately need something to restore this county’s greatness and I am afraid it is not going to be any single President or the Presidential election process so in my opinion, we need to start looking elsewhere.

Doesn’t all of this just make you want to rush out to the polls to stand in line for 4 hours to cast a vote that may or may not count?

Popularity: 96% [?]

Filed under: Anger Inducing by admin