If I see one more trashy, poorly shot, lying, weasel faced attack ad I will throw my television out a window. I am seriously considering unplugging it for the next week just so I don’t have to hear any more about how Webb is a misogynist or Allen is a racist or Joe Smith is a dirty terrorist-loving spendthrift who will kick your granny off Social Security and give Bush weekly blowjobs.
I DON'T CARE! IF I DIDN’T KNOW ALREADY I CERTAINLY SUSPECTED AS MUCH.
Tell me why I should elect YOU, Candidate X. Tell me, in 100 words or less, how your presence in Washington will do anything but maintain the status quo. Tell me how you will evict the money changers from the temple of democracy. Tell me how you are nice to your pets and enjoy reading erotic fiction. Tell me anything that demonstrates that you are a real human being and not an animatronic doll being operated from off-screen by some Karl Rove wannabe.
But enough of this.
I’m going to let you all in on a secret, oh my loyal readers: I am a conscientious objector in this fight. That’s right, I don’t vote. And do you want to know why?
I have yet to see a candidate for national office that I would trust to fix my car much less run my country. Not in my district anyway.
I refuse to cast the “lesser of two evils” vote because it gives the impression that I support somebody whose character I find flawed and whose platform I abhor. That vote just contributes to the myth that we live in a functioning republic.
Now call me naïve, but I define a functioning republic as an institutional structure that selects the best and most capable people for public office. Our political system fails in this regard not because good people cannot get elected. It fails because the best people realize the senselessness of going into politics.
Who would make a career of banging his head against a wall? Who would willingly undergo the public scrutiny? Who would submit to the financial and psychological punishment entailed in running for office?
People who make this leap fall into three categories: hopeless idealists, remorseless profiteers, and shameless megalomaniacs. The truly successful ones are a bit of each. They cling to the camera, make friends with everyone who has deep pockets, and decry with convincing vocal tremors the injustices perpetrated by the Other Guy.
With each catastrophe that our leaders prove unprepared to confront, they confirm that we live in a demagoguery not a democracy.
