I’m tired of people making excuses for their behavior.
It’s not out of our control… I’m fat because I eat more than I need to. I’m sober because I don’t drink enough. I’m not as cool as “occupy” protesters because I bathe. My representative is an idiot but I vote for him every time because I refuse to pay attention to what he actually does versus what he says he does.
I’m in control… and what I decide to do matters.
See how easy that is?
It’s time to simply be honest first with ourselves, then with others. This brings me to a brief conversation I had with a friend.
We, of course, were talking about politics. His position was that it didn’t matter who we voted for because they are all corrupt, or will be, and that’s just the way it is. I have heard this referred to as being cynical… which has always bothered me at some level. It was then that I realized why.
The above attitude is Pessimistic, not Cynical.
I’m cynical and happily so. I revel in my cynicism. I subscribe to all definitions of the word. I am not, however, pessimistic.
The Pessimist uses his title to know nothing. The Pessimist seeks to appear informed while making no effort to be informed. It is an attempt to position himself above the conversation while not actually having to participate in it. It is also this belief that allows the grifters in government to get away with exactly the behavior the Pessimist thinks is unavoidable.
My friend then followed up that statement with the fact that he see’s voting as his “duty”. I almost fell out of my chair. I should not have been surprised.
This is what we are teaching our entire population. The Left loves this because it gives people a pass to vote for the “coolest” candidate rather than calmly exploring what they stand for. The Left certainly does not want educated voters… they get to continue their march to Statism as long as enough voters look at it as if it is a game show.
This is a frustrating situation as these are exactly the people we need to reach out to and educate. While I would prefer that they embrace limited government, if all I can get is an educated Socialist then fine. At the very least, be the best Statist you can be. But if you’re ignorant regarding the different philosophies and you can find a shred of intellectual honesty then be true to yourself and admit you are not prepared to vote.
In fact, please don’t vote.
Instead make an effort to get educated and join the conversation. Then and only then should you consider it your “duty” to vote. There is nothing “cool” about screwing up life for the rest of us because you want to “rock the vote” or because the person you want to have sex with thinks they have an “enlightened” opinion so you vote the way they do. It’s also not your “duty” to vote the way your parents do.
Spare us the electoral static that you bring to the table with your inane actions!
Try being a Cynic and educating yourself.
I have faith you will for your own good.
But I suspect you wont.
(012512)
January 25th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
It’s looking like it’ll be Obama vs. Romney.
What I would LOVE to see is several percent write in Paul, and have Romney lose by about the same percentage. That would be the least-thrown-away vote you could make because it would send a clear message to the Republican party: run a real fiscal conservative (rather than someone just a bit right of the democratic candidate), and drop the “social conservative” oppressive social engineering issues.
If you’re worried about spending, just vote for GOP congressional candidates since they control the purse. A GOP congress/dem exec would create that nice gridlock, too. We’ve seen what happens when you have a GOP congress and neocon president- huge debts.
Look at this douchebag contender….
(courtesy of Reason TV)
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January 26th, 2012 at 9:59 am
I believe you underestimate the danger a continued solidification of Socialism in the U.S. presents. It’s not about the social issues… Statists find thier home in economics… they find thier useful idiots in the social issues.
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January 26th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
I think that applies to both sides. They both rack up huge debts, and the GOP has the more restrictive social issues. I do agree the debts of the lass few years have been exceptional, but the economic crisis was in full swing in Jan 09, and the Dems controlled the executive branch and all of Congress.
For the last few years it’s be fear of scary gay people that got the right’s useful idiots out to vote out. This year it’s looking to be the “oppression” of Christians.
With a GOP majority congress, how could Obama spend any more than a GOP president, and how could he get socialist legislation passed?
Keep considering socially conservative, fiscally slightly-less-liberal candidates like Romney good enough to vote for and that’s exactly the kind of candidate they’ll continue to run.
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January 27th, 2012 at 8:29 am
Many people cannot get past Republican vs. Democrat no matter how hard they try. There has been millions of dollars and millions of man-hours spent to make sure that this type of balkanization exists. It enables the Statists to cloud ideology and confuse the public. You are seeing a war between those Statists and the Conservative Free-marketers right now in the Republican primaries.
It has always been my position that the only “sides” that matter are Free-market vs. Statist. These philosophies are not limited to party affiliation.
Yes, useful idiots are harvested within both philosphies… however, I believe with education we can turn ours into educated voters. We can also convert the ones that think Statism is cool into liberty loving free-market capitalists too.
The primary goal should not be to replace Obama. The primary goal must be to completely remove every aspect of Socialized Medicine. The Left is rushing to build it and get it fully implemented asap. Once it is an entitlement it will never go away. Defeating Obama is only a required part of stopping the Fourth Horseman.
Then we need to start working on free-market reforms for the rest of the 100 years of incremental Socialist schemes that have driven us into bankruptcy… if there is any hope.
In regard to electing a “Romney” type, electing the bigger Socialist to make a point only makes your life worse. It’s cutting your nose to spite your face. “Point’s” are to be made during primaries and with the percentage Paul is getting and Romney has failed to achieve early on many of those points are being made loudly and clearly.
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