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)
makeaneffort 