Why Vote

I suppose my eyes were opened in the first Reagan election. I realized that this man was not really the president. And learning that, I came to discover that the entire process of campaigning, voting and electing were only a show. As I grew more cynical, it seemed to me that the show was to keep people ignorant and happy -- feeling like they were actually making a difference.

I love Ted Rall -- even if I don't always agree with him (I don't always agree with anybody, and neither do you.) His recent cartoons say what I've been feeling, and that's the mark of a good cartoonist in my book.

When I was first aware of political conventions and watched them on TV in the 60s and 70s, there was no chosen candidate until the very end. It was like watching a courtroom drama as the various candidates stumped for votes, deals were made, candidates dropped out and finally, one victor was crowned.

Now we know who the candidate is long before anyone goes to the convention. The chosen one enters to be lauded. The people are given one Democrat and one Republican to elect -- and everybody votes along party lines (swing voters? maybe the last of the people who are fooled into thinking they have a choice).

So if you want a 7-Up but all they are serving is Coke and Pepsi, then you're out of luck. You and the Dr. Pepper drinkers, and the ice tea drinkers and the boozers are just not gonna have a good time for at least four more years.

Third parties are a joke -- they are reviled as splitting away winning votes from the Dems or Repubs.

The procession has advanced until we have now run into the worst Constitutional crisis in our brief history as a nation. One ideology controlled the whole government with no checks-and-balances. They controlled the corporate media, who are owned by defense contractors. We've been subjected to war, squandered our treasury, ruined our economy, gained the enmity of all the nations of the world, and lost most of our civil rights.

Some predict our days as a superpower are over. Some fear the sleeping dragon that is China will now awaken and move into the power vacuum.

So if you go into the polls to vote this year....

Please tell me why?