Two very nice women have left comments telling me to vote. Their reasons are not the same but their view of voting is similar to mine. The only vote I ever missed since I reached voting age was when I was in the hospital giving birth to my second son.
I should have used conditional, as in "I could vote for X or I could vote for no one." But rest assured I will vote in the November election. Although there are no major party choices for president that appeal to me there are county council and school board votes that have a large impact here. I don't agree that those who don't vote have no voice to complain, however. That "rule" leaves out children, those who are disenfranchised for reasons that are often racially based and racially biased, large groups of people who are rewarded or damaged by votes by others.
Although I am in no way a socialist, I supported Bernie Sanders because he was not a major party acolyte. Even here in Utah he won 83% of the caucus though only 50% of the delegates voted for Sanders in the first ballot at the convention. That's what I oppose.There are no provisions for political parties in the Constitution, let alone parties with the massive power that we have now. Our system was never supposed to be a "democracy" since that would be chaotic.
Utah is a prime example of what happens with powerful political parties. The Republican party controls state government (more than 90% of state representation) with a certain type of man (yes, there are more than 95% men in state government) being the ideal candidate. Given that most elections are foregone conclusions, the voter turnout is very low--usually around 30% of registered voters.
We cannot sustain the ideal that our country is supposed to represent if we let cabals hold the reins. Though not in any way a socialist, I admired and applauded the enthusiasm that Sanders engendered. Thousands of normal Utahns attended his two rallies here. They wanted to vote--they wanted to vote. That's what our country is supposed to represent--our republic needs enthusiasm not ennui. We need to raise the percentage of voters but it won't happen if we let two major parties choose.
I have long felt that our country needs to have at least three parties in our elections so that there could actually be a choice. Bernie Sanders got a lot of support here in New Jersey also. My main problem with the elections is the electoral college and delegates. I don't feel that you can have a "by the people" vote when you have others, with an "assigned agenda" doing the voting "for us".
ReplyDeleteMy feelings are that the people who vote should be the ones making the decisions.........not "party puppets".