Category Archives: voting

October 22, 2017

(Comic) How Political Representation Works

By wise sloth

Reference: 

The Stop Online Piracy Act of 2011

(Comic) How Political Representation Works

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TRANSCRIPT

 

A man is standing in front of the White House talking to an elephant and a donkey.
MAN
Hey guys. I’m thinking about running for Congress, but I’m a little confused about what the job
entails. Can you help me?
ELEPHANT
Sure. We’ve been doing this a long time and have the system worked out pretty well.
DONKEY
Streamlined even.
MAN
Here’s the thing. I want to get elected to represent my voters, but it seems like I’ll be passing laws
that affect the whole nation and sometimes the whole world. So how is that fair for all the people
from different states who didn’t vote for me?
ELEPHANT
We sort of have a “don’t ask. Don’t tell.” policy when it comes to that.
DONKEY
Don’t worry about it. What people don’t realize won’t hurt them.
MAN
What about this “S.O.P.A.” Bill that will effectively destroy free speech on the internet? That
was introduced by a congressman from Texas and has the whole world in an uproar…for good
reason?
ELEPHANT
Yeah, but the rest of the representatives in Congress could shoot the bill down…if we wanted
them to.
DONKEY
So the balance of power evens out in the end.
MAN
That’s a relief. So if people contact their congressmen and express their disapproval of a bill then
their congressman will have to represent their expectations?
ELEPHANT
No.
MAN
No?
DONKEY
No.
MAN
So what happens when a person sends a letter to their congressman? Doesn’t he or she read it and
then act on the wishes of their voters?
ELEPHANT
NO. An intern reads it and either throws it away or sends a canned response back.
DONKEY
…and then throws the voter’s letter away.
MAN
So congressmen are under no obligation whatsoever to represent their voter’s expectations?
ELEPHANT
No. The voters can elect someone else to take their place next election cycle if their
representatives’ actions don’t incidentally meet their voters’ expectations.
DONKEY
So congressmen have a strong incentive to represent their voters…or to keep them in the dark.
MAN
But if the representatives never act in the interest of the voters then couldn’t the representatives
get voted out perpetually while the voters never get what they want no matter who they vote in?
ELEPHANT
You’re oversimplifying things.
DONKEY
In reality, the voters get a lot of what they want…and a lot of what they don’t.
MAN
Surely there’s a law that says representatives can’t go back on their campaign promises though,
right?
ELEPHANT
Nah. That happens all the time.
MAN
Doesn’t that piss voters off?
ELEPHANT
Yeah. That’s why we groom our candidates to be as vague as possible in their campaign
promises.
MAN
When you get right down to it the voters really just have to hope their representatives…represent
them.
DONKEY
It never hurts to grease the wheels with massive campaign contributions.
ELEPHANT
You can also move to Washington D.C. and become a politician yourself or become a full-time
lobbyist. And really, if you don’t do that then you have no excuse for not having your views
represented.
MAN
…unless they want a life of their own, which is what I thought government was supposed to give
them. I just don’t see how congressmen can call themselves representatives when there’s no way
to hold them accountable to their voters, especially when they’re more or less on the payroll of
campaign donors and lobbyist who are doing everything they can to buy all the influence in the
government.
ELEPHANT
Well, it’s a good thing nobody asked you.
MAN
So what do you call a government where the people elect leaders who don’t represent their
interests?
ELEPHANT
I don’t know. Do you know what you call someone who speaks out against their leaders…
DONKEY
A terrorist!
MAN
So what are you going to do? Send me to Guantanamo Bay?
ELEPHANT
No. Once we pass the S.O.P.A. bill or something like it we’ll just stop you from being able to
spread your dissenting ideas.
DONKEY
Now if you’ll excuse us, our lobbyists are calling.

THE END

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October 22, 2017

(Comic) How Presidential Elections Works

By wise sloth

(Comic) How Presidential Elections Works

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TRANSCRIPT

 

A man is standing in front of Congress, talking to an elephant and a donkey.

Man: I have a few questions I’d like to ask you guys about running for office.

Elephant: You have our undivided attention.

Donkey: Yep. We’ll bend over backward for you.

Elephant: Wait. You are a wealthy campaign investor… I mean, donor, right?

Man: Uh, no.

Donkey: You got five minutes, and don’t expect much.

Man: It’s just that I’m so upset that my president promised change, but the only things that seem to have changed on his watch are that the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the police have gotten meaner.

Elephant: *Yawn* So what?

Man: So I’ve decided to run for president, but I’m a little confused by the electoral process. First, I noticed the people don’t actually elect the president. This group of people called “The Electoral College” does. What’s up with that?

Elephant: It’s no big deal. The Electoral College votes for the candidates the people vote for.

Donkey: Nothing to see here, citizen. Move along.

Man: So by law, The Electoral College has to vote how the majority of the people in their state vote?

Elephant: …depends on the state.

Man: Has any member of The Electoral College ever voted contrary to the voters they’re supposed to represent?

Donkey: Yeah, but it doesn’t happen often. So it’s not a big deal.

Man: Hmmmm. I have another minor point of concern. When the majority of people in a state vote for one candidate, then that automatically cancels out the vote of anyone who voted for the losing party in that state…

Elephant: Duh. That’s how a republic… I mean, a democracy works.

Donkey: It wouldn’t be fair for the majority to lose their representation to the minority, would it?

Man: I’m glad you said that, because under the current system, the majority of the people in the country could vote for one candidate and still lose if the majority of the people in the largest states vote for another.

Elephant: When you put it like that…

Donkey: …It’s not a big deal.

Man: The people who lose their voice in government through a loophole probably think it’s a big deal.

Elephant: Not if they never notice.

Donkey: Anyway, the point of losing your voice in government is that your voice doesn’t matter. So… problem solved.

Man: Next question. If a majority vote will put a politician in office, then will they get removed if their approval rating drops below 50%?

Elephant: Nope.

Man: 30%?

Donkey: No.

Man: Damn. What about 10%?

Elephant: Not even at 1%

Man: I suppose presidential candidates have to pass a pretty strict batter of tests to qualify to run for office to keep anyone that bad from getting elected in the first place, right?

Elephant: You gotta be old enough, be born a citizen and able to win a campaign.

Man: There’s no competency test, psych evaluation or even a drug test?

Donkey: It’s not like they’re enlisting to be a janitor in the military. Geeze. They’re just going to control the military.

Man: But if that’s all it takes to run for president, you could just put an actor on the campaign trail!

Elephant: Been there. Done that.

Man: How well did that work out?

Donkey: For who?

Man: Tell me this at least, if the president is guilty of corruption, will he get kicked out of office?

Elephant: If the president does it, it’s legal.

Man: Isn’t corruption tantamount to treason though?

Donkey: Not after our corporate-funded public relations firms spin it.

Man: What if the president commits war crimes?

Elephant: That’s okay as long as it’s in the name of national security.

Donkey: Anyway, war crime convictions are for people who follow orders, not people who give them.

Man: Is there anything the president can do to get kicked out of office?

Elephant: Sure. There’s lots of things.

Donkey: He could piss us off. He could make us look bad. The list goes on.

Man: Isn’t it a little unfair that people can elect a leader into office, but they can’t veto a leader out of office?

Elephant: The leaders you choose are the leaders you’re stuck with. So pick wisely.

Donkey: …between us.

Man: So let me get this straight. The voters only get to choose between you two, and if you betray them, they can’t get rid of you?

Elephant: That’s not how it works at all. If the voters don’t like us, they’re free to pick one of us to replace us in the next election.

Donkey: That’s the definition of fairness.

Man: That sounds more like the definition of a monopoly on power.

Elephant: It’s not a big deal.

Donkey: But if you don’t like it, then you’re a traitor, and that’s a big deal.

Man: I’m just saying, this doesn’t seem like the best system to ensure the most qualified individual holds the most powerful position in the country and arguably the world.

Elephant: It’s the best system have ever come up with… says me.

Donkey: So why change even the smallest detail?

Man: Uh… because politicians across the board have almost no accountability, and there are a hundred ways the people’s voice can get lost.

Elephant: It sounds so pretty when you say it like that.

Donkey: I got chills.

Man: Well, this just strengthens my resolve to run for president as an independent.

Elephant: You know the only independent to ever win a presidential election was George Washington, right?

Donkey: There’s a reason for that.

THE END

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in How America Works, voting

October 22, 2017

(Comic) How Congressional Elections Work

By wise sloth

(Comic) How Congressional Elections Work

If you enjoyed this comic, you’ll also like these:

 

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  • Book 1: Chapter #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
  • Book 2: Chapter #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Illustrated Parables
An Old Man From Jersey Explains Life

An old man sits on the steps to his apartment and explains life to an eight-year-old boy.

This Was Your Life

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TRANSCRIPT

 

A man is standing in front of the White House talking to an elephant and a donkey.
MAN
I’m going to run for Congress or maybe even president…but I don’t even know where to begin.
ELEPHANT AND DONKEY
We can help!
MAN
What exactly can you do for me?
ELEPHANT
We’ll take care of all the registration paperwork and red tape. We’ll give you brand recognition
and manage your campaign.
DONKEY
But most importantly- we’ll connect you with investors.
MAN
Wait. What does a politician need investors for?
ELEPHANT
He didn’t say “investors.” He said, “Donors.”
DONKEY
Of course, your donors will expect you to represent their interests once you’re in office.
MAN
I’m going to represent my voters’ interest once I’m in office.
ELEPHANT
Exactly! You just have to appreciate that your donors are voting with their dollars.
DONKEY
And each dollar equals one vote.
MAN
So what if these financial voters want me to do something that’s not in the public voter’s interest?
ELEPHANT
Well, I mean, you have to ask yourself who helped you win all those public votes.
DONKEY
Also, consider that your financial voters can vote you out with their money next election if they
need to.
MAN
I don’t know. IT just kind of seems like a conflict of interest. It almost seems like bribery…or
even extortion.
ELEPHANT
You new guys are so cute. It’s not bribery or any of that. IT’s called playing ball.
DONKEY
And everyone who plays is a winner.
MAN
So I guess I’ll need to present my platform to these donor-investor-voters so they can decide
whether they want to vote for me or my opponent.
ELEPHANT
…No. Your platform is to win. The less you stand for the fewer faults anyone can find in you.
See, this is why we write all your speeches for you. So you don’t make mistakes like that.
DONKEY
Anyway, the big donors vote on every candidate just to make sure their interests are represented
no matter who wins.
MAN
That’s some unethical bullshit right there. I’m running against you as an independent.
ELEPHANT
Well, it was nice knowing you.
DONKEY
I hope you enjoyed your time in politics.

THE END

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in How America Works, voting

October 18, 2017

If You Want Everyone To Vote, Then Make Voting Work For Everyone

By wise sloth

Picture of an elephant and donkey standing on one side of a chasm holding balloons and popcorn. They're saying, "Come join us!! We've got candy, balloons an clowns!" On the other side of the chasm is a young woman saying, "That's part of the problem." Underneath is a caption that says, "COURTING THE YOUTH VOTE."

 

If everyone in the world woke up tomorrow with no memory or evidence of America’s electoral system, and we had to invent a new one from scratch, there’s zero possibility that anyone would, or even could, recreate what exists now. It’s so absurdly broken you couldn’t make it up.

The most powerful positions in the government are held by 100 members of the Senate, 435 members of the House of Representatives, the president, vice president and hundreds of appointed officials.  The elected seats are filled by hosting popularity contests between wealthy, professional campaigners who are matched against whichever other contestants live in the same geographical area as them. The presidency is a nationwide election, but everyone still votes with their state, and the winner of the state-wide election gets to vote on the national level. However, the state representatives don’t always have to vote the way the people do, and there are unelected superdelegates who can vote however they want.

It’s debatable whether or not Americans’ votes matter at all, but if you’re a twenty year old gay black atheist socialist living in a county full of white, Christian Baby Boomers, there’s no doubt that your vote doesn’t count. It’s a cold, mathematical fact. Even if we stopped voting by states and made every federal election nationwide, the generation with the most people will still have the mathematical advantage.

Right now the Baby Boomers have the mathematical advantage, and thanks to the horrible economy they created, they’re also the most likely to have enough free time to go vote at one of the convoluted voting stations the system provides. So it should come as no surprise that the average age of Congress is 62.

With age comes wisdom, but it also comes with senility and obsolescence. Strom Thurmond had no business taking up one of the highest seats of power in the world, and neither does anyone who has never sent an E-mail. Age also comes with a shift in priorities. You tend to stick with the old ways and prioritize short-term security over testing radical ideas and looking far into the future.  As a result, the youth are forced to perpetually live in an archaic system that doesn’t represent their values or goals.

I can’t help but feel like there’s a more effective way to stock elected seats than by culling them from 50 arbitrary, gerrymandered geographical areas, and holding a popular vote within them between contestants who are old and rich enough to devote their lives to being professional campaigners who work for one of two warring staffing agencies.

Any teenager could come up with ten better ways to staff the federal government. Here are a few that I would be satisfied with over the train wreck we have now. Assign a percentage of the votes and/or seats by age group, income bracket, IQ level, personality type or by the sector of the economy one works in. In addition, make all federal election national and online. Give voters the perpetual option to vote politicians out of office, and eliminate superdelegates and anything resembling them.

Any of these ideas would put my vote in a pool with more people who share my interests. No matter what flaws these options may have, they aren’t worse than what America has now.

 

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in voting

October 18, 2017

Voting Never Has, And Never Will, Save America

By wise sloth

Every time I check the news these days I see a dozen articles about how bad the economy in America is getting. If it’s not that it’s about workers losing rights, poison in the food, overflowing jails, crime in the ghettos, the quality of education being undermined by politicians, corruption in the government, civil liberties being infringed on.

Whenever I read forums where people are discussing the things wrong with America, inevitably someone will squawk this golden bit of wisdom, “This is what happens when you don’t vote.”

Allow me to use a chart to illustrate the flaw in this logic.

 

Picture of a circle with the words inside it, "Years since WWII Americans have voted. Years since WWII America has gotten worse," with the caption, "This is a Venn Diagram.

In America, voting is considered sacred, but all of America’s problems have been caused by poor leadership, and most of our leaders have been elected. The few who weren’t elected were chosen by people who were elected. Our leaders have consistently failed us.

I think Albert Einstein put it best when he said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Insanity is also not being able to see the obvious, or seeing it and refusing to acknowledge it. The reality is that the right to vote doesn’t empower or protect the American people. The way voting in America works it blatantly disenfranchises them.

Here’s how voting works. Two or more people run for an office. The public doesn’t have much time to get to know the candidates. So the only information they’re given about the candidates are the things the candidates want them to know or what their opponent can dig up on them. Since the people can’t judge the candidates by their qualifications, they judge them on their charisma or familiarity. This means the person with the biggest public relations budget is most likely to win. This means the person with the most money is most likely to win. Most candidates don’t have enough money of their own to finance a campaign. So they get donations. The individuals or organizations who donate the most money expect favors in return.

Now, when a candidate is on the campaign trail they will tell the people whatever they want to hear to get their votes. So they’ll avoid making any concrete statements about their position because they know that will alienate someone. They’ll also make the most unrealistic promises because they know everyone wants to hear that, but once they’re in office they have absolutely no accountability to keep any of those promises or to lean in any direction.

Voters can send letters to their elected representatives, but those letters will be opened, read and responded to by a young intern. If you want to actually talk to a politician and give them a typed up policy for them to sign into law you have to lobby them. Lobbying is when you shower a politician with favors and gifts in return for their compliance. Note that you don’t have to vote for a candidate to lobby them. In some countries, this is known as bribery. And who has the time and money to lobby politicians? Wealthy individuals and organizations. How do they get wealthy? By making goods and services as cheaply as possible, paying the workers who produce them as little as possible and charging the customer as much as possible.

What do you think the wealthy ask politicians for? The right to make cheaper products, pay people less, work them more and charge them more. And that’s exactly what’s happened since WWII because that’s how voting is designed to work. It gives regular voters the illusion of control when in reality it empowers those with the most to gain from exploiting and subjugating the masses. All voting accomplishes is keeping that illusion alive.

 

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Barack Obama
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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Corruption and Election Reform, voting

October 18, 2017

Why Did Americans Vote For Trump?

By wise sloth

On November 9th, 2016, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States of America. Now the rest of the world is wondering how it happened, what it means for the future and what the public should do now.

Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama both urged Americans to unite behind Trump and support his policies, but that advice is profoundly controversial, which is perfectly illustrated by footage of conservatives celebrating Trump’s victory in bars and auditoriums while liberals protested and rioted in the streets, shouting slogans like, “Not my president.”

Although 60 million people trusted Trump enough to vote for him, the stock market dropped the moment the election results came out as investors panicked. Around the world, non-Americans reacted with extreme degrees of fear, joy, and confusion. How can so many people see the same man so differently? And what does it say about Americans that the majority voted for him?

It’s difficult to find useful answers to these questions, especially for anyone living outside of the USA. As an American who spent over 10 years living overseas, and who doesn’t identify with Trump, Clinton, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives or liberals, I can offer an insider’s explanation of American culture to outsiders, that isn’t clouded by reverence for the left or right.

The first thing non-Americans need to understand, before they jump to any conclusions about the American people based on Trump’s victory, is that he had the lowest approval rating of any presidential candidates in modern history, second only to Hillary Clinton, and he won with only 60 million votes in a country of over 300 million people.

Most Americans didn’t vote. So if you’re going to negatively stereotype Americans based on how they vote, then you can label about 20% of them as poor, rural, gun-clinging, Christian conservatives. About 20%, privileged, liberal, neo-hippie, social justice warriors. 10%, conspiracy theorists, anarchists and other reactionary idealists. The other half of America is made up of people who either didn’t have the freedom to take off work on election day, weren’t allowed to vote, or don’t give a shit about voting, because they have no faith left in the system. Based on that, if you must stereotype Americans, then label them oppressed and dejected.

 

 

Of those who did vote for Trump, most of them were older, white men who say they voted for Trump because he’s anti-establishment, and they’re tired of being marginalized by big government and naive liberal do-gooders. These statements may be true, but they’re not the whole truth.

It’s no secret that many people voted for Trump simply because he’s not Hillary Clinton, who has earned herself a reputation for lying, corruption, incompetence, and malevolence for decades. If you only read American conservative news sources, you might get the impression America is divided into Trump supporters and Clinton supporters, but the percentage of Americans who voted for Clinton says otherwise. The paradoxical fact that Hillary lost to the least popular presidential candidate in modern history, just goes to show how much the rest of America dislikes her.

Some liberals fear her so much, they voted for Trump as the lesser of two evils, just to prevent the inevitable 4-8 years of standardized corruption she would bring to the White House. Why would they vote for someone they didn’t want? Because from their point of view, it was their patriotic duty. It’s a mainstream belief in America that voting for the lesser of two evils is less evil than not voting.

On a similar note, it’s fair to say a major reason why some conservatives voted for Trump is because he was the Republican party’s candidate and not the Democrat’s. To be fair, Democrats are guilty of this too. Loyal Clinton and Obama supporters dismissed, ignored and made excuses for just as many of their leaders’ flaws as Trump and George Bush Jr.’s followers. Not all Americans are so closed-minded, but this mentality is mainstream because America’s two-party political system has indoctrinated Americans to view political affiliation in terms of “us versus them.”

 

 

In order to understand the conservative American mindset, you have to understand that the main source conservatives get their news from is Fox News and its echo chambers, which couldn’t exist before 1987, when the FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which required media broadcasters to present fair and balanced political editorial. Despite Fox News’s claim to be “fair and balanced,” their journalism is patently subjective, one-sided, sensationalized, fear mongering and dubious. To be fair, all American news companies have become entertainment-centric, but Fox News is the only one whose CEO and reporters have openly admitted it.

Ironically, Americans still rank Fox as their most trusted news source. The inevitable result is that Fox’s most loyal followers trust anything Republican and vilify anything Democratic with an intensity proportional to the sensationalism of the “news” they watch. This is why they defended Bush while he was doing everything they want Trump to fix, and why they smeared Obama for 8 years, even though none of their apocalyptic predictions about him came true. If Trump had run as a Democrat, or if Obama had done any of the questionable things Trump has done, conservatives would have run either of them out of town.

Blind faith in the conservative/Republican identity blinded many voters to Trump’s character, which partly explains why people who believe in family values support a misogynist who has been accused of sexual assault. People who believe in less government support a fascist who has repeatedly advocated oppressing minorities. People who want money out of politics support a billionaire who has admitted to bribing politicians. People who want a strong businessman support a CEO who has bankrupted multiple businesses, exploited legal loopholes and swindled his customers remorselessly. People who feel disenfranchised support a political opportunist who made a name for himself by disenfranchising minorities.

Not every Trump supporter has looked at these issues straight on and used logical fallacies to reverse engineer excuses for them. I’ve personally asked Trump supporters what they think about Trump’s failings, and they expressed surprise and disbelief because it was the first time they’d heard of them. Some of these individuals were ignorant of this information because they’d never done any research, and others had done plenty of research, but they never looked at any sources outside of the conservative echo chamber.

The same can be said about many Clinton supporters, who only watch CNN or MSNBC, as well as foreigners who are trying to understand Trump and his followers by watching their local news stations.

Watching Trump’s hate speech and seeing Americans respond to it euphorically, it’s easy to stereotype Americans, or at least Trump supporters, as ignorant, racist, misogynistic, homophobic xenophobes who voted for a man who represents their bigotry.

I personally know people who voted for Trump and are none of those things. However, the internet is full of evidence that many bigots did vote for Trump because they were inspired by the racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic things he’s said and done. You can find other conservatives claiming to be egalitarian and peace-loving while praising Trump’s divisive policies using thinly veiled hate speech.

To say the conservative base doesn’t have a racism problem requires ignoring eight years of prejudice against Barack Obama. Not every conservative called him a nigger, but he got called that every day for the past 8 years.

It’s crucial to understand that conservative American racism is just a symptom of a bigger issue that was of paramount importance in this election. In the past 20 years, America has become increasingly more politically correct and tolerant of diversity. In the past 8 years, America got its first black president, legalized gay marriage, partially legalized marijuana, created laws protecting transgender people, embraced atheist celebrities, flirted with socialism and rejected American exceptionalism.

These are all signs that conservative Christians have lost their chokehold on American culture, and with it, the political power to force their values on everyone else. They view this as a sign that they’re being persecuted and America’s moral fiber is decaying, and Trump’s promise to “make America great again” is a euphemism for returning America to its conservative Christian roots. So when some people voted for Trump, they were voting to save their culture and were so desperate for hope, they put their faith in Trump’s hands.

 

 

Given all the different types of people who voted for Trump and all their nuanced reasons, if you’re not a little confused, you’re probably not looking at all the information. There are two things everyone who voted for Trump have in common though. They either ignored information that contradicted their preconceived conclusion, or they didn’t have all the information. Many people will take offense to that accusation, but based on the evidence, it’s frankly impossible to come to the conclusion that Donald Trump is the best man to lead America, especially conservative Christians.

This isn’t to say Hillary Clinton was preferable. The problem isn’t that Americans voted for the wrong candidate. The problem is America’s two-party system is so flawed and corrupt, it weeds out politicians who aren’t corrupt sociopaths. The solution to a broken system isn’t to vote for the lesser of two evils. The solution is political reform. Americans shouldn’t have voted at all in 2016. Instead, they should have been protesting outside the White House for the right to choose their own candidates instead of waiting to see who the DNC and RNC let them vote between.

There are millions of other potential candidates who conservatives would have voted for over Trump if they were given the opportunity, and there are millions of candidates who liberals would have voted for en mass to defeat Trump if they were given opportunity.

If Hillary Clinton hadn’t committed voter fraud, and if the DNC hadn’t conspired to help her defeat Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, Americans probably would have voted overwhelmingly for him against Donald Trump. So if you’re going to praise or blame anyone for Trump’s victory, the people who deserve it most are the leaders of the DNC and RNC, who designed and manage the presidential primaries.

Those second most responsible for Trump’s victory are all the major news companies in America who gave him more airtime than any other candidate, allowed the DNC and RNC to dictate how they covered the election, sensationalized their editorials and led Americans to believe the whole charade was completely normal and legit by going along with it and never questioning the rotten fundamentals that led to two of the worst Americans alive competing for the most powerful political position in the world.

The third group that tipped the scale in Trump’s favor is the far left: radical feminists, social justice warriors and all of Hillary Clinton’s supporters who refused to look at her flaws objectively. They were so concerned with getting a woman in the White House, they refused to acknowledge how deplorable the person attached to the vagina was. Their heart was in a good place, but their short-sightedness caused them to nominate the one candidate in America who could lose to Donald Trump. If Donald Trump had a vagina, they would have followed him to the grave too and smugly taken the rest of America with them.

 

 

In my next blog post, I’ll discuss what Trump’s presidency means for the future of American, the rest of the world, and how that will affect the chances of Americans fixing their political system.

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll also like these:

 

Barack Obama
The 2016 Presidential Election
Donald Trump
Voting
Corruption and Election Reform
American Laws
My Tweets About Politics

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Donald Trump, voting

October 17, 2017

Why It’s Delusional To Vote In America’s 2016 Presidential Election

By wise sloth

One of the fundamental tenets of American culture is that it has the best political and economic system to ever exist, which is proven by the unparalleled level of freedom and opportunity guaranteed to any citizen, especially those who work the hardest. Everything great about America stems from the Constitution and the electoral system, which gives the people the power to choose who represents them in government.

Americans believe in their election system so deeply they ridicule and shame anyone who chooses not to vote. Ironically, most Americans don’t vote, but they still have faith in the system and criticize anyone who expresses too much distrust in the value of voting.

 

 

Every American needs to ask themselves, how much proof would it take to convince you that your vote doesn’t count? How blatantly rigged and corrupt would a presidential election have to become before you conceded voting is merely an exercise in holding onto a delusion? I believe the 2016 presidential election crossed that line and anyone who still has faith in the system is holding onto an optimistic conspiracy theory that has already been thoroughly debunked.

The evidence for this conclusion started piling up long before 2016 in America’s quality of life statistics. Compared to other countries, America isn’t ranked highest for freedom or lowest for corruption. America has the highest prison population in the world, which is mostly due to America’s war on drugs, which every major academic study done on the subject has determined causes more harm than good, yet the government refuses to change its policies on. Depression, suicide, and homelessness are epidemic, especially among veterans, the people who should be the proudest of their country. Poverty is epidemic. Most Americans have less than 1 month’s salary in savings, which means most Americans don’t have any retirement savings. Rent and mortgages are unaffordable in most cities. College tuition is so inflated it probably won’t pay off even if you could afford it. You can’t blame America’s poverty on laziness, because wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living. The problem is systemic.

By every major quality of life standard, most Americans are economically and politically oppressed. These problems have persisted and gotten worse through every president and Congress in recent history. If America’s electoral system worked as great as Americans say it does, then why has America devolved so badly?

 

 

In 2016 it’s practically hypocritical for Americans to defend the sanctity of voting since Congress has an 11% approval rating, and the top two presidential candidates in 2016 have record low approval ratings. It’s delusional to maintain faith in a system that puts/keeps leaders in power who the majority doesn’t want there.

The problem isn’t that democracy is a failed experiment. The only reason voting doesn’t work in America is because of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC).  These two organizations act like staffing agencies for elected government positions. In order to run for any major political office, you have to become a member of one of these two agencies. Once accepted, they provide money and support to help you manage your election campaign.

Theoretically, anyone can run for office as an independent or third-party candidate, but the DNC and RNC have passed laws that make it virtually impossible to win a major election without being allied to them, which means there’s no chance of any other political party winning a majority of the seats in Congress.

Ultimately, the DNC and RNC control which politicians the voters get to choose between, but it barely matters who wins, because the DNC and RNC let wealthy businessmen decide which laws elected officials pass in exchange for campaign donations. The DNC and RNC even let corporations write laws, which elected officials then sign into effect. If that doesn’t defeat the purpose of an election, then I don’t know what does.

It also defeats the purpose of picking a leader if the candidates you’re given to pick between are the worst people in the country. The DNC and RNC chose some of the most incompetent, corrupt, divisive politicians to run in the 2016 presidential primaries. Americans had no choice who made the short list, and there’s no chance they would have picked the same group if they had a say in the matter. Being forced to pick between the lesser of evils isn’t freedom of choice.

 

Photo of campaign signs for Sanders, Trump and Clinton next to a sign advertising, pinestraw. The photo is caption,ed, "I'M WITH PINESTRAW."

 

The “winner” of the RNC presidential primaries was Donald Trump, a racist, xenophobic, megalomaniac psychopath billionaire with a long track record of corruption, indecency and bad ideas. A number of parallels between Donald Trump’s rhetoric and Adolph Hitler’s is so similar it would be comical if he wasn’t a step away from becoming the leader of the most powerful military in history.

The “winner” of the DNC presidential primaries was Hillary Clinton, a career politician famous for corruption, lying, and meanness. Despite her claims that she’s been working for the people her entire career, she’s been a part of the system that has driven America to ruin. Before and during her presidential campaign, she accepted millions of dollars of donations for speaking to the wealthy corporations who have been hoarding the nation’s wealth by exploiting the common worker. She’s able but unwilling to release transcripts of these speeches, because she knows she promised to keep the 1%’s profits safe from the deserving hands of the poor.

Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the DNC’s presidential primaries, Bernie Sanders, quickly and temporarily earned a cult following because he spoke against corporate corruption in Washington DC. Bernie Sanders lost, but it’s a documented fact that election fraud took place in key states that helped Hillary win. It’s also documented that the DNC took more secret steps to discredit Bernie Sanders and help Hillary Clinton win the nomination.

Even without that, Hillary Clinton already had an unfair advantage by having superdelegates pledge to vote for her. “Superdelegates” are random powerful people who the DNC allows to cast a super vote in the DNC presidential primary race. A superdelegate’s vote is equal to about 700,000 regular votes, and the superdelegate can still cast their regular vote. If that sounds confusing, it’s because superdelegates are legalized election-rigging.

Hillary Clinton shouldn’t have even been in the race to begin with, because she was under criminal investigation by the FBI for mishandling top-secret information when she was Secretary of State. The FBI found her guilty of wrongdoing but cleared her of any criminal offenses, and they were quick to add they wouldn’t treat anyone else who did the exact same thing so leniently.

Guilty or not guilty, anyone actively under investigation by the FBI shouldn’t be allowed to run for president. Not only is Hillary running, but she’s at the front of the race because multiple government agencies bent and broke the law to help her win… despite the fact that most Americans, conservative and liberal alike, despise her. Donald Trump is the only person America reviles more than Hillary Clinton, which is probably the only reason the RNC chose him to run against her.

Even if Trump won the popular vote, like Bernie Sanders probably did, Hillary Clinton will still win, because the popular vote doesn’t determine who wins the presidency. The electoral college makes the final vote, and they’re part of the political machinery that has already proven it’s committed to ramrodding Hillary Clinton into office.

Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States, but she won’t be the leader of a democracy, because she wasn’t chosen by the people. She should be arrested and sentenced to life in prison for treason and all her other acts of corruption, but making an example out of her won’t change anything. The root of the problem is the existence of the DNC and RNC.

It’s time to stop waiting for the DNC and RNC to do a better job. That’s like waiting for a serial killer to stop slitting your children’s’ throats in their sleep. They’re the source of America’s apocalyptic problems. Minor political reform won’t achieve lasting change as long as the root of the problem still exists. The only way for America to become great again is for the DNC and RNC to abdicate. Discussing whether Trump can or should beat Hillary in the 2016 presidential election distracts from the only conversation America should be having right now: How can the DNC and RNC abdicate peacefully?

If there was ever a time in America’s history when you shouldn’t vote, 2016 is the year. The first step the American people need to take to bring about real change is to vote against the two corrupt ruling parties by not voting.

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll also like these:

 

Barack Obama
The 2016 Presidential Election
Donald Trump
Voting
Corruption and Election Reform
American Laws
My Tweets About Politics

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in The 2016 Presidential Elections, voting

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