Voting: A Right, A Responsibility, And An Unalloyed Pleasure!

I did indeed! Because of a prior commitment, I won't be in my home state of the People's Republic of New Jersey on election day, and I wouldn't miss this one for the world! In fact, I would never miss an important election, and almost never have missed even off-year dogcatcher elections. It is the most basic building block of our Republic, and we all have an equal role in it. And it's not just because it is vital to the future of our country...it is also a pleasure.

Yes, our right to vote is clear, but our responsibility to vote is much less clear, and in fact has lost its luster, in part because of the pathetic failure of our government educational system to teach basic civics and a sense of patriotism. And in large part because the vote has become trivial. Early voting, voting by mail, voting for non-citizens, registration for voting that has become a joke, and all of the other silliness that has made voting the equivalent of texting or popping a cup of soup into the microwave.

The importance of taking the vote seriously has been lost, and the gravity of voting in every election has been subsumed in a sea of complexity and confusing signals from all of our thousands of streams of information. Preprinted ballots flood our mailboxes, attack ads bombard us on every screen and billboard, and at least in my state, the candidates are carefully chosen by the power brokers of the state, rather than by the people. Yes, there was a primary, but the winners simply had more money, and more pull with the state political organizations.

The Democrat candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, is a backbencher without an original thought in her exam-cheating brain. But she was next in line, so she got the support. The Republican, Jack Ciattarelli, is a professional candidate who seems to be quite well aware of the direction of the wind, but less focused on any meaningful political philosophy other than "I want to be governor."

Luckily for Ciattarelli, the Democrats chose a clueless hack with skeletons in her closet, so he has a chance. Had they been smart, they would have supported my congressman, the execrable but intelligent Josh Gottheimer. He is a cutthroat and a sleaze, but he knows how to campaign.

But the real issue is that the People have allowed their glorious right to vote to be diluted by the actions of those they elected, and by their own actions of treating the vote as a triviality. An informed electorate is a terrifying force that no politician can resist. It sees through lies, and backroom deals, and almost always chooses the best of the lot. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Our history books are full of examples of seemingly excellent candidates becoming exactly what the People voted against!

There is no political system that can provide perfect candidates, so it is up to the voters to take seriously that most solemn and important right and duty. Voting Democrat "Because I have always voted Democrat" is a rule that instantly abrogates one's power as a citizen. Voting for the machine Republican, "Because I can't vote for the Democrat" may work in many cases, but it also yields horrendous results such as the RINOs that infest the halls of power in America. It instantly hands a huge amount of control to the parties that have proven throughout our history that they care not a whit about us, that the only motivating force is their acquisition of power.

Did I vote straight Republican? Yes, I did. I also voted against an increase in property taxes, and wrote in Daffy Duck for school board, instead of the corruptocrat who is running uncontested. Did I help to perpetuate the very system that I just decried? Possibly, but I read the candidates' platforms, and at least I made an informed decision.

Will it also bite me in the ass? Absolutely. I have no doubt that at least a few of the candidates will simply ignore what they ran on and do what is best for them and their power base.

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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