Today is election day, that day of the season upon which we all fool ourselves into believing in popular sovereignty--not unlike how those chaps fool themselves into thinking that they get a whole bunch of virgins if only they blow themselves and a bunch of Jews or Christians with them.
I went to vote for Proposal 4--to place restrictions upon the state's ability to seize one man's home in order to sell it to another (it's all under the guise of "eminent domain"). I ended up voting for Proposal 3 also (if you don't like dove hunting, then don't hunt doves), for Proposal 2 (I have a dream that one day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character), and for Proposal 1. I did not vote for any people, unless you count my having written myself in for governor and the state board of education. I also did not vote for Proposal 5 because I saw it as a conflict of interest at best. If I don't believe in forcibly redistributing my wealth to others, then I cannot ask for others to be forced to distribute their wealth to me. Furthermore, trapping the funding of education at the level of inflation is short-sighted and a bad idea. Again, I must reiterate that I did not vote for any people. I do not respect anyone who presumes to govern me.
But something happened at the polls that turned my stomach, and forced me out of my not-posting-sloth.
I was in line waiting for my ballot, explaining why I wasn't going to vote for Dick DeVos, even though mommy was going to do so. As Natalie and I stood in line, a slack-jawed 300 pound-er with a two sizes too small jacket and hair to make the rattiest of mops attractive approached and said to one of the equally pathetic (but "official") folks behind the desk (i.e. ugly folding table), "I'm in adolt edjicashon, an' I git credit if'n I kin prove that I voted. Kin you give me some kinda reseat?"
That's when my heart sank. It was bad enough being surrounded by obviously very blue (think navy blue x10) collar types who couldn't even define the word constitution, let alone identify provisions of the constitution. Now there's some adult ed. teacher who's encouraging his obviously "challenged" (i.e. stupid) students (let's be honest: there's a reason why they're in adult ed.) to vote.
If you want to say that everyone has the right to vote, then fine. However, that doesn't mean that it's right for everyone to vote. There's a reason why the founding fathers feared democracy, and I saw (and smelled it) at point-blank range.
My education no longer mattered. My careful reasoning and recognition of Natural Law was out the door. My disinterested approach--I didn't vote for or against Proposal 5--became a footnote at best. Because of universal adulthood suffrage, someone who in a scientific study could probably disprove Darwin’s theory of evolution canceled out my votes.
More and more, I agree with the original idea of restricting the right to vote to those who hold property. This would avert what Bastiat calls "legal plunder."
More and more, I believe wholeheartedly that anyone who receives federal or state monies should be disenfranchised, lest such people use their "right" to vote as a tool for theft.
Bravo, democracy. Ave Granholm. Veni, vici, deplori.
Ubi sunt?
good article very interesting and i can only imagine how disgusted you must have been.-al
ReplyDeleteDemocracy, pssh. It won't be over until the fat lady sings.
ReplyDelete(Debbie Stabenow, l.o.l.?)
Oh my!
ReplyDeleteI have some sympathy for your point of view regarding whom should be eligible to vote or not.
But, you blamed idiot for writing your name, or any comment on a ballot!!! Where in the Voter's Guide did it say "write anything you want on this line"? The blank like provided for a write in vote is reserved for qualified candidates that missed the deadline for the printing of the ballot but not the legal deadline to be a candidate. No where in the Instructions to the Voter does it indicate that line is for silly use. If you have a problem with the way the elections in your state are run write to your Secretary of State. If you don't like the candidates running complain to the party headquarters (any or all). But don't waste your and other taxpayer's money by writing on that line. All you succeed in doing (in most states) is causing that ballot to be rejected by the machine that tabulates the vote and necessitating a hand review of that ballot.
On the other hand, it is foolish voters such as you (at least foolish voters in Washington state) that have kept this seasonal worker gainfully employed for the better part of the last four months. Perhaps I should not fuss to loudly, eh.
Still your dear ol' doddering great aunt is shaking a finger at your nonsense.