Over the years I have slowly moved from being a bright eyed child full of fantastic dreams, to a slightly less enthused adolescent beginning to see the true scale of the obstacles in my way, to a jaded young man losing sight of his dreams because what he thought were the obstacles in his adolescence were just the tip of the ice berg, to a chronically cynical adult who has let go of his dreams in favor of far more “realistic” (read “mediocre”) pursuits. My general overt negativity is nothing new to those that know me, so I will not discuss it further here.
I was listening this morning to a report on a psychological study recently performed on political predisposition. Most of the report was somewhat uninteresting, though there was one segment that caught my attention. Having determined the participants political standing, either democratic republican or true independent (though this turned out to be a much smaller group than what was stated by the participants themselves), they were then asked to comment on their state of agreement with a bunch of various legislative bills proposed either by democrats or republicans. As most people declare that they don’t care where a bill comes from (indicating an ability to “reach across the aisle”) it would have been expected that even if the party sponsorship of the bill were switched from one to the other, the answers would remain the same. Overwhelmingly, the participants switched views on the bill based solely on the party producing it.
This troubles me, and more than a little. It shows that loyalty to a political party has become more important than the policies produced and the effects they have on the people. It makes me wonder what (if anything) it would take to get someone to question their loyalty to a political party. Certainly things couldn’t escalate to the point of a second holocaust… or could they? At what point do you say enough is enough, and if that point is so late in the game that dissent is accompanied by significant personal risk or even death (as it was with many Nazi’s) what would you do?
The news is filled with examples of how our current leaders are unable to compromise. The result has been stalemate as no one can agree, but no one has the power to pass and maintain legislation on their own. Even if they have the advantage of passing something during their party’s domination, it is immediately threatened with significant modification, removal of funds or enforcement, or even complete repeal. These circumstances exist only in a climate where ideas are valued not based on their content and results, but rather on the source of their creation.
Partisanship seems to be the name of the game, and I’m not willing to play. I find myself in the position of liking certain specific bits of both parties’ platforms, but disliking the vast majority of both as well. As the ideas are not valued by our culture, there is no mechanism to separate the few good islands of thought from the sea of bad ideas with unacceptable consequences. I think of it a bit like a sugar coated pill. The good parts are the sweet coating designed to help it go down easier and ensure it gets swallowed while the active ingredients are bitter, don’t work properly, and have side effects worse than the original symptoms.
This is to say nothing of the candidates themselves. Choosing one or the other seems to mean little when nothing good can come from either. For me personally, it doesn’t matter though. In Utah (a “winner take all” state) the electoral votes go to the republican candidate… period. This has the effect of rendering every independent and democratic vote meaningless in this state. It’s tempting to push for an “every vote counts” system in which the popular consensus gets the win. However, this has the unexpected consequence of REDUCING Utah’s voting power based on low voter turnout. That’s right, we’d go from meaningless (as we don’t contribute in any meaningful way to the overall election process) to nonexistent as Utah’s population can’t compare to the coastal states. The bottom line is, if you’re an independent or a democrat in Utah there’s no point in voting. The same is essentially true if you’re a republican, based on the rule of large numbers. Get huffy, talk ‘til you’re blue in the face about how it’s a sacred duty and all, and that one person can make a difference. The fact is that in this state YOU CANNOT make a difference.
So my personal vote means nothing, neither candidate will be able to get anything done (if they do it’ll be blocked, stopped, de-clawed or outright repealed), neither platform is wholly worthwhile, and the only part of the whole thing that actually means anything isn’t valued. Tell me again how I’m supposed to “get excited” to participate? Reiterate one more time why I should be wasting my time with anything these deluded fools have to say.
In short, it’s difficult to care how tall the various piles of shit are that run the country when your head is on fire.
