Peg in the Machine

It’s the topic that’s come up everywhere these days:  Who do people really want in office, and what do they really want to be done?

All around people keep on saying how they really want to vote for third-party-candidate X, but they know they won’t get in so instead they’ll vote for Satan’s right hand man (or sometimes saying left hand hand).  They don’t agree with the candidate, don’t want them in office, but they’re the lesser of the two evils.  Sadly it seems to be said with over half the people — if they all voted the way “it doesn’t matter” the Democrats and Republicans would become the “third” party and the “third” parties would be the primary ones.

But I digress, a bit.

What is strange about the way many people seem to view the candidates isn’t so much that they’re different in what they’ll be doing —- but that they’re going to do the exact same things, just have different methods to get there.  And we all know what the same thing is:  keep everything the same, increase wars, keep on chugging out oil, and screw the little man.  Isn’t it a shame when you go into an election and get to choose not what will happen, but what will be done to get there?

Think about that for a moment.  No matter who you elect, you’re going to have the same basic things done and you have no choice about that (want wars to end?  get over it!) — but you have a choice on how you get to that point.  Some choice isn’t it?  All the main decisions that affect the people’s lives are already decided, you just get to decide whether path A or B leads you to decision A.

One thing I find completely shocking is just how many people are surprised when a politician running for office doesn’t vote the way they promise.  Or in some cases vote the complete opposite despite it going against what everyone believes the politician stands (such as Obama and the FISA amendments).  One month he’s for repealing the bill, the next he’s granting pardons and amendments to it.  The internet goes into a fury over this “shocking” thing since he was supposed to be the candidate for “change” not “Bush version 2.0″ (“another Bush” as some are calling it).

But what I find more shocking than anything isn’t that he voted against how everyone expected — but that people actually are shocked that he did.  As time goes on you hear the same basic things all the time, politicians doing the opposite of what they say they’ll do and what policies they were voted into office on.  Some shock.  Didn’t people realize that this who “change” Obama was referring to was an advertising ploy more than a political stance?  If you’re really the candidate for “change” you shouldn’t have to say anything.  People should be able to see it in your actions.  They should be able to see it in your life prior (I won’t say “political” life as a people stay true to themselves, and it’s not always the same — not to mention people aren’t born politicians).

People keep on talking about how the lines between democrat and republican are clear and set.  Yeah…right.  If that were the case they’d have completely different ideas on everything, and it’d be the same throughout the party.  But, it’s not.  It’s down to the individual’s personal beliefs.  And even in the parties, these same people saying they’re so “different” also use terms like “liberal” and “conservative”.  So you’ve got liberal democrats and conservative republicans, but also conservative democrats and liberal republicans (which some would say they’re in the wrong party).  They’re so tangled up and trying to say how different they are, that when you boil a lot away — they all accept corporation donations, they don’t all vote the way you’d expect them to (go against their party), and in the end even if you have a few good ones that do what’s right – they get shoved aside and outvoted by the others.

So this year, just like all others, you get to choose between two candidates.  The Demoblicans (or Repubocrats) — however you want to combine the two into one.  In the end, doesn’t really matter.  They might have different goals to get to a point, they might have slightly different ways to get there, but in the mish-mash of political parties running the US government, you’ll end up with the same thing we always have — something in the middle that people hate, politicians love, and more political fodder to fuel the next mud slinging campaign.

Or…. you could vote for a completely different party.  One that’s ideals and goals are so apart from both of those that they conflict on almost everything.  Your choice.  You could vote for the lesser of two evils, or cast a vote for a third party — telling the two that not only did you take the time out to vote, but you didn’t vote for them.  So then when the lesser of two evils gets elected, they’ll be sent a signal that they weren’t even really wanted in.  And anyone worth anything would take notice.

No matter where you are, as long as you have a choice (or pseudo-choice) of candidates in an election there’s a few simple rules to follow when deciding who to vote for:

1. What they believe in.

That’s it.

Here’s the list of things not to base your vote:

1. Religion – come now… do you really agree 100% with everything everyone in your religion  says?  Then why would you vote for them because they’re the same one as you?
2. Gender – there’s men and women that are serial killers, arsonists, embezzlers, religious figureheads, and philanthropists.  So why vote based on gender?
3. Race – same as gender.  There’s so much diversity within any group, you can’t safely vote for someone because they belong to the same one.
4. Political party — yep, again, not a real indication.  Granted if you belong to a third party you’ll be more likely to agree on many more points (since, well, you found them, not just belonged because your parents did or whatnot).  But even then, the chances of you agreeing completely with everything they say?  Not so much.  Even the third parties have multiple people running for primaries – so vote for the person.
5. *any other reason* — come on, you’re still reading?  There’s only one thing similar  between people running for offices: their human.  And being so they’re fairly unique and have their own set of values, morals and beliefs.  You want to make a decision – pay attention to the people!  And whatever you do…. don’t just pay attention to the media!  The media can make or break a candidate just by what they do or don’t show.  They’re not any more fair than politicians — only people think they can trust them.  Question everything.

The point is quite simply that no matter what someone is, they’re still an individual that may or may not go along with the rest of the people in his/her “group”.  So why would you even think of voting for a person based on the group?

Think someone in your group might understand your suffering more than others?  Great!  But, there’s more than two of almost every group (such as race, religion, sexuality, gender [in a sense]).  So even if they might understand your group from one point of view, what about all the others?  You want a person who will treat everyone fairly and right based on the current standards of society for the best-treated group.  You could vote in an African American, or an American Indian —- but the way a rich person would view things could be quite different than a poor one.  A person who was born into money, and had everything handed to them might think the world is fair — but a person who had their parents working 2-3 jobs a piece to just get food on the table, then the kids worked their butts off just to go to a small college just to get a factory job would have a quite different view of the world.

You should vote for who’d be the best person for the job, and who will have the country/state/county/town’s best interest in mind.  If they do, they’ll treat whatever group you’re in well as well.  It doesn’t matter what group the person is in as long as they believe in the people and doing what’s right for all.

So during this election year in the USA (2008 at the time of this writing, but applies for all years and countries), vote for the person.  Don’t vote for the race, gender, political affiliation or anything else — vote for the person.  Anything else and you’re wasting your vote.  And whatever you do VOTE.  I don’t care who you vote for as long as you vote for the person you know will do the best job.  If it’s not a democrat or republican — vote for a third party.  But don’t stay at home.  Use your vote to tell them exactly what you think of them.

Here’s the thing.  Even though I and many others would love for a third party to get into the presidency, this year, won’t happen.  But they’re getting bigger.  They believe in people and the environment — and they wanted Bush impeached and the war to end.  Don’t like the other candidates? Vote green.

I know, you’re yelling “that’s wasting a vote!!!”  But it’s not.  The only vote wasted is one for a candidate you don’t really want in, or one for the lesser of two evils.  If you don’t vote, the candidates/parties will view it as voter apathy — not as “you all suck”.  If you go and vote, but vote for a third party (or mark “none of the above” if an option) you’ll sending a powerful message: we took the time out to vote — but not for you.

So please, do the country a favor:  Stop complaining about the corrupt politicians and vote this election.  Your fellow countrymen* are counting on you.

* countrywomen, countryperple, whichever — countrymen just used since, well, it’s more common.