Why Your Vote Really Doesn’t Matter

Boy, I’m just a real shot in the arm, huh? First, I tell you why you aren’t part of “the economy” everyone’s worried over, then I tell you how you aren’t really a taxpayer unless you owe the IRS, and now I’m going to rip one more hole in your psyche: your vote doesn’t count for squat.

Sure, you can show up to as many voting places as you want, cast as many ballots as you want, but in the end, it’s only for LOCAL issues, not federal ones. All this presidential ballyhooing that’s going on all across the country, and this upcoming super-duper-pooper Tuesday hype is mostly all for naught. We’ve forgotten in a big way that our president is NOT chosen by THE people, but by a very small and select group of individuals called The Electoral College.

Yep—super-duper Tuesday is going to be a “duper” alright. It’s going to dupe many states at once into thinking their citizens’ votes count for something, when it’s really a giant exercise in mobility and futility. The whole electoral process has managed to dupe us all into thinking we actually matter, have a voice, and representation in government. The only thing that matters is that we continue to pay our taxes on time and in full, but the country goes through this huge charade every four years to keep us from revolting en masse.

In spite of what you may think about casting your vote, the Electoral College doesn’t refer to, or take into consideration, your individual vote—or the majority votes of the country. Instead, they do this: a select group of Presidential Electors (each state has its own number of Electors—see map)), go to their state capitols to cast a ballot for their presidential and vice-presidential choice. Your individual vote determines who the Presidential Electors are, not who the actual President is going to be.

The entry in Wikipedia goes on to say: “In each state, voters vote for a slate of pre-selected candidates for Presidential Elector, representing the various candidates for President. State ballots, however, are designed to suggest that the voters are voting for actual candidates for President. Most states use what is termed the short ballot, in which a vote for one party (such as Democratic or Republican) is interpreted as a vote for the entire slate of Presidential Electors. In these states, with rare exceptions, one party wins the entire electoral vote of the state (by either plurality or majority). Maine and Nebraska choose Presidential Electors using what is termed the District Method, which makes it possible for the voters to choose Electors of different political parties and split the electoral vote of these two states.

The Presidential Electors of each state (and DC) meet 41 days following the popular vote to cast the electoral votes. The Electors ballot first for President, then for Vice President. On rare occasions, an Elector does not cast the electoral vote for the party's national ticket, usually as a political statement; these people are called faithless Electors. Each Elector signs a document entitled the Certificate of Vote which sets forth the electoral vote of the state (or DC). One original Certificate of Vote is sent by certified mail to the Office of the Vice President.

One month following the casting of the electoral votes, the U.S. Congress meets in joint session to declare the winner of the election. If a candidate for President receives the vote of 270 or more Presidential Electors, the presiding officer (usually the sitting Vice President) declares that candidate to be the President-elect, and a candidate for vice president receiving 270 or more electoral votes is similarly declared to be the Vice President-elect.”

So you see, we really don’t count for much come election day. Some day someone will finally stand up and ask why we continue to go through this dog-and-pony show every four years, with more dog-and-pony acts of fundraising and campaigning in between. Also, that same someone will bring to our attention in a memorable way that these same politicians who campaign and fund-raise aren’t taking care of business up on Capitol Hill like they’re paid to do.

Then there’s the issue of vote-rigging by electronic means—time and time again the electronic voting machines have been shown to already be compromised, or can easily be compromised, rendering whatever vote we may cast to be erroneous and/or fictional at best. The vote can be rigged to favor one candidate over another, so why do we even bother? Because it makes us feel better and keeps us from considering mass revolt and huge tax protests. They want our money, not our opinion.

Doesn’t it make you wonder what Hillary, Obama, Romney, McCain, and the rest are missing back at work, while they’re out parading around the country, trying to persuade us to take part in a totally useless endeavor? How many bills might be passed or vetoed while they’re gone, and how many could’ve gone the other way with their votes? This probably accounts for the “do-nothing Congress” we have today—they do nothing but raise funds and campaign, while the others back on the Hill wait and watch. It’s got to be hard to reach a majority when so many members are out waging media war on the common citizen, so trying to get anything passed in Congress is put on hold while the chosen few go out and play.

It gets worse. Once people get elected (whether to Congress or a higher level), this past article explains why work still doesn’t get done by anybody, and never will.

What do you suppose would happen if nobody—not a single bloody soul—showed up to vote in November? Do you think chaos would erupt? Nope, it wouldn’t…well, only in the media. The process would continue on without our input, and go to show you exactly how insignificant we are in the scheme of things. If anyone who wasn’t a Presidential Elector suddenly died or left the country, we’d still have an elected President and Vice-President—that’s how insignificant we are on Election Day. Remember, they only want our money, not our opinion.

Welcome to Uncle Sam’s Plantation, Magic Show, and Prop Shop. We’re only supposed to work, be distracted by shiny things, and breed to make more workers—everything else is optional. Lou Dobbs can screech all he wants about having yourself designated as an independent voter, but it won’t do any good. It’s still taking part in a useless activity, so where’s the independence? You ask me, I say the REAL independent voters are the ones who stay home from the polls—they spend the time and energy doing something personally worthwhile instead. This is what Hubby and I plan to do—we’re getting a little tired of writing in Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on every ballot we get our hands on.

I have to admit it will be interesting to see how many people vote for Jon and Stephen this year. Last election, I believe they got something like 13% of the vote (I’d have to look this up to be sure). This is what happens when your choices come down to a giant douche and a turd sandwich, and it will happen again this election. I'm not going to tell you which is which, because it really doesn't matter.

*Last-minute note: How many of you out there think that last Wednesday's South Park episode about the "snuke in the snizz" had any effect on the outcome in South Carolina? That thought just occurred to me this morning.