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The Lesser Of Two Evils Just Isn't Good Enough - by Neal Ross
8 June 2008
John F. Kennedy once said, "The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all." If
the ignorance of one single voter is a threat to our security, imagine
the threat posed by thousands, no millions of ignorant voters.
Is
it any wonder our country is in such sad shape? Is it any wonder why we
are constantly forced to vote for the lesser of two evils for
President? Jerry Garcia, of the Grateful Dead once said, "Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil." Yet all the time I hear that people are voting for one candidate or another because they are the lesser of the two evils.
If
the candidates we have to choose from are so bad, how did they get to
the point where they are the all that we have to choose from? Don't
tell me that they are the best this country has to offer, I don't
believe it.
American editorialist Ambrose Bierce once wrote, "Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country."
What fools we are if the best we can do is choose candidates that leave us the choice of picking the lesser of two evils. If they are so bad, how did they get through all the primaries with
enough votes to become the respective candidate for their party?
For
one thing, as a rule, the majority of Americans spend very little time
researching their choices for President, or any other elected
representative for that matter. Many votes are cast for a candidate,
particularly those at the local and state levels, based solely upon
name recognition. Our record isn't much better when it comes to
electing our President.
According to the 2000 census, https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kprof00-us.pdf,
there were 209,128,094 people in this country over the age of 18, which
means they are old enough to vote. Almost 3 million of those are
ineligible to vote for one reason or another, leaving 206 million
people in this country who are eligible to vote.
https://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout%201980-2006.xls
According
to an article by Broadcasting Cable, there was a surge in ratings for
viewers watching the Presidential debates this presidential election
with 9.3 million viewers watching the Democratic debate and 7.3 million
watching the Republican debate.
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6518158.html
My
question is this, what were the other 200 million eligible voters doing
during those debates? If they are too lazy or apathetic to watch a
debate, which requires no physical activity other than using their
remote control to turn on their TV, how can we expect these people to
actually take some time to research the records of these candidates?
Thomas Paine once said, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom…must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Everyone
talks about their rights, their right to do this, their right to do
that. Nobody wants to talk about the responsibility that is the flip
side of having rights. Gerald W. Johnson, former Editor of the
Baltimore Evening Sun, once said, "No man was ever endowed with a right without being at the same time saddled with a responsibility."
Our responsibilities as voters are simple and can be summed up by something Samuel Adams once said, "He
therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tried
most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence
extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and
trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."
Could it be that we have come to the point which Thomas Jefferson once predicted, "Yes,
we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will
they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom?"
Could it be that we have lost our moral compass and are
floundering in perilous waters, as John Adams warned, "Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
Could it be that we have become, as Patrick Henry once said, "Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom."
H. L. Mencken once said, ""Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good."
Our
sense of what is in the best interests of this country has been
overtaken by what we consider to be in our best interests as
individuals. Thomas Sowell once said, "If
you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at
someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they
take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves."
Therefore, when we
vote, we are voting, not upon the candidate, but upon the promises they
make. Character is of little import and the things they said six months
ago are long since forgotten. Even former President Richard Nixon once
said, "Voters quickly forget what a man says." That is a poor reflection upon our character and how seriously we examine those whom would be our nations leader.
How
important is it that we pay close attention to every word uttered by
those running for president? How important is it that we research every
piece of legislation supported by those running for president? Very
serious. George Carlin once said, "The
next time they give you all that civic bullshit about voting, keep in
mind that Hitler was elected in a full, free democratic election."
While Carlin may have
been a bit cynical in his views, he was nonetheless correct that Hitler
was indeed elected in fair democratic elections. That only means it is
that much more imperative that we consider closely those who would
become our next President.
I have been told that I am foolish
for supporting Ron Paul, that he cannot win. It may be true that he
cannot win, but when I hear others say that there is not other choice
than the two mainstream candidates, I want to scream. When I hear that
we have to vote for this guy, so that that guy won't win, I want to
scream. Whatever happened to voting for principle, no matter if that
candidate wins? Maybe if enough of these people did vote for someone
like Ron Paul he would win.
It all boils down to honor,
principle, and the reason you cast your vote for a particular
candidate. In regards to honor, Walter Lippmann once said, "He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so."
When
I cast my vote for Ron Paul, I know that he does not stand a chance for
winning. I understand that neither of the two mainstream candidates
care one iota about the Constitution or the best interests of this
country. I also realize that for so long, the people of this country
have bought into the lies and propaganda of our elected
representatives, and the mainstream media who support them, that they
no longer recognize the truth.
I am reminded of a quote by Carl Sagan, in which he said, "One
of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled
long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The
bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you,
you almost never get it back."
We have that
chance, to return our country to the principles upon which it was
founded. To do so we must be willing to scrutinize each of our
candidates for what they truly stand for and believe in.
However,
I don't see it happening, I see our country coming ever closer to that
which our founders feared. Until that time comes, as Jefferson once
warned us, "Experience
hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those
entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted
it into tyranny."
We are well along
that pathway to tyranny and it all boils down to whether or not the
people of this country wake up soon enough to change course and stop
it. But, as Patrick Henry once said, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me,
give me liberty or give me death!"
Neal Ross
Feel free to critique,
just remember...BE NICE:
bonsai@syix.com
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