Hmmm. Checked in on Facebook today for the first time in awhile and it appears that people are getting excited about the election that is still far, far, far in the distant future. Either they are sticking with their boy Trump (judges! the economy!), or they are hashing through the 2-dozen different democratic candidates. Can they win? Are they female? Are they good Americans? Will they support the military? And on and on and on...
Excuse me while I yawn. I think that part of the brokenness of our system is the fact that so often we can do little more than talk and give money, and neither of those are really good ways to get good candidates. Because consider my very real voting situation as regards to the presidentia election:
-I live in a state that is not early in the primary system, so by the time the primary schedule gets to me most of the candidates are already long dead in the polls and have dropped out. By the time I would cast my vote, the party candidates are basically decided on.
-I am not a member of either major political party anymore, and I live in a state with a closed primary system, and so even if there was a close race and my vote might count, I can't really vote my preference anyway.
-By the time we get to the general election, I live in one of the reddest of the red states. A president could continually lie, be in legal trouble, be caught with various mistresses, be married three times with five children, and be filled with so many stupid things on his record that were he be of the other party he'd have been sunk long ago, and still win...in case you aren't following, that's the situation we find ourselves in and Trump will still win our electoral college votes without a doubt.
So why do I get all riled up about a system in which I really do not have a genuine voice? Why give my time and my frustration (and even my money!) to a cause that ultimately will fail? I don't really believe in American electoral politics anymore.
But many people do, and my job over the next few months is to steer clear of them. I don't need that in my life.
