In South Carolina anyone over 65 can vote with an absentee ballot. Not liking to stand in lines, I requested such a ballot. It arrived Saturday. I completed it and mailed it back today, but as I have already noted, it won’t matter. One man, one vote sounds good, until you consider that the vote of an individual who believes in the current conspiracy theory that the U.S. Government is engineering hurricanes to sway the election counts just as much as does a vote of one who is sane, and when you consider that not all votes are equal. Thanks to the anachronistic Electoral College put in place by our Founding Fathers who did not trust the common man, this election will be decided by votes in several ‘swing’ or ‘battleground’ states, of which neither South Carolina nor Illinois are one. No matter how I vote, South Carolina’s votes in the Electoral College will go to the Republican candidate. Those in Illinois to the Democratic.
Unfortunately Georgia is one of those swing states. Unfortunately because Hilton Head’s television comes from stations in Savannah and the political ads are relentless. This is a bipartisan complaint. I am tired of them all. I am tired of this campaign that has been going on seemingly forever. I read that some voters are still undecided. How can anyone be undecided with all that has been thrown at them unless they live under a rock?
I googled to learn how much is being spent on this election. I found various numbers, but $15 billion dollars is common. $15 Billion. I don’t know whether to put a question mark or an exclamation mark after that.
More than a decade ago I wrote:
Democracy does not work and never has, except perhaps on a village scale.
The United States is a plutocracy and always has been in which the monied nobility maintain their control by political contributions and lobbyists, while giving the masses the illusion of the vote.
Other countries similar to the United States do this better. They call an election, campaign for a month, have the election, and the country moves on.
I have done my civic duty and I will be extremely glad when this election is over.
Right on Webb’ you’ve made my day.
ReplyDeleteI feel for, for what I hope are the many Americans who have to watch what has become of the political parties in the United States, most notably one of them. Reagan would be rolling in his grave.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the world looks on with a combination of disbelief, pity, and sadness at the levels politicians have stooped. The 24/7, corporatized “news” networks, which are no more than propaganda outlets have dumbed down and manipulated what appears to be almost half the population.
No longer is the message important; it’s who says it. If an experimental could be conducted in a vacuum, you would see those outraged by something a candidate says, yet they would support the exact same comment if their candidate said it.
It’s almost laughable, but it’s not a laughing matter.
You can rest easy as you and your wife's vote did count for President in 2024 as the popular vote outcome matched the electoral college outcome.
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