Vote the Cause If Not the Candidate

Don't whimper about politicians not representing you if you don't vote for the politicians who have advocated for your participation since the beginning of the constitutional process.
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All debates are said and done. Nothing was resolved for the informed voter. Obama's performance in the first debate was that of a man annoyed by the fact that he was debating an opportunistic shape shifting weasel. The movement in polls is just among a few low information voters who routinely couldn't decide in which direction to hang their toilet paper, overhand or underhand.

Now comes the time when history is made or unmade. On November 6th, the nation will vote on its fate and the fate of humanity. At question is whether our 236-year-old experiment in plebian democracy will succumb to the Siren song of a demonstrably anti-democratic conservative promising what he thinks we want to hear with every intention of delivering the opposite. Running against the conservative is an incumbent you may be disappointed in as it seems he did not deliver what you think he should have in terms of legislation or in terms of change in Washington gridlock. You may think the incumbent somehow lied about his intents and be suspicious that he has taken Wall Street money. Hardly any of that matters.

Lash yourself to the mast like Odysseus and hear the Siren song so that you may know it for your time. Promises are promises and can break hearts or break nations even when they sound at the time as if heaven had answered a prayer. Heaven is not in charge. Mankind is in charge.

What matters is the arc of history. For all of it -- history -- the mankind that runs things has been struggling to throw off its first and most regrettable political invention. That invention was despotism. The rule of one or a few over the many has been the heaviest yoke on mankind ever constructed. From our earliest history to our future histories in science fiction, the struggle of the people against tyranny is continuous theme.

In our current political climate, there are two distinct sides that fight for the sake of two opposite theories. One theory, the one the nation was founded on, is that the concentration of power -- despotism -- is bad for the people in general, even if you are in the 1 percent. The other theory is that true democracy is dangerous because it will rob from the rich and give to the poor. This is exactly the debate that was foremost in the Framing of the Constitution 236 years ago. The people fear despots and despots fear the people.

That debate was settled for 200 or so years. We designed a government with separation of powers and separation of church and state to deal with the potential of despotism and to assure that the ultimate power was held by the people, all the people. Beginning with Reagan and now a standard carried by Romney, there has been a resurgence of the argument that the people are more dangerous than despots. Yes the people are dangerous to despots, but not as dangerous to the people as are despots to the people and themselves.

This election ultimately resolves along that ancient issue divide, whether power is wielded by those who fear despots or those who fear the people. The candidates are actually irrelevant to the question of what direction the country should take. The two political parties, and those who identify with them, demark the simplest yes or no question of the era of American democracy. Do you believe in an inclusive democracy or do you not?

Issue polls show the American people to be informed and nearly exact on what is best to do for the country now and in the future. Our problem is that the Republicans don't like what the country wants to do and will do anything they can to stop us from doing it. There's your motive to vote.

So don't whimper about politicians not representing you if you don't vote for the politicians who have advocated for your participation since the beginning of the constitutional process, the Democrats. It's also the Democrats that have fought tooth and nail to overturn voter disenfranchisement measures adopted in all the states where Republicans won total control of government in 2010. Republicans won those states and the U.S. House exactly because you stayed home and did not vote. Don't tell me it doesn't matter and the parties are both the same. That snide cynicism just shows a distinct deficit of perspective. The parties are so different that they can't agree on what color the sky is. Vote on November 6th. It's possibly the last time you will able to vote.

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