Democracy in action

It seems we have an election coming up. The primary, actually, but still an important election. Or so I try to convince myself. Up till now I've always prided myself on being an informed voter. Never missed an election. Never. And it's unlikely I'll miss this one. But that doesn't mean I'll actually cast a vote for any of the candidates that show up on my ballot.

For most of my life I was a true believer in the system. Democracy in action! Yeah! Power to the people!

I'm not swallowing it anymore.

You can blame it on the "Change We Can Believe In", that hasn't really changed anything other than adding a garden and some playground equipment to the White House lawns. You can blame it on the last two governors (not one but two! and I voted for both of them! so much for being an informed voter!). You can blame it on the so-called Healthcare Debates in Congress, which are more about who's going to make more money and how they're going to do it while making us peons think they're really trying to help us. And you can blame it on the budget mess down in Springfield, which gets worse every year. Every. Single. Year.

But most of all, you can blame it on the crusading hypocritical politicians, whose claims to high-and-mightiness get higher and more outrageous with every breath, and who are then crushed by the many skeletons that come out of their closets, their mistresses closets, and mens' restroom stalls. And the greed. The never-ending greed.

Who elects these public servants? Individual voters who go to the polls in the hopes that they mean what they say. And then who do they serve? Their corporate paymasters. So why bother, says the cynic.

I will forever remain an independent voter, you can count on that. But in the primaries here, we independent voters can choose any ballot that is available. Republican? Can I screw up some frontrunner's plans? Democrat? Do they really serve progressive interests?

The Green ballot looks like a ray of sunshine in January. At least I can be counted in opposition to the business-as-usual two-party system.