Nonsense about Whether You Should Vote

A blogger has written a piece entitled "The Con Game Called Democracy." The U.S, he claims "is not a democracy but a wonderfully crafted pretense." He adds that participating in elections is pointless and a sign of a weak mind. He asks how one can possibly believe that his vote will change anything of importance.

The blogger mentioned here is an ego-maniac. In voting, one is not supposed to feel powerful. Today in national elections we have to be content as one humble member of a society of millions, as one voice added to the millions of others. The power of ordinary people is collective. But that doesn't mean it is not real, as the blogger claims. Those of us who put aside our authoritarian impulses accept doing our part as one individual cooperating with the rest of society. The blogger - Fred Reed - has a sense of democracy that is similar to the common street-fighting fascist of the early 20th century, who were ego-maniacs hungering for an association with power (some of them disillusioned Communists who saw more hope in fascists coming to power than in Communists coming to power).

The blogger Reed writes that the United States is being run "by lobbyists, by criminals, and by forces that have no name." In doing so he is suggesting that public opinion accounts for little if anything. To the contrary, mass opinion is indeed a force. The Roman emperor Aurelius discovered that when, with all the power vested in him, he found failure in making the world a better place. Presidents have discovered that they have a hard time getting things done if public opinion is not on their side. President Franklin Roosevelt had to wait for public opinion regarding foreign policy and some domestic matters. And, of course, it was public opinion, the gave power to Hitler and his political party.

We are still a nation of laws, and our democracy is a part of this, as are indictments against politicians and others who break the law. It is true that many people are influenced by political rhetoric that is geared more to persuasion than to objective truth. That's the way it goes in a democracy. Some people we agree with and some we don't, and we support those whose rhetoric we like.

Those who support Reed's rhetoric make themselves truly powerless by remaining outside the political process. They will remain powerless because they will not be gaining power by any kind of coup creating a government that Reed would approve.

Mr. Reed poses with props: sunglasses and a cigar. Beware of persons presenting themselves with props.

address of this article: http://www.fsmitha.com/com/democracy2.htm