Only government wins in election
(My Clovis News Journal column for March 6, 2015)
I’m sure you’ve seen the “Peanuts” cartoons where Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown to kick, promising him she won’t pull it away this time. This time he’ll kick it. But every time she pulls the football away at the last instant and poor Charlie Brown lands flat on his back. How can he be surprised by the inevitable?
You may have also played a game with a habitual cheater. The kind who changes the rules to benefit himself as he plays. As the game progresses, they always discover a reason they win and you lose- and the new rule is as much a surprise to them as it is to you. Little kids are really bad about this.
Most adults grow out of it; the rest go into government.
Haven't you noticed no matter who you vote for, and no matter who wins, nothing really changes for the better? "This is the most important election in generations! This time your vote will make a difference! I promise!" Do you, like Charlie Brown, fall for it every time? Are you still surprised when voting for the lesser of two evils results in more evil? Are you shocked when, in spite of what your candidate says, once in office he does the same things he spent the campaign criticizing his opponent for doing?
Do you keep doing the same thing every election cycle, expecting different results each time?
I can't fault you too much. There is a powerful desire to keep doing what you've been assured can bring about the changes you want- even when you realize the system is rigged against you. What other choice is there? You get caught up and find yourself whipped into a frenzy; anxious to help choose the next person who'll impose invented rules upon your neighbors.
In any election, the only winner is the government. You and liberty are the consistent losers. With everyone voting for someone who promises to hurt the other guy on their behalf, America gets further and further away from what it was established to be.
I'm not telling you to stop voting if voting makes you feel as though you are doing something. I'm not telling you to reject politics. I'm not even telling you to keep your own house in order and let others do the same- even if their idea of order is different from yours. What I am telling you is you probably shouldn't be shocked when you get the result you keep voting for. When you find yourself on your back wondering how you missed the ball again, take a moment to reflect on your actions.
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"If we can just get the right man in the White House............."
ReplyDeleteI have the same attitude about people who protest police shootings. I've been watching them protest for DECADES now and guess what? Police kill more people than ever!
Maybe it's time think about another approach.
http://strike-the-root.com/its-better-to-lose-election-than-to-win
ReplyDeleteDuring the Reagan Presidency, some good things happened. The wasteful Revenue Sharing program was eliminated and the Iron Curtin fell. No one thinks that would have happened if Carter won a second term. Also, right after the 1994 mid-term elections, welfare reform got many people off the government dole. It also resulted in the deficit being briefly eliminated. That wouldn't have happened if the Democrats had not lost control of Congress. Also, Democrats lost a lot of Governorships in 1986 and 1990 and mandatory sentences resulted in career criminals no longer being let out and the crime rate fell to a 40-year low.
ReplyDeleteI don't fault you for being disillusioned with the political system, as it's done so much wrong. But election results can result in positive change.
I think you need to study up on the concept of "correlation does not imply causation."
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation