No matter how you look at it, your individual vote isn’t nearly as important as the candidates would you have us believe. We vote individually, not in the aggregate. So why are we driving ourselves crazy by trying to strategize between two candidates, neither of whom spend time worrying about us?
Pickle
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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What does it say about US-style «democracy» that the only reason for voting for one of two candidates for what is called «the nation’s highest office» is to stop the other one ?…
Henri
Call it what you will but do not call it democracy.
Do not even call it a choice.
Is a choice between being waterboarded or having electrodes attached to your genitals really a choice?
But Glenn, I did qualify the «democracy» with the term «US-style» and place the noun in scare quotes. Don’t know if you are old enough to remember the great flick «Divorce, Italian style» (Divorzio all’italiana)…. 😉
Henri
@mhenriday
I did see, and recognize in your comment, the international sign of negation, that being “American”, preceding the word “democracy” where thereby an “American peace” is commonly known internationally as war.
The problem is, Glenn, that in countries like my own, Sweden, whatever shit comes from the US is gobbled up and regurgitated by the government and the corporate media as if it were chocolate ice cream. When it comes to Russophobia, for example, we are at least as good as you are, and NATO – of which we are not yet formally a member, despite allowing the organisation to use the northern half of the country as a bombing range – is referred to as a «defence alliance». Only Russian bombs kill civilians, Mr Putin is a monster, and the US is the source of light in an otherwise dark world….
Henri
p-f-f-f-ft. In all but a handful of states, the outcome is predetermined anyway. We could cut costs by not bothering to count the votes, just assign the electroids to appropriate candidate and be done with it.
Ted, you are on target with this one.
My wife supports Clinton. I detest Trump and couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of the two. As an Arkansas voter, I realized that Trump would carry the state — so my vote for either of them wouldn’t have changed anything. The only thing I could fall back on was to vote for Dr. Jill Stein in hopes that it would give the Green Party a little boost. 🙁
The real pickle? Imagine what happens if Trump wins. Hey, New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Do you remember all the negative crap you published under the guise of “news”? I guarantee you, Trump will have his people pull up every single syllable of it. Don’t think for a second Trump won’t ignore you except when belittling you throughout his time in office. And that’s the real pickle. He will establish the precedent of the president simply ignoring the press. He will go directly to the public on his Twitter feed. I wonder if the Times teaches its political reporters how to put together a Big Mac. You’ll be handling a lot of pickles then, my Gray Ladyians.
It’s going to be a very interesting four years. Assuming none of us is disappeared or vaporized.
To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche:
“That which does not kill the candidacy of Trump makes makes him stronger.”
It would almost be worth four years under Trump to watch the pompous corporate media learn how to bow and scrape before their new master like the lickspittles they are.
«It would almost be worth four years under Trump to watch the pompous corporate media learn how to bow and scrape before their new master like the lickspittles they are.» And, nota bene, not merely the corporate media with headquarters in the United States. Wonder what sort of back-tracking we’ll see here in Europe. Given the widespread contempt for George Walker Bush here in Sweden, it would seem (I have no evidence other than my observations as a frequent listener to the news) that sometime after 20 January 2001, Sveriges Radio instructed all its newscasters and commentators to use the title «President» (nota bene : not US president, which would have at least been correct) before naming the man, a practice which seems to have been carried out with even more enthusiasm during Mr Obama’s two terms in office. Mr Putin, of course, is almost always referred to as «Putin»….
«Lickspittles» was the word….
Henri
«Assuming none of us is disappeared or vaporized.» Let us hope that that assumption proves to be justified….
Henri
That’s merely carrying on the fine tradition of Ronnie Raygun. He coined the phrase “liberal media” to explain why reality didn’t align with his vision thereof.
If Hair Furror is so wealthy, why hasn’t he bought a few of the many struggling news outlets to publish his own brand of truthiness.