Monday, April 27, 2015

Thoughts on why voter participation sucks

(Dictated by Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12.5)

Recently, Chucky Green held his campaign event masquerading as some sort of discussion over why fewer and fewer people as a percentage of the population actually vote.

Besides being an obviously partisan effort to benefit Green personally, no real discussion is necessary. 

The reasons why people are avoiding their constitutional duty to vote are obvious.

First and foremost, it's the growing feeling that their vote doesn't matter.

It's extremely difficult to argue with that perspective, because I happen to share it.

Why should we bother to vote… When it rarely matters who gets elected?

Two of the biggest examples are both at the national and the state level. We were positively giddy that the GOP took over the U.S. Senate. "Moderates" told us that that would change everything... all the problems would be fixed.

What a lie that was. These guys vote more Democratic than the Democrats. The most recent example was just last week, when they voted that neo-communist Lynch in as the new AG.

The woman knows as much about constitutional law as she does about brain surgery. She supports the illegal alien amnesty, supports allowing illegal alien criminals to remain in our borders, and actually believes that illegal aliens have the right to a job in the United States today… When millions of Americans can't find work in the real unemployment rate confronting this country today.

The GOP Senate voted that horrific, waste of space Intel office to reward the president for his illegal activities in the White House.

When something like that happens, does it make it more likely… Or less likely… To cause people to vote?

Generally speaking, the GOP was given control of the U.S. Senate to eliminate Obama care, to fix the border situation, and to stop the president's illegal alien amnesty by Executive Order program. As we are now closing on the end of GOP control for the fourth month, how many of those things have been accomplished?

I'm not interested in voting for the GOP or the dems on about any level. Because based on the outcomes, it makes no difference when we do.  These were the top RINO efforts by the U.S. Senate just last week, which I've already posted about.

At the state level, we were giddy about GOP control over the state Senate, the Majority Coalition Caucus.  Last year, they were exceptional.  But what a difference a year makes.

So what's the first thing that happens after the GOP Senate goes in this session this year?

Two rogue GOP senators ditch the caucus, Don Benton and Pam Roach, to join with the Democrats so they can get rid of Tim Sheldon as president pro tem of the Senate... and give the job to Roach, instead.

That was just the start, as the corruption of the GOP-controlled State Senate makes itself known, and even though, for example, our local excuse of a daily newspaper once again fails to print the reality of the situation (let's remember kids, when it comes to anyone doing their bidding, the newspaper is not going to tell you the truth… When that truth might derail the effort.)  when the GOP plays what we used to call up there "screw–screw" games. (You can substitute the more popular four letter word for the word "screw".)

Brad Owen, lieutenant governor and president of the Senate, illegally declared the GOP Senate rule concerning requiring a supermajority to pass any tax or fee increase, to be "unconstitutional".

The President of the Senate has no power to weigh in on the constitutionality or the lack thereof concerning any rule currently in force in the Senate. All it would've taken to overturn his ruling would be a simple majority vote… A vote that was never taken… Because the GOP Senate wanted that rule to be declared unconstitutional, so they could jam the gas tax down our throats.

And jam it they did.

They made sure there was an emergency clause when no emergency exists, which makes it practically impossible for the people to gather the necessary signatures to put this to a vote on the ballot; and they made sure there was no referendum clause on this humongous gas tax increase… Which when combined, makes it clear that the GOP controlled Senate of this state does not want us to be able to vote on this issue.

And Owen's decision concerning the constitutionality of the GOP super majority rule? Well you can forget about that, because he changed his mind when the time rolled around to do the general fund budget. So, a large number of amendments to the budget failed to pass… Even though they had 29 out of 49 votes… Because they needed 30 to pass. And this, by all appearances, was done to allow prospective gubernatorial candidate Andy Hill (R Bellevue) to look really really good for the upcoming campaign.

As of this writing, three of the five states senators representing parts of Clark County voted for this monstrosity, even in the face of this corruption. They include my own State Senator, Ann Rivers (R 18), Curtis King, (R 14) and John Braun (R 20).  Voting against this insanity was the Vancouver hobbit, Annette Cleveland (D 49) and the selfsame Don Benton (R 17).

I am assured by Sen. Rivers that those voting no on this package will have zero projects in their district. Apparently the 49th District did not get the memo, as they are receiving the lion's share of this package to replace, ala the CRC, a freeway interchange that does not need to be replaced, specifically the Mill Plain/I-5 interchange… A waste of approximately $100 million.

Let me reiterate, the hobbit senator actually voted no on this package.  Yet the project remains.

In the face of this kind of corruption. How can I look at someone and tell them… Oh yeah by the way… Your vote matters?

There are also a variety of other reasons... far be it for me to suggest that the reason listed above is by far the only one.

Campaigns of lies, campaigns of mudslinging, campaigns of rank partisanship, these things all have a cancerous effect on the electorate.

I admit, because I feel the cancer myself. And over the past three cycles, I have voted less and less, for fewer candidates.  Mickey Mouse, Popeye and Donald Duck frequently get my nod.

As a veteran, and as someone who has seen up close and personal the communist system in action in East Germany (6 years worth), you would think that I would be the most motivated to actually cast a vote. But given the choices that we have to make among the available candidates, I keep going back to my initial observation: which is usually, no matter who gets elected, they're just going to do what they want to do and screw us.

No, that doesn't apply to everyone up there. But I would say that the number easily exceeds 90%.

At the federal level, government is getting away with crimes that should've seen the perpetrators locked up literally years ago.  Corruption is rampant and wide spread.  Speak out, and you get indicted (Right, Sen. Menendez?)

Nothing is getting done, nothing is happening, none of these people will ever be held accountable for what they've done to this country. Everybody from Lois Lerner to Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama… All of them are going to walk away from the death and destruction they've caused the people of the United States.

Oh, Congress is going through the motions.  But that's all it is, throwing a bone to people like me who demand justice... people who will confuse motion... with action.

At the state level, we can say the same. Around $200 million was wasted on the CRC scam. Who's held accountable for that? Who's going to prison over that? Who's even going to investigate that?

With the floating bridge scam (the SR 520 floating bridge scam) additional hundreds of millions have been wasted on faulty design and faulty implementation of the floats designed to hold the damn bridge out of the water. Who's held accountable for that? Who's going to prison over that? Who's even going to investigate that?

And the tunnel in Seattle. Hundreds of millions of dollars and months wasted. Instead of just buying another drilling machine and drilling from the opposite direction (which would've cost $85 million) they waste 145 million to pull the drill bit out of the hole to repair it. And why is it that the drill they were using didn't have a reverse function on it to back out?

Who's held accountable for that? Who's going to prison over that? Who's even going to investigate that?

And we're supposed to give the same people almost $.12 a gallon more in gas tax? Are you freaking kidding me?  $15 BILLION?

One of the biggest problems with determining what the primary reasons for a decreasing voter participation rate actually is… Is once you identify what the problems are, once you identify what the causes are, what can you do to fix any of it?

To me, that makes as much sense as getting shot in the chest with an arrow and everybody staring down at you... seeing the arrow coming out of your chest and saying... "Wow!  There's an arrow sticking out of that guy's chest… Let's go do lunch," instead of helping... instead of changing anything.

Are people like Greg Kimsey supposed to start lying less? Are haters like Chucky Green supposed to start hating less?  Are liars like Timmy "The Liar" Leavitt or Scott Weber supposed to start telling the truth? Are these people to give a damn about the will of the people they would govern?  How does that happen?  Who makes sure that it happens? What the hell difference does any of this make?

None.

As long as those at the very highest levels of the US government can break the law with impunity, it makes no difference.

As long as those we elect cavalierly disregard the reasons they were elected in the first place, as they're corrupted by what happens once they get to Olympia… Or once they get to Washington DC… What the hell difference does it make?

I totally get why Hillary Clinton asked the question, "what difference does it make?" I get it, because she knows damn well that by the time the election rolls around it won't make any difference. The damn Democrats will still vote for this witch; they've made it clear that they don't give a damn how many people she's killed or how dishonest she is or how she would lie to us or how much she would screw us… They don't care.

And if they don't care… Why should I?

And this goes directly to the heart of the matter rest why people don't bother devoting more. Because frankly, it doesn't make any difference when we do.

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