Back when the world was normal I took a double undergraduate degree in Political Science and English. My fantasy job was to be Ambassador to the Court of St James where I could take High Tea with erudite diplomats and discuss William Makepeace Thackeray, Scottish Ballads, and the War Poets. I didn’t realize then that it was a hack job for ultra-rich white males who bought the ticket.
Despite my self-enshrined altruistic future, I also believed that voting was a racket. The fix was always in. Voting was a formality to make you think you actually have a say-so in matters “far beyond” your meek understanding.
Later when I worked at the Ohio State University (the “the” is mandatory) I witnessed this play out in academic politics. One of the more amusing incidents occurred when some Big Change (I don’t remember what) was in the works and the university invented a committee of lowly staff (secretaries, janitors, bookkeepers)–not faculty, whose concerns had already been dismissed as superfluous–to “participate in the process” of the Big Change. The day before their first meeting was scheduled, the university sent out a press release or something saying how the Big Change had been implemented weeks ago and how it would play out with the little people Later, a postscript: oops, sorry. We forgot about you. Personally, I think “forgot” is the wrong word.
While I believed then that voting is a racket, and still do, I seldom miss the opportunity to vote. I stood in a flipping 5-hour line to vote against George W Bush. I believe my PolSci degree mandates me to suffer through it. People have died for the right to vote, and I respect that and honor them.
Thus, I will be voting tomorrow. And voting straight Blue at that. erk! Not because I want to, but because I have to.
Voting is a civilized tool to keep order, or at least pretend to. It works well in the US despite its fakery and faults because people want it to. At least until Trump came along, lifted up the wormy rock, and crawled into the hole with the rest of the verminize. I honestly believe that we are in the last days of a civilized United States. The Darkness is coming, if not here.
In the late 1980s I heard Elena Bonner speak at Ohio State, She said the idea that the Soviet Union would fall was ridiculous. It could never happen. Less than 5 years later, when I lived in the Soviet Union, I was on the St. Petersburg barricades of that fall. It was glorious! If we lose the US in this election, it won’t be so glorious. I give the country 5 years tops. A lot of things less civilized than voting will be afoot with the average American either thinking “what the heck happened?” or “hooray for fascism” though they won’t call it fascism” in deference to their grandparents’ fight against it, 80 years earlier.
I am not being very articulate here. There is plenty to say but no enough time to say it tonight. Blog challenges, you know!
So, I’ll just be one of Those People, those boring bougie people, and urge you to vote.
Unless you vote for a Red ticket, there can be no harm in it. If nothing else, as Class Bastard remember that our adoptee rights are on the line. Do you really believe that the funereal monsters who want to run this country, openly or hidden in discreet crevices of creep and enmity, will let you have your rights?
Poke the Bear?
We Poke Back!
Day 7 NAM/NAAM/NanoPoblano
Originally posted: Daily Bastardette, November 7 2022
I regularly question if my vote has any merit. But I vote! With the hope that maybe I’m making some small contribution to our society. I didn’t always know how to speak out and use my voice hopefully I’ve learned.
Thanks, Drew.That’s pretty much how I feel. As an anarcha-syndicalist for decades, I’ve always felt hypocritical for voting, but it never stopped me from doing it. But as things have gotten worse and worse I don’t feel that so much anymore. Of course, a lot of the time we’re voting for the lesser of two evils. This time, though, there’s true evil afoot and we need to use every means necessary to stop it. This is in accord, too, with a lot of anarchist thought. I think Malatesta (though I could be mistaken) said sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Even if voting just buys us time, do it. Get the job done now and sort out the mess later.