SHOULD YOU VOTE?

On the eve of the mid-term election, this question comes up: Why vote?

The answer is—or should be—it depends.

If there are local measures on the ballot, you might want to stomp on that flaming bag of poop before the whole neighborhood goes up. Or vote to keep things going in the right direction.

In a perfect world, you wouldn't even have to do that.

And I don't mean a literally perfect world, a supernaturally perfect world, where God or some such authority guarantees the Best of All Possible Worlds.

I mean a world where the machinery operates the way it was designed.

We in America have what is called representative government. In such a system, it matters not in the least which one of those dirt-bags gets elected. Their opinion on any subject is irrelevant.

(Unless it is the idiot's opinion that government is itself irrelevant, which means your newly-minted representative plans not to do a lick of work in Washington.)

Theoretically, the critters who occupy the Capitol are supposed to do what their constituents want them to do. In every case, world without end, amen.

What that willful creature would rather do doesn't matter.

And by constituents I mean the people residing in the appropriate geographical area. All the people who live there, not just those who voted for the geek.

See, you shouldn't have to vote for the bastard to own his ass. That guy or gal is your bitch. They have to do whatever the eff you want—as long as what you want is what the majority in your area wants.

In this lovely world, you don't need to vote the ding-dong in, you just need to be able to fire his ass when the time comes.

(And to make this easier, we should probably have seriously short term limits. Like one term for senators, maybe two terms for representatives. Any more time in office and they might start trying to grow a brain. What a mess that would be for a properly operating representative government!)

Unfortunately, the system has been hijacked by hangers-on and lobbyists. Folks stay in Washington way too long. They start lording it over the newcomers, as if getting reelected over and over is some sort of accomplishment.

It's mostly our fault. We pick people based on how they represent themselves to us, then let them do whatever they want. That's a complete abdication of our rights.

Power shifts as the money flows. Influence is king. Representation is out.

Everything is held together with duct tape and boogers.

Now should you vote?

I don't know. Could be too late...