Most people initially think I’m crazy for not voting.  Throughout history Americans have been fighting for the right to have their voice heard in their own government, to be a part of and to give their personal opinion on how their government is dictated.  I mean it’s my right to vote so I should respect that right by exercising that right, right?  I’m not convinced.   There are a couple of things that I am skeptical on.  First of all, how much is my opinion really worth?  Would my vote really count?  Second, what am I really voting for? Do these people ever really follow through with what they claim they are going to follow through on?  And is this just a popularity contest at it’s highest level?  And last and most importantly, I don’t feel anyone should vote unless they know exactly what they are really voting for.  Most people have no clue.

OK, so how much does our individual vote really count?  Is it worth anything at all?  Out of all the people voting all over the nation, how can one vote be worth anything.  It seems to me that Al Gore won the election a few years back.  America sat back and let it happen and we get four more years of Bush and four more years of war.  But maybe it’s just Florida’s votes that don’t count.  Either way, if the government counts the votes, don’t they have the power to accidentally miscount to favor a certain candidate.  It seems to me that the more computers run the world, the easier this will become for our government.  The only reason one would believe our individual vote would count towards anything is because our government says so.  And I can’t say I trust them to begin with.

I caught a small portion of Republican VP candidate Palin talking to the masses at her Republican Convention, and all I could think of was, “This is all bullshit.”  She is up there running her mouth about how much better she is then her democratic competition.  Then pauses.  Then the crowd cheers.  She could say anything, then pause, and the crowd would cheer. Then Obama gets quoted saying “You can put lipstick on a pig,” while the crowd cheers “It’s still a pig.” (referencing a remark made earlier from Palin.)  Then McCain publishes an ad claiming Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergarten kids.  It says: “Learning about sex before learning to read?  Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.”  (this was a total misquote from McCain.  Obama specifically mentioned teaching Sex Ed to appropriate age groups.)  This is a joke and it amazes me that people don’t see it.   It is one low blow after another used only to discredit the competition.   This election is a true popularity contest at it’s best. It’s sad.

But honestly the main reason I don’t vote is because I just don’t REALLY know the facts.  Truly I don’t think anyone really knows.  A lot of people vote because of someones skin color or gender or where they are from or the way the talk.  Some people vote for their political party which boils down to conservatives and liberals.  The thing I don’t get is that people don’t care enough to really look at what each person represents.  I may want Obama cause he is “for” freedom of choice, but what I don’t know is that he is “for” higher taxes.  All I care about is freedom of choice so I vote for Obama, yet if I really knew all the things he represented, I might have chosen differently.  People are naive (including myself).  It seems to me that the government wants America to be naive.  Vote for Plain!  She’s cute. (for a pig with lipstick)