Gambling with the Government: Vote against the Incumbent

My last post dealt with Casinos in PA, and a topic I can become obsessed with: Government inefficiency. It's election season. Battles are heating up. Voters are being pulled in two directions and manipulated like puppets. "Vote Democrat, the administration is running record deficits." "Vote Republican, the democrats don't have a plan for Iraq." "Republicans want to take away your right to choose." "Democrats want to socialize Health Care."

Let's be real, the issues are all BS. Health Care, Social Security, Abortion, gay marriage, gun control, Iraq. Sure, we have strong feelings one way or another. We have to, because we watch the news, we watch the debates, we read the paper and we hear the same thing over and over. "He wants to privatize your retirement." "She wants to sacrifice jobs for the environment." "He wants to raise your taxes." Every 2 years, every 4 years, the same issues come up. The issues don't come up because politicians actually want to make progress on them. Don't believe that for a minute. The issues come up because politicians, both left and right, want to train us to fall in love with their ideas. They want us to feel the emotions associated with these ideas and attach ourselves to them. They want us to think that these ideas are our own. But they sure as hell don't want to actually implement these ideas.

"Come on, Boz, you're being so cynical."

Really? Am I? I've heard the exact same issues come up in every election I've been alive to watch. And I've watched closely as everyone expresses the same things with the same wording, almost like they're reading from a script. Almost as if they are trying to hypnotize us...or brainwash us.

"Now that's really far fetched!"

Sure it is. What is the one thing in our lifetime that we've seen exponential progress on with regards to elections and politics? FUNDRAISING.
The average State rep has to raise something like 4 trillion dollars just to be competitive. Where does this money come from? Alot comes from corporate sponsors, lobbyists, and special interest groups (much of which is coming from you and I). Alot also comes directly from you and I. So why do we give so much? Is it because we want favors for giving money? That depends on how much we give.
Why do we give so much? Is it because we really like this person's vision and plan? Do we feel proud to have this person running as president of the United States? Have any of us seen a candidate like that in our lifetime?
Why do we give so much? Is it because we feel so strongly about these ideas? Is it because we're afraid of the other party's ideas being implemented? Why do we feel strongly about these ideas and against the other party's ideas? Conditioning? Pavlov?
But this election is different. This election is a choice of values, of vision, of ideas. These are the values we will pass to our grandchildren. This vision will decide the path of our country for the next 50 years. These ideas have been clashing for so long that we can't afford to lose ground at this crucial point, so call now and become a platinum member of the party of your choice. Operators are standing by.

Let's just take a deep breath. Congress isn't going anywhere near the podium. They're too busy campaigning. This election isn't the most crucial ever. It doesn't matter at all. Neither does the next one. Nothing will be decided. It's more profitable to keep the issues on the table than to risk a serious fundraising slump that comes with voter backlash. The issues are the cash cow. What some may call apathy, I call enlightenment. This brings me to my strategy. Vote against the Incumbent. If we're going to vote for politicians who do nothing anyway, then let's vote for the ones who aren't as good at taking campaign contributions.