Ballot Fun

Filled out my ballot today and sealed it up so I have officially voted.

When I got my first ballot it was Nixon v McGovern and 5 others. My reaction to the list was "Do I have to?". Of course I did. If you don't vote, you can't bitch and I haven't missed a single election since. This year's ballot has the usual suspects plus 14 additional wannabes; 4 on the right and 10 on the left.

In the following years I believe I actually voted FOR a candidate exactly once. To my observation, most of the time the best you can do is decide which of the bums will do you the least damage, hold your nose and mark the ballot. This is depressing if you think too much about it because it implies that in the long run the end will be the same regardless of who gets elected this time and the only difference will be the time frame involved.

It has been observed that elective democracies tend to last only 200 years or so until the people discover the joys of voting themselves largesse from the public coffers. This democratic Republic is now some 236 years old and shows signs of severe abuse. If it was a car, you'd be thinking of trading it in. That or a complete body-off restoration.