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It figures, huh? This just goes to show me something that I have
always tried not to believe. That is people are fucking MORONS! I
don't really believe that, but it would explain the seemingly endless
slop we wade through every day. Things would be much easier to
understand if most people actually were morons. Ya see, no one
would bitch when people fucked up, because ya can't blame a moron for
being a moron. They sort of just are...
This past Tuesday, NJ re-elected Governor Christine Todd-Whitman. This
had come as no surprise to me, since I am used to eating a big ol' dry
shit sandwich, but it's confirmation has nearly made my head explode!
How in the hell has this happened? NJ has never had a bigger asshole in
the governor's chair before, and just when we had the chance to tip the
chair over, we drop the ball? What the hell?
Apathy runs rampant. The minority of eligible voters (in NJ as well as
the country) are actually registered to vote. The minority of
registered voters actually do vote! That is, most of the people
who can register have not (and never plan to) register, and those who
are registered voters don't get off their asses to pull a God
damned lever! I bet the majority of them haven't a clue as to the
voting district they reside.
I know few people who like Whitman. Unfortunately, most of those I know
who don't aren't registered to vote. Why is that? Well, there seems to be
two popular excuses... er... reasons.
1) It's a protest.
This is a big giant load of horse shit! If one protests something by
not participating, it's something that they normally participate in!
When anyone comes up with this little gem, it usually translates to "I'm
an ignorant lazy bastard."
2) My one vote makes no difference.
This is easy to understand, and makes real sense... in the short
term. I mean, when have you heard of a politician losing a big election
by just one vote? It doesn't happen. The thing is, almost every
eligible voter who does not vote says "My one vote makes no
difference." Out of 8 million NJ residence, 2.3 million people total
voted in the election this year.
New Jersey
Governor-99% reported
Democrat
James McGreevey
Votes: 1,096,581
Republican
Christine Whitman
Votes: 1,123,534
Libertarian
Murray Sabrin
Votes: 113,648
Does that seem like a fair balance to you? What if the 6 million or so
eligible voters in the state of NJ actually got out there and voted?
Let's put aside the fact for a moment that most people don't know what
the issues are. Let's just consider the numbers. An extra 4 million
voters in NJ? Whoa boy, that would scare the shit out of most
politicians who are used to things the old way. They'd have to do more
campaigning, raise more money, and tell more lies. They wanna keep it
as small as possible, therefore controlling the way the vote goes as much
as they can. Of course, all we have to do is register to vote, but
they have needlessly kept registering to vote a pain in the ass since
day one. And think 'bout this one... election day is on the first
TUESDAY after the first Sunday in November. Why in the world is that?
Why not Sunday when everyone is off? Church problems? Understood.
Make it the first Monday after the first Sunday in November, and make it
a three day weekend! And why do we have to register? We all have
Social Security Numbers, like it or not. They already have our
information, and now that everything is computerized, they can't say
that the transfer of that information is a hassle. It's set up the way
it is because those in power do not trust the entire public enough with
such a responsibility.
Stuff seems so obvious sometimes, ya know? Not all the time, just
sometimes. Take this last election for instance. McGreevy was ahead of
Whitman by 1% the entire night, but at the last minute, Whitman pulled
ahead and won the election with just twenty-seven hundred votes. A real
squeaker. Four years earlier when Whitman was running against then
Governor Florio, Jim Florio was ahead of Whitman by 1% the entire night,
but at the last minute, Whitman pulled ahead and won the election with
just twenty-one hundred votes. A real squeaker. I'm not implying that
there was any kind of voter fraud at all, especially since the
Republican Party is above that sort of thing (I'm biting my tongue), I'm
just saying that voter apathy leads to shit like this bozo (Whitman)
getting elected.
Whitman has blatantly lied to us before, and she will again. She won
the support of the NRA four years ago by promising to repeal the assault
weapon ban, but she did nothing. She didn't bother to mention it this
time around. Property taxes and car insurance in NJ (now the highest in
the country) will go down a little, but there will be no real change.
She will continue to force this state into debt, and create bullshit
laws. What can we do? Well, nothing until November of 2001. Of
course, she'll probably step down as NJ Governor before then in order to
run for national office. Holy shit... I hope people decide that it's
worth it to register and vote by then.
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