As we near the 2008 Presidential Election, and commercials telling us how important our vote is begin to grow in numbers, I would like to remind you that your vote doesn’t really matter.  Along with incredible fraud that is occuring at ballot casting sites across the country, there are many other factors working against you- the ‘voter.’

Why your vote doesn’t matter:  The Electoral College

There are many factors that work together to make your vote useless, but the main reason why your vote doesn’t matter has to do with a little thing we call the Electoral College.  The electoral college system dates back to ancient times, probably for the sake of offering representation to peons who couldn’t vote themselves. 

Today, however, most everyone is capable of voting themselves- yet we insist on this silly ‘middle man’ system anyway.  So the electoral college is a group of electors who are actually the ones whose votes do matter.  Each state has a different number of electors, so some states carry more weight than others.  The number of electors is determined by adding a state’s Senators (2) with US Representatives (varies depending on state’s population).  For example, Illinois has 21, California has 55, North Dakota has 3.  So, Califonians are more important from Illinoisans (?), who are more important than North Dakota.

When you cast your ballot on election day, you are really just voting for whoever the elector is that said they would vote for you candidate.  So if you go and check the John Edwards box, you are really checking the box of Joe Elector who says if he got elected for the college he will vote for Edwards.  Then, you put your trust into the hands of a guy who SAYS he will vote for Edwards, but who really knows?  And, for North Dakota, he doesn’t carry much weight anyway because he is only 1 out of 538 votes cast in the college.

Why do we still use this literally ancient system?  I don’t know.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to have everyone vote, and then count the votes, and then whoever gets the most votes wins?  I guess maybe that would take too long… so much for fairness.

An Example of How the Electoral College is Not a Fair Representation of the Little Person’s Vote:

The 2000 Election:  Al Gore had more ‘real’ votes (had we counted votes in a normal way), but according to the Electoral College he had less. 

Now, you may think- oh we’ve all heard of that one, it’s been beaten to death- but I am going to keep talking about it because although we KNOW, as a fact, that the 2000 elections were unfair and incorrect (for reasons besides the electoral college thing, which sadly is perfectly legal) we haven’t done a thing about it, and actually let it happen AGAIN in 2004.  ONE article of many suggesting this.  And we’re obviously letting it happen again.

Part 2:  Faithless Electors

A faithless elector is a member of the electoral college who says they are going to vote for one candidate, and then votes for someone else.  This behavior is punishable, but no FE has ever actually been punished.  Apparently FE’s have never changed the outcome of an election,  but I wonder.  That’s personal opinion, but take some time to think about it yourself.

Part 3:  ‘Winner’ Takes All

Another part of the electoral college which makes no sense is this:  After the electoral votes are cast, whoever gets the most votes in that state ‘wins’ and gets that state’s whole vote.  So if Clinton gets 40 out of 55 electoral votes in California, California switches and ALL 55 of it’s votes go to Clinton.  So during elections, when you hear about which candidates win which states, it’s not a matter of who gets the most votes, really, it’s who gets ALL the votes for that state.  So, for example, Clinton could ‘win’ all of California’s 55 votes even though technically she only got 40.  These numbers add up, and by taking away votes from other candidates who don’t get the majority of the state, this nullifies your vote and actually GIVES it to a candidate you did not vote for.  If you vote for McCain, but the majority of the electoral college votes for Clinton (just an example) then YOUR votes flips to Clinton as well. 

So, because we still insist on using the Electoral College as our method of choosing leaders, YOUR VOTE DOESN’T MATTER- unless of course EVERYONE votes for the same person.  The electoral college racks up big number fast for the front runners, and almost immediately nullifies votes for anyone else.  So after the big states flip to whoever the majority of the college votes for (not the majority of the PEOPLE), it’s pretty much a done deal.  You can go ahead and vote anyway, I’m going to, but just keep in mind that unless everyone else votes the same as you- your vote, more likely than not, will eventually go to a candidate you are not supporting. 

This is foolish, and makes no sense, but until we get off our asses and stop reading stupid articles like this and instead DEMAND a change, we’re going to keep getting Presidents in office who we did not elect.  I don’t know about you, but after some pretty shitty elections in the past I’m ready to step it up and create a REAL democracy, not a fake one run by the rich and the high up.

**Check comments below for a link to Citizen J’s site for further detail on this foolish and sneaky voting method!  …. well I’ll just give you the link here!

I usually get my information regarding presidential candidates from NPR, the Internet, and- as a last resort, television.  As a result, I’ve decided that Ron Paul is my favorite candidate because he has made it clear that as President he would consider himself morally and legally bound by our Constitution, a principle that- after the current administration- I feel is incredibly important.  He does not make any decisions without considering how they qualify under our founding document. 

I’m wonder who you are currently favoring, why (answers like- ‘I get a good feeling,’ or ‘they seem like a decent person’ do not count in this survey), and where do you get your information from?

No arguments here, I’m just curious!

Please offer your thoughts, I respect what the internet community has to say because I feel like this is one of the few mediums that is not biased or censored!

Thank you

P.S.  After living in Canada for a while I see that our upstairs neighbors are sometimes interested in US politics too- so I invite your comments as well!  IF you could vote- who would you pick?

 I hope you watch this, it isn’t so much a Ron Paul pushing video- it’s more of a reminder of our current situation, what we have lost so far, and shows us how dangerously close we are to becoming a police state.  Most people agree we need a CHANGE, here’s why!

If you’re tired of E!News being interrupted by commercials for artificial knees, might I recommend watching the following…

On YouTube there is a 5 part interview with historian Antony Sutton that is really worth checking out.  I would have pasted the actual video here but I’m an idiot- so I’ll have to trust that you are smart enough to go to YouTube and type in Antony Sutton.

 Note:  Antony Sutton was (he’s dead) a British-born economist, historian, and writer. He was a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution from 1968 to 1973. He is a former economics professor at California State University Los Angeles. He was educated at the universities of London, Goettingen and California with a D.Sc. degree from University of Southampton, England. (Source)

The interview is a little old but is about Yale’s secret Order of Skull and Bones, and looking at Sutton’s credentials I think it’s really worth listening to.  I know I’m really into conspiracies, but this is something that is important and interesting. 

Utilize your access to this kind of information!

Not “nuke-U-lar.”  One would think that after nearly eight horrific years in office somebody would inform President Bush of the correct pronunciation of his favorite word.  This country is doomed, and I can support that with the following evidence:

I was robbed of my judgment for about 10 minutes last night and decided to create a MySpace account.  I wanted to be friends with the lead singer of Days of the New for some reason, and figured I could do it on MySpace- like I said, lack of judgment.  But as I was filling out the required fields, I got down to the language selection.  ‘American’ or ‘Canada-English.’  Are you kidding me?  It was then that I realized what the collective intelligence level of MySpace members is, and decided I did not want to be associated with a group of the population who thinks they speak ‘American’ and not ‘English.’  This is why I hate everyone.  I’m serious, when I meet someone I hate them first and then decide after time whether or not I like them.  I hate by default, and am usually accurate because most people I come across are ignorant, rude, lack empathy, and when asked what language they speak probably answer ‘American.’

But that’s just me on some days.  I guess I’m not always hateful, just getting carried away   I’m actually quite happy because after being stranded in the Toronto airport (an excellent place to go if you need a heaping helping of rudeness and stupidity) for 24 hours I am finally home.  My dogs are here, my family is here, and my mom is taking me shopping- so besides the fact that I’m convinced the world is going to hell in a handbasket, at least I can get a new purse and some jeans before we go.

Lie

I do not believe that the majority of the United States wants to bomb Iran.  I also don’t believe that Giulliani is the second favorite presidential candidate. 

We are stupid, but we’re not THAT stupid.  There is no way we would want to make the same mistake in Iran like we did in Iraq, and these polls are obviously false and doctored to fit the current political agenda.  I’m serious.

Censored Stories of 2007

This website tells you about the stories your favorite news programs decided to omit.  I guess Paris Hilton going to jail, fires in Malibu, and popular YouTube videos were deemed more important. 

Television is OWNED by a handful of corporations, thanks to the hushed Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Because of this act, big companies like Disney, Viacom, General Electric, and Turner Broadcasting were able to buy up EVERY network.  Every channel is coming from one of eight sources.  This is fact.  This maybe would not be a big deal, except that these large corporations have decided to play politics, and filter out stories that might cast a bad light on what they support.  I don’t have a problem with real Republicans, but many of the people running these huge Media Corporations have ties to ‘neo-cons’ and crooket officials (I won’t bother listing names, you know who they are). 

So if you want to hear REAL news… stories that should concern us, check out the above site.  The news is supposed to be unbiased and objective, and politically neutral.  We should not have “conservative” and “liberal” stations.  We should have unfiltered true news.  Not the handpicked fluff these broadcasters are deciding to show us.

Another good site for real news is The Centerfor Public Integrity.  This news source is run by an ex CNN boss… who got tired of all the censorship and left CNN.

This is not conspiracy theory… these are real stories that we just didn’t hear about. 

I don’t know if world issues seem to be getting scarier because I am getting older and paying attention more or what, but I have a feeling that the world is going to reach its boiling point soon, and that will not be good.

After hearing Condoleezza Rice’s (link goes to npr article) annoucement about what is currently being done about Iran, my initial hypothesis is that our current “diplomatic” attempts to halt nuclear advancements will fail, we will go to war with Iran, perhaps another terrorist attack will occur on US soil, and martial law will be declared… thwarting my dreams of Ron Paul taking over and fixing our boo boos.  This would suck, but I’m a pessimist so hopefully that wont happen.

Hopefully the Iran “embargo” will work, but I just have a feeling that this is about more than nuclear power.  It does not make sense for any country to consider bombing the US (ESPECIALLY with nuclear weapons) because retalliation would be devastating, there is no way a country like Iran could survive our counterattack should the decide to strike!  So what is the threat?  What do they have against us?  What do we have against them?

Going to war with Iran would be an even bigger mistake than Iraq. 

Has anyone ever had a wasp nest in their back yard?  The occassional wasp will circle your pop can, and the nest hangs ominously from your favorite elm tree.  Something must be done about the nest, you can’t have hundreds of wasps in your back yard!  What happens if they all come out at once and sting you!?  So what do you do?  You go get your tennis racket and decide the only way to get rid of the nest is to knock it down and crush it.  What happens after you successfully disconnect nest from tree branch?  I hope you aren’t allergic.

This is what the US is doing to Iran, and vice versa.  The powers that be are obviously antagonizing each other, and this will not result in anything short of a disaster.

If anyone has any insight or would like to start a discussion about what the future may hold… please share.

Thanks!