Another reason not to vote
We are a narrative-driven society, and no narratives are more potent than the ones crafted around the franchise. Perhaps the most powerful of these narratives is that people, soldiers, America’s daughters and sons, fought and died to preserve the right to vote. (More specifically, that they fought to defend the Constitution, in which is enshrined the right to vote.)
If we’re willing to be a tad critical without insulting the memory and earnestness and bravery of those women and men who are admittedly far more courageous than I will ever be, we might come to see that it’s not necessarily the right to vote that they fought and died for, but instead the economic and territorial hegemony of the USA. But whatever. Some may agree, some not.
Regardless, it’s the power of the narrative that makes it so difficult to counter. But in 2026, that narrative, like the political parties and ideologies it spawned, is a canard. It is a false narrative that serves to empower and enrich the few; it is a false narrative that seeks to divide us at every turn, and then pump those divisions for the almighty dollar on social media and television; it is a false narrative that reflects and reinforces the profound insincerity that lies at the heart of a broken democracy.
In August, I wrote that I no longer vote because there are no candidates who are simply looking out for the “little guy,” regardless of ideology. Here I argue that voting is no longer a righteous act of true revolutionary agency, but is in fact participation in political and patriotic theater — good for show, but that’s about it.