A third reason not to vote
This is the final of three letters published over the past month in which I explain why I don’t vote. It would be useful to read the other two for a frame of reference.
I don’t vote because American politics is a game played by the rich. American government is a Hollywood movie set, a black-tie gala, a cocktail party where wooing donations from various corporate special interests is the main show.
Our democracy has been hijacked by Meta, Google, Amazon and the Koch Brothers — and sold to the candidate willing to supplicate himself to the highest bidder. Our Congress is populated by wealthy self-righteous orators who care more about their retirement plans, investments and multi-million-dollar houses on Martha’s Vineyard than they do about the human beings they claim to represent.
Our democracy is not a democracy at all — it is a system of crony and faux capitalism where the illusion of having a political voice is overshadowed by the fact that, no matter who is elected, their own self-interest trumps all. Look, I fully recognize that my argument, to not vote, is impossible to defend. All someone has to say is, “well what’s the alternative?” and I have no answer.
But next time you listen to some impassioned political speech, or head off to the polls, consider this: How is it that in the wealthiest country in the world 40 million people live in poverty? How is it that people can go to protests saying “No Kings,” and then blindly retreat to their beach homes on Cape Cod? How is it that in White River Junction, where I live, people sleep in the woods and die on the streets?
And how in the world will voting in to office another uber-wealthy individual, regardless of party affiliation, change any of that?