Why I’m Not Voting in the Primaries.

The last two elections have been similar: one party is fighting against another despite the fact that there’s no clear frontrunner. The majority of the candidates are all running against another candidate rather than running for something, and thousands of people are telling you that if you don’t vote, then you’re a douchebag and you’re harming the country. Well, my friends, I have decided not to vote in the Ohio primary, which is today. And if you’ll all gather around the campfire, I’ll tell you why!

I’m a pretty firm believer in the idea that if you don’t stand for something, you shouldn’t pretend that you do just to fit in or do what everyone says is right. For example, if you don’t feel strongly either way about abortion, marching in an abortion rally probably isn’t the best thing for you to, right?

And voting really has pretty big implications to it. When you cast a vote for a candidate, you’re telling the world that you want that person to run the country. It’s not like you’re saying “hey, I’d totally have a beer with this guy,” or any other insignificant thing like that, you’re casting your opinion about who would do the best job leading the country. So voting is not something to take lightly. You shouldn’t vote against another candidate, and you shouldn’t vote unless you feel strongly about a candidate, right?

And as of right now, I’m not too confident in any of the candidates running. This election has been nothing more than a giant hodge-podge of candidates all running because on weak platforms that are either unoriginal or borrowed from other candidates. And as far as the guys who actually get/got a significant amount of coverage, they’re probably the worst of the bunch. Richardson, who was easily the best Democratic nominee when he was still running, was completely ignored by the media in favor of Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, only because they’re more well-known, not because of their actual ideas and platforms.

On the Republican side, it has been and was simply pathetic in terms of candidates this whole election. Giuliani, who promised to 9/11 your 9/11 with his 9/11, was using the Bush tactic of trying his best to scare the nation into voting for him, while Romney decided to be the Republican version of John Kerry. Let’s also not forget the amazing shrinking Mike Huckabee, whose stump speech about “vertical politics” has been given more times than shitty gift cards for Christmas. McCain, the current frontrunner, has essentially sold out his own belief system and started to embrace the policies of a president who routinely disrespected and insulted the senator in order to get elected, as well as keep using illegal torture. All the while, our wacky political grandpa Ron Paul spends his time shouting strange things about how the Department of Education is destroy America and wasting tax money by existing.

Right now, the candidates that I’ve been looking at the most are McCain, Paul, and Obama. McCain is still a pale imitation of his former glory but that former glory is so strong that I’m still tempted to vote for him, Paul is 50% amazing ideas and 50% crackpot on a level even more insane that Michael Savage, and Obama. Oh where to begin with Obama.

I first heard about Obama when the elections were just getting started. The news networks, people I knew, and everyone else were talking about how amazing Obama was. According to them, he was something completely different in a politician. He was fresh, new, and dammit he can change the whole system.

So naturally by the time I actually got to see Obama speak on TV, I was pretty excited. I wanted to see what all of this hype was about. I would learn pretty soon that this hype was pretty ill-informed. Everything he said I had heard before. He gave the same broken promises given by every other candidate I’ve ever seen run for office, aside from Crazy Ron Paul. The same bullshit about keeping lobbyists out of Washington, bringing the country together…it’s all been said before millions of times. What makes Obama different? Nothing.

Obama’s fanbase may possibly be the most annoying fanbase of any politician since Bush’s “LOVE IT OR GET THE FUCK OUT, FAGGOTS” base in 2004. Supporting Obama has become the new trend on college campuses, right up there with North Face Jackets, Dane Cook, and pizza. Most of these people actually don’t know why they support Obama, but they support him with an almost religious dedication. Question Obama’s integrity? Your ass will get jumped all over. Say “well, I kind of agree with Hillary on this issue,” you won’t hear the fucking end of it.

This kind of fanatical support is somewhat scary when you actually sit down to think about it. Blindly standing behind a person, following them without questioning them regardless of knowing why…all of this is exact same thing that let Bush, Reagan, and some of the other worst presidents in U.S. history get away with what they did. I’m not saying that Obama is going to be a horrible president and misuse all of this power, but at the same time, he could easily have the potential based on how fanatic his fanbase is. It all mirrors the Bush fanbase circa 2004, and well all know exactly how that worked out.

Right now, the most important issue that candidates need to address is the illegally increased presidental power that Bush, Cheney, David Addington, John Yoo, and Karl Rove gained in the past 8 years. With the way the powers of checks and balances have been eroded, our next president has the ability to take the presidency into dangerous areas of imperial power. Essentially, the president could become a king. No candidate running has addressed this issue. Oh sure, Obama and Clinton have named checked warrantless wiretapping, but there’s so much more than that that needs to be fixed. And voting a president in office without asking them hard questions about this issue is one of the worst things we can do, especially one like Obama who, according to his supporters, is above being questioned.

Do I think Obama would make a bad president, the kind that would seize power just because he can? Not really, but at the same time, he hasn’t done anything to really prove that he isn’t. And I refuse to vote for someone that won’t answer such an important issue.

Currently listening to: Tortoise- TNT