Unless, of course, you're a Republican, that is. But even then, they're not interested in you, and certainly not in your fellow citizens on the opposite side of the partisan divide.
What they are interested in is not smaller government. Not in more personal responsibility. Not in promoting personal charity. And not in protecting and promoting democracy around the globe. Those are the things they're content to put on their bumper stickers, to give you a reason to support them that sounds nice but, ultimately, in the world that you and I wake up in, means absolutely nothing.
Because what they're really interested in has nothing to do with changing your life for the better. What they're interested in is changing their lives for the better. By pursuing the one and only thing that they really want.
Control. Of you. Of me. Of all of us. And everything.
Does that sound like a purely partisan whine? Honestly, I wish that it was. But it isn't. It's the conclusion I come to just by following news on the Internet. In fact, it's the only conclusion I can come to by doing that.
Why do you think that wages have remained flat for the past 35 years? So that the GOP and its corporate masters could stop treating you like servants, and start treating you like slaves. After all, only slaves would be expected to sign non-competition clauses for work that can be done by anyone. Or non-disparagement clauses that desperately try to conceal the ultimately unconcealable nature of their true intentions.
For that matter, why do you think they are willing to openly declare, without fear of failure or even opposition, that they want to control the entire process of voting? Or to try to deny access to technology that could benefit everyone, while exploiting it for themselves? Or to suppress any exposure of their activities, or dissention within their own ranks? They know that they can only retain power on a playing field that's tilted in their favor. Because they can't compete in the marketplace of ideas. Because they have no ideas whatsoever. Only a obsession with control.
And that obsession has no limits.
It doesn't stop with sex.
It doesn't stop with water.
It doesn't stop with your safety, or your life.
It doesn't even stop with the fact of its own failure, and the obvious need to change course.
And that's why this author couldn't possibly be more wrong if he tried. This election DOES matter. If you decide to sit it out, you may not have the choice of sitting out the next one. In fact, you may have even fewer choices to dissent, to express yourself, or to live your life.
So vote. If you don't want to vote for the Democrats, fine. Vote for a third party. Write-in your grandmother. But whatever else you do, get out there and let them know that you care about what they're trying to do to your life, and everyone's life.
Cynicism can just provide them with another path to control. Don't walk down that path. They're desperate for you to do it. Make them unhappy. And preserve your right to keep on doing so in the future.
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