This video of Russell Brand talking about being a political editor is making the rounds. There’s a lot of stuff that he says that is quite true. He nails the biggest societal problems and berates the current political systems for completely ignoring them quite effectively. I don’t agree with all his revolutionary conclusions, but he and I agree about the things that need to change.
The one thing that I vehemently disagree with him on is his decision to not take part in voting. His reasons for not voting are mostly valid, but there is still something to be said about the gesture of voting. Get out there, get a ballot and turn it in blank. Show your disdain for the system that way at the very least. Really, though, if you can’t find even one person worth voting for (or at least against in terms of judges), you really are part of the problem. The national political stage does suck. It’s filled with prima donnas and sociopaths. Someone may come around once in a while worth voting for, but that is not the norm. Local elections, however, are arguably more important and can easily become a source of candidates worth voting for. There’s your revolution.
Thanks to gerrymandering and the growth of partisan politics, local elections don’t mean that much either anymore though.
Nonsense. Gerrymandering doens’t apply to county level positions and partisan politics disappear at the local level. Political entrenchment is certainly an obstacle to overcome but it’s not insurmountable. The biggest problem is getting good people to run in the first place. The second biggest problem is community political ignorance.
Oh, we are talking county level. I thought you were talking about state level. Here is a conversation with myself while in the voting booth in 2012
“Who should I vote for for County Coroner?
Shame on me for not knowing who these guys are.
On the other hand, really? Are there really people out there who go out of their way to look up the issues and the histories of these two dudes?
I mean, Its not like these are the guys actually performing the autopsies. These are just the middle managers who sign those guy’s checks.
Should I just vote for the Democrat?
Does it matter if a guy with little to no power believes in tighter gun control or not?
Lets say I didn’t know who was a Democrat and who was a Republican…then what?
Should I just vote the guy with a cooler sounding name like a 4th grader?
Maybe I shouldn’t put anything down?
If nobody put anything down, the position should still be filled. I mean it is still a job that needs doing right?
If I don’t put anything down, then wont that mean that I’m giving somebody somewhere who just votes for this guy because they share a first name more power?
Seriously, why is this an elected position?”