I am beginning to become annoyed. As the November elections are approaching, I have been seeing more and more propaganda urging students to vote. A sign in Hecht Residential College reads “Are you just another statistic?”, alluding to the extremely low percentage of voters in the United States. My answer? Yes. Yes I am.
Why in the world should anyone be compelled to vote in the United States? Time after time, we are shown not only that our votes don’t matter (especially here in Florida), but that the result will always be the same: we will always be left with a completely incompetent leader. It is an inevitable fact of American politics that politicians are one of two things: intelligent liars or completely idiotic.
Consider, for example, former President Bill Clinton. While his policy on the economy and the budget was above par, he arguably was responsible for not killing Osama Bin Laden when he had the chance. Why did he fail in doing so? Precisely because he was too busy dealing with the scandal over his oral sex encounters with Monica Lewinsky. The attacks of September 11th could have been thwarted, arguably, if he had spent more time concerned with terrorism rather than his sexual urges. Did you notice how honestly and sincerely he stated, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”? Only a politician could tell a lie so smoothly.
Another prime example, recently in the news, is the scandal involving Florida congressman Mark Foley. Foley, who is best known for his work in shutting down child pornography websites, is being investigated for having explicit and inappropriate sexual conversations with high school-age congressional pages. Irony, anyone?
Perhaps the greatest example, however, is our current president, George W. Bush. It is no secret that the public is dissatisfied with his handling of the war in Iraq. My dissatisfaction with President Bush, however, does not have very much to do with the War on Terror. My dissatisfaction has to do with the fact that he is stupid. How in the world can we elect a president that stated, “I think – tide turning – see, as I remember – I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of – it’s easy to see a tide turn – did I say those words?” and “They misunderestimated me.” How can the leader of the free world possibly be so unrefined? I certainly have no idea.
The fact of the matter is that there is no choosing a correct candidate in American politics. There are no correct candidates. We live in a country where the feeble-minded and dishonest rule the intellectual and creative. It is a shame. Perhaps one day things will change, but until then, the one voice we do have is in refusing to vote altogether.
Christopher Hall is a junior majoring in philosophy. He can be reached at chall@umsis.miami.edu.