Hey, it’s not that crazy of an idea! At least don’t pass judgment on it until you read this article. And a good way to begin and to start making my case here is to ask y’all the following question:
What is democracy?
Simple question, right? Most folks would say it’s something along the lines of “a political system where people express their wills and the majority decides.” Or, “a system where we elect representatives who then decide policies and laws for all of us.” Our collective bottom line would be that we have a free system which allows us to elect our representatives and to then express our collective wills through them.
Somewhere alone the way though, we’ve gotten a bit outside of these general principles. Our government these days pays people not to work (unemployment insurance, welfare, and more), pays farmers subsidies not to grow certain crops, but yet is going to force us all to buy health insurance whether or not we elect to purchase it. All in the name of democracy, mind you.
And hey, I’m not knocking our democracy at all, it’s been a fine one and the envy of most of the world! So fine, in fact, that we’ve elected great leaders in past eras, names like Lincoln, Reagan, Truman, and more. Conversely, also due to these same freedoms, we’ve elected folks like Cynthia McKinney, Bob Packwood, Alan Grayson, and more. So, if I think about all this and reflect, I can’t help but come up with the following simple and hopefully interesting idea – let’s start a new government program that pays people not to vote in national/statewide elections each two years!
It wouldn’t be that hard to do, you know, I don’t even think it would be all that expensive to implement. Just think about it like this – how many people do y’all know who would sell their right to vote in any single election for say, one hundred dollars? Probably more than any of us would care to admit, truth be told. And I’m betting that most of those folks who’d sell that right are probably also the same folks who’ve voted for candidates like Cynthia McKinney, Bob Packwood, and Alan Grayson in the past.
So, if you ponder that for a bit, wouldn’t it save us all a lot of potential problems, embarrassment, and money just to not have these folks vote in the first place? Let’s face it, someone crazy or insane enough to vote for crazy or insane politicians are probably as a percentage whole grazing at the taxpayer’s trough a bit more than the rest of us. So, if a hundred bucks would keep some of them from voting, well then, we’d end up electing more politicians who wouldn’t give away our money on insane entitlement programs, thus insuring that we’d save more money and wouldn’t be running such high deficits all the time.
And if we consider it in that light, one hundred bucks to any of these type voters each couple of years is an absolute steal! With them out of the way, we’ll elect better politicians who won’t throw our money away on stuff like socially conscious puppet shows, an underground turtle tunnel, helicopters to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings with, and more!
Okay, I admit my idea may be a bit offbeat, it may be a bit “out there,” it may even be just a bit crazy. But some of you are actually kinda thinking about it, aren’t you? And a few of you are even nodding your heads thinking that I’ve just made a bit of sense here in a perverse kind of way, aren’t you? Well sure, and do y’all know why I’m somewhat right? I’m right because what I’ve proposed here is no more insane than some of the things we see Congress spending money on each and every day. It makes just as much sense as a myriad of other pointless government programs, truth be told. And that’s really sad, no matter which side of the political spectrum you the reader happen to be on.
So let’s go ahead and admit that I have a bit of a basis for an idea here. And now y’all will have to pardon me and let me go find a stiff adult beverage, as the idea of me coming up with a thought provoking idea may be more of a unique idea than my frazzled old brain can bear!
