My Vote Should Count — It Doesn’t
In 2013 I wrote the essay, Partisan Dumbass Stupidity: http://timothyjoseph.net/partisan-dumbass-stupidity/ I was upset at our political system and provided the only solution, which I knew full well could never happen. All the chaos and confusion we see, hear, and read every day about the ongoing election process has fired my gall once again, and it amazes me we Americans are not up in arms.
Supposedly, our democracy was established on the “One-Person, One-Vote” system of choosing our President. But our system is simply a sham. If my numbers are correct, there are 4,765 total Democratic delegates of which 714 are super-delegates, and 4,051 are pledged delegates. There are 2,472 Republican delegates with 1,719 pledged. Okay, so this means the “pledged” delegates will give “your” vote to whomever they “pledged” to vote for, right? Wrong!
The pledged delegate allocation doesn’t always mirror the vote count—REALLY? YES! And get this. Super-delegates, usually party leaders and elected officials, vote for the presidential candidate they choose, regardless of the outcome of their state’s primary or caucus. They do NOT care what we think or how we voted. Whoa! What’s this all about? More importantly, what ever happened to “My” vote? My vote only informs a delegate how I feel and they then do whatever they want—WHAT? That’s correct. Look, election fraud is a felony. Well, how does that differ from a delegate who says they will vote one way, and then votes for someone else? There is NO difference, it’s clearly election fraud.
I went online and did my best to understand the nonsense of “delegates and super-delegates.” It’s an archaic system set up because when there were no phones, radios, and only horse and buggy transport. Some very remote areas of the western U.S. felt they didn’t have a voice, so they had a delegate vote for them. Well, my guess is few areas of the U.S. have no cars, TVs, or phones. The remote location excuse is long gone, yet we still allow someone else to vote for us.
We simply do NOT use popular vote to elect our President. Doesn’t it bother you to know the candidate you voted for, and who received the MOST votes from Americans, “LOST” to a candidate with fewer votes? How can that be? Well, it can happen, and “Has” happened. And why isn’t that a fraudulent election?
The reason this hasn’t been changed is because the wealthy, biased, corrupt politicians with power and arrogance know it’s the only way they can stay in office. The nice guy, sincere, caring politician looking out for what’s best for the country are outnumbered and don’t stand a chance to fight that corrupt power. They don’t do “favors” to get “favors” or support a wasted spending to get a powerful politician to “like” them. Simply put, they don’t play “politics,” and thus, they are ignored by the powerful, selfish, arrogant politician—how sad.
EVERY American needs to stand up and shout, “I want a one-person, one-vote election system.” I don’t need or want some delegate to speak for me, let alone cast my vote. “I” want to represent myself—don’t you? Why are we putting up with this crap? Each of us needs to be counted, but we’re not. We let delegates and super-delegates attend all the races to wave their flags, have a great time, party till they drop, and give us the finger whenever they wish. They don’t even know we exist; let alone how we feel. This has to stop, period. You and me and every individual American must have the same power in every election. We have to stop this idiotic nonsense and chaos of delegates and super-delegates deciding who becomes president, instead of the American people.
Since 1972 less than 58% of Americans cast their vote for president. Do you wonder why? I don’t. And what is truly sad is those of us who do vote don’t realize our vote could easily be a sham.
I want to vote in a primary to select who runs, and then again in the presidential election. Presto, I count. So simple and so “fair.” But why can’t it be that way? Just when are we going to demand and force our hand to make our vote count?
I sure wish someone could tell me how we Americans could get Washington DC to award each of us an equal vote. It’s the only “fair” system, and we deserve it.
3 Responses to My Vote Should Count — It Doesn’t
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Hello Tim! I agree with you 100%! Donald Trump is right, the system is rigged and unfair to the voters! Both parties are so afraid of losing their powers and control of the people! It makes me sick but like you said we don’t have much say unless everyone would stand and revolt and that probably will never happen! We need a president who has no political IOU’s and he can force the parties to change the rules to a fair everyone’s vote counts system!
Our government was never set up as a one person-one vote democracy, and the framers of the constitution didn’t ever want it to become one. Our country was established as a constitutional republic, and was done so with the explicit purpose of protecting the rights of individuals and minorities, as opposed to a direct democracy, in which too much power can become concentrated within a certain group based on numbers alone.
Not arguing with you on the convoluted mess within today’s electoral process, which is confusing at best, but merely with your original premise about the roots of our country lying in a one-person, one-vote system.
Susan: I’m sure you’re correct. I grew up thinking it my vote counted and with that slogan. What baffles me is why anyone would feel that a “Biased” system PROTECTS individual and minorities more than a democracy, it is totally illogical. That is saying that a politician is smarter than me and should be able to speak for me. That is simply ludicrous. Thanks for setting me straight, obviously the person who said remote towns didn’t have representation didn’t know what they were talking about, so much for googling. Tim