Marching Orders

These voters are going to the polls with a cheat sheet from their local labor union.

Someone on my facebook page posted a link to a voter’s “cheat sheet” published by the local weekly leftist free newspaper. Such “cheat sheets” are published by various special interest parties to make it easier for those in their sphere of influence to vote according to a specific agenda without these individuals actually needing to do any research themselves regarding any of the candidates or issues on the ballot. Some voters find these “cheat sheets” a godsend. After all, it’s very difficult to decipher the legalese behind any ballot issue. Someone could potentially vote for something they never wanted or would agree with. However, how would a “cheat sheet” published by someone else prevent that very outcome? For all the voter knows the person who wrote the cheat sheet may be deliberately misrepresenting the candidates and issues on the ballot to serve his or her own agenda.

I cannot see how any self-respecting person can view these so-called “cheat sheets” as anything more than an insult to his or her intelligence. The publication of these thing sends the message that “You’re too stupid and uninformed to make the correct decision at the ballot box. So we’re going to give you your marching orders so you can make the right decision.” Churches, labor unions, and other politically motivated organizations send this message every election year to everyone among their group in the hope of advancing their own collective agenda. Essentially these groups see voters as foot soldiers in their ideological battles who will blindly follow whatever orders are decreed from on-high.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine published an interview with South Park co-creator Matt Stone in which Mr. Stone said “If you don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no shame in not voting. They say if you don’t vote, you can’t bitch. But you can bitch all you want. This is America.” Mr. Stone brings up an important point here. Simply casting a vote without fully understanding it’s implications is a lot like firing a gun without being sure where the barrel is pointed. It’s foolish, dangerous, and irresponsible. In my previous article I acknowledged that voting is a right in this country. I also pointed out that as with any right voting is also accompanied by responsibility born by those who exercise that right. To go to the polls with a “cheat sheet” without examining the issues abdicates that responsibility. It creates a Nuremberg type of situation where voters aren’t following their own consciences but instead are “simply following orders.”

It’s difficult to be well-informed during an election season. Propagandizing is in full force from both sides of every issue. Though it may be difficult, it is not impossible to achieve a clear perspective on the issues. One way to keep a clear and objective view on each issue is to hear all the lies. What I mean by this is that advocates from either side of an issue will exaggerate and even tell bald-faced lies to further their agenda. An informed voter listens to all the lies from all sides. Carefully hidden in these lies is reality. Only when one explores all the lies from both sides can one derive some composite of the truth. Too many voters go to the ballot box only being exposed to one side’s lies without hearing the lies from the other side. When that happens a voter is little more than a puppet for whichever propagandists they believe. When this happens your vote is no longer your own, but rather it is an additional vote for someone who is probably a complete stranger.

Voting can potentially be an act of violence. Any ballot issue that arises can potentially curtail the liberties of everyone in the community. The analogy of the gun I used earlier in this post may seem extreme, but it is indeed accurate. If one does not know which direction the barrel is pointing, one should not pull the trigger. If that trigger is pulled, there could be dire and even fatal consequences. The same is true for voting. If you do not understand the issues, don’t vote. If you abdicate the responsibility of learning and understanding the issues being presented in an election than the only moral and ethical course of action to take is to abstain from voting. Any person of intelligence and strong moral character would not pull the trigger of a loaded handgun if he or she does not know which direction that weapon is pointed. The same principle applies to elections. Also one must remember that to vote at the behest of another is to be a mindless automaton which only follows orders with no regard for the consequences. This is just another surrender to the sort of totalitarianism that voting is supposed to eliminate in the first place.