Well the voting season is upon us. Of course right now it is only the primaries, but after hearing radio commentary and being a witness to the countless illogical and naive social media posts, along with countless articles by the lamestream media, I have decided I would do my own commentary. I do not have all day and night to be on Facebook or Twitter, and frankly I cannot understand how people have THAT much time on their hands. With that being said, I don’t even know where to start since there’s so much to all of this but I’m going to share my account with you in the shortest way possible.
First off, I’m noticing way too many people refuse to learn from history. For some odd reason, no matter how many times the same thing happens over and over again, most people just don’t seem to get it into their thick skulls that it’s not working! Let’s all remember what Albert Einstein said. 
So what is it that makes voting so appealing? Why do people still believe that their vote matters? What does it tell you when the same people who seem to only care about issues every 3.5 years?
Recently the GOP changed some aspects of the Republican Party and how delegates will be selected. I firmly believe this happened because of 2012 and the fact Ron Paul, his supporters, and his Republican delegates were winning. This is something you would not have seen much of on the news, they do not want people thinking Ron Paul was actually a contender and he most certainly was a contender. I have every reason to believe that if your votes really mattered, Ron Paul likely would have been the true Republican nominee. But of course that is not how they are selected and certainly is not how it went down.
Now back in 2012 when I really thought voting mattered, I decided to attend a local caucus for one of the bigger cities in my state of Maine, and yes I did bring my camera to get some footage, because I was hoping I’d catch something on camera, such as voter fraud etc. Plus Ron Paul was attending(I was late so I missed him but that’s okay, I have met him a couple of times anyway). At this point I DID have a clue how primaries worked, and I have the Ron Paul campaign to thank for that because being a Ron Paul supporter usually meant you know what was going on, we all communicated and educated each other on many different aspect of how things actually worked, and what we needed to do. We all made sure everything was organized, Dr. Paul’s supporters were and still are VERY knowledgeable, not to mention very friendly. Being there, we were surrounded by so many Romney supporters, but as I got looking around the rooms each town was voting in, I started to realize that there happened to be many more Ron Paul supporters than Romney supporters. This gave me some hope. Well….. Presidents are selected, not elected.
“Presidents are selected, not elected” -Franklin D. Roosevelt
So in the room where the caucus for the town/city of Auburn Maine, I stood in and watched, recorded with my camera and even eavesdropped on conversations between the smug Romney supporters who were standing right next to me. I can assure you that by me having my camera out like I did, people were more reluctant about trying to cheat, but it didn’t stop people from attempting! This is how the process went down, everyone was handed a small yellow card and all you had to do was write down who you were voting for. Now, I was not part of the town, so I did not take a card, BUT I certainly could have taken one and wrote Ron Paul on it but I was too busy keeping my camera up in the air recording to see if anyone tried any funny business. Well, they did! I was standing right next to two hardcore Romney supporters as they were whispering to each other. It’s been 4 years, so I can’t remember the exact conversation but it was something along the lines of “do you see how many Ron Paul supporters are here? We’re outnumbered, we’re not going to get paid if we allow this to happen”. The two women passed out the yellow cards and these two Romney supporters somehow managed to get two cards each and the woman who passed them out almost allowed it until she saw me standing there, knowing I have been filming many parts of the caucus. All of a sudden she wasn’t okay with breaking the rules, so she told them they could only vote once and then she took their extra cards from them.
Votes were counted, and a few times to be sure. Ron Paul had the most votes in that room, and even after I was done I went around asking the chairmen who won each town/city and over 75% of the county had voted for Ron Paul, so this was exciting at the time for us!
Not so fast.
So I jumped in my car and headed home, knowing I was likely going to see Ron Paul win Maine. I turned the TV on and noticed Ron Paul was way in the lead, way way up. Perfect! So I traveled down to Portland, Maine to attend his victory speech. Of course it takes about an hour or more to get there from where I live, so a lot can go on in that time as they add up all the precincts. I was running a bit late, but not too bad. I walked in, moved myself through the crowd as if I was at a rock concert. Everyone was silent, watching the big screen. My heart just sunk. Romney was way way in the lead at this point. How could this happen? My state is a Ron Paul state! We kicked Romney’s ass!
Again, not so fast. Clearly the numbers were messed with, like they had switched their numbers from the time I left my house to the time I arrived at what was supposed to be Ron Paul’s victory speech. It was sad. We watched the corrupt Maine Republican Chairman Charlie Webster(just do a Google search) basically say your votes don’t matter and then announced that Mitt Romney won Maine.
Unreal.
No, it was very much real, and that also depends on what you consider real. We watched Ron come out with his wife, and it seems they figured they wouldn’t waste all the balloons that they had prepared for the victory so they let them go, Ron kicked one across the stage, staying humble with a big smile on his face and gave his should-be victory speech. (See below)
Now skipping ahead to the Republican National Convention. The Romney end threw a fit when Maine selected more delegates for Ron Paul than Romney. The RNC went as far as banning and replacing the Ron Paul supporters with Romney supporters, swapping out delegates. Even the Governor of Maine Paul LePage stood up for the Ron Paul delegates and boycotted the convention which I still commend him for even though we still do not see eye to eye on many issues.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, supporters from Maine gather on the hall way during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Look, I could write an entire book on this subject but I don’t want to make a super long article. I just want to tell people about my firsthand accounts of this nonsense. I see and hear too many people getting over-emotional every election season, usually the same people who remain quiet the other 3 years. It bothers me, it bothers millions of other informed, logical people. You can’t keep taking part in a corrupt voting system because all you are doing is perpetuating it and your vote doesn’t count so why do you take part anyway? Do you do it for warm fuzzies? Does it make you think you are part of something? Oh you certainly are part of something. Corruption.
Before I leave you, I have asked journalists, activists, show hosts etc. whose opinions I respect what their thoughts on voting are and why they do or do not vote and I want to share these comments with you down below. Keep in mind I didn’t select certain people to fit my opinion, I asked a diverse selection of people. This is who agreed to give me quotes, which I very much appreciate. Keep an eye out for the second part of this where I will get more into delegates and the 14th Amendment.
But ultimately the reason I consider myself a principled non-voter is because I think by removing ourselves from this machine and not legitimizing it by participating we are sending a message to the “rulers” and voting masses that we do not consent. Lastly, by choosing to consciously use our energy in other ways that go beyond campaigning, voting, etc we can use our energy to build and create the solutions for a better future.
Research Agorism and get involved locally, that will have much bigger of an impact than voting for president.”
Wil Brown – National Coordinator for Common Ground Movement
“Voting is absurd. You don’t change government by participating in its systems. You’re only adding legitimacy to it that way. People who oppose today’s government are constantly talking about “bread and circuses” in regards to sporting events, tv shows, etc. To some degree, they have a point. But you know what they always seem to miss? These political races. People pick out their favorite politicians like sports fans do with athletes. People spend so much time and energy debating, following caucus results, checking poll results, etc. Incumbent politicians spend half their time in office campaigning to be reelected. It’s insane. Every law in this country is backed up with the threat of force. Every politician in every presidential race supports the perpetuation of that rule-by-violence paradigm. None of that changes this year simply because people are naive enough to think otherwise. It’s all just the illusion of choice. That’s the real “bread and circus.”
Andrew Pontbriand – Founder and Writer at The Resistance Journals
“They say, “voting! Register to vote! Don’t forget to vote! Head to the polls. Exactly, the POLLS. Polls are where you gather information about how a given number of people are thinking. The system in place bears no resemblance to what existed 130+ years ago, in that it’s simply designed now to keep Power in the hands of those chosen to make the plays, which perpetuates the feudal system without the common man able to point his finger at a specific person, or group.”
Chris Foye – Pro Cannabis Activist and Director for MassCANN/NORML
“Well this is a touchy subject for me and I go back and forth with it. I want to believe in the “Land of the Free” ideology, I am after all an Army veteran but I’m too naturally cynical and mistrusting of the “establishment” and their need to perpetuate their own existence and necessity to the public. There’s this underlining belief that we “need” a particular candidate to “fix” things. Where I would simply be happy with someone who honestly tried to improve things. Not for a particular party’s politics, but because it’s the right thing to do. There’s so much money involved with greasing the wheels of the machine, with unlimited corporate contributions being backed by Supreme Court Justices, candidates are bought and paid for years before the elections, with all outcomes safely predetermined before we ever get to go to the polling booths. With all that being said, the ideas of democracy, voting, and the power of choice are what is important, and is how we will eventually fix the corruption that exists now, whenever people get angry enough to stop putting up with it.”
Derek Wood - Freelance Writer and Political Satirist
“Voting for president to me is simple. It’s going to a nice restaurant, ordering a 14 ounce New York sirloin steak, getting a big plate of lettuce, then being told it’s the sirloin, eating it and then buying it. The cook lied, the waitress sold it, and you bought it. Dumbass.”
Lee Camp – Comedian, Writer, Activist, Host of Redacted Tonight on RT
So in an attempt to fight a crime that never happens the right wing is cutting millions of people from the voter rolls, and why aren’t the Democrats in power stopping it? Because most of them are rich and corporate too and they don’t give a fuck. This isn’t right versus left, this is rich versus poor. In this country the rich white people are losing control like a drunk chick in Cancun on spring break, and purging poor people from the voting roll is there way of making sure that doesn’t happen.
Click below for out latest interview with Julia Tourianksi from Brave The World and listen to what she has to say about Anarchy, Guns, Feminism, Socialism and more.
Chris Perkins is chief editor and writer for Authentic Enlightenment and host/producer of Lost In Transmission on the CAV Radio Network
