I worked so, so, so hard to get Obama elected. So many hundreds of hours. But the Paulites and Naderites may have been right all along -- there is no longer any substantive difference between the two major parties. There is still a difference in rhetoric, but not action. Even "Obamacare", the administration's only success to date, is not substantially different from Republican proposals in the past decade. The differences between the first two years of Obama and my imagined first two years of McCain-Palin are just not great enough for me to devote my life to fighting anymore. It's just Trey's "Giant Douche" vs. "Turd Sandwich" after all.
I used to believe that not voting was anti-American, a violation of civic duty, and an immoral abdication of personal responsibility. But I'm starting to believe that there may be some honor in refusing to participate in a sham system. And it's becoming increasingly apparent that America's current system of government is unsustainable.
I'm reminded of a line from Galactica: "You said that humanity never asked itself why it deserved to survive. Maybe you don't." That's about how I'm feeling about America right now. In the past thirty years, we've gone from a flawed-but-principled Democracy, to a hopelessly corrupt plutocracy, interested only in robbing and raping the poor in order to enrich the wealth of the uberwealthy already in power. This was impossible back in the 50s and 60s, with a 90% top marginal tax rate, but permitting unending wealth allows for corruption at a previously inconceivable level.
Ultimately, I think we need to realize that Tytler's theory may likely happen within our lifetime:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.
I believed Obama actually had a chance of stopping America's descent into oblivion. But if he of all people wasn't able to improve bipartisanship, then we have to admit that no one can. And barring a complete and permanent destruction of the Senate filibuster, continuing to fight for Democratic policies and principles is, as they say, the definition of insanity. So why bother?
I think of all the hours I wasted promoting Democratic causes and candidates in the past three years, and now realize I could have been spending the time with my little girl instead. So I think I'll choose to do that from now on. I'm going to focus on my life and the things I can change, and stop wasting time and energy on things that cannot be fixed. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play.
Depressed, demoralized, and defeated,
A former voter.