Boycott the vote

Go to dictionary.com and enter—never mind. Just click this to see a new synonym for voting, the word juggernaut.

Okay, okay, for those of you in a rush, unlikely to detour, here are the definitions:

(often lowercase) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.

(often lowercase) anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.

Also called Jagannath. an idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.

Yes, this is what happens when you go to the polls to cast your vote on Election Day. You are juggernauted or Jagannath’d, despite the brainwashing, the belief that your candidates will listen to your voice, embrace your needs, and represent you. You have thrown yourself beneath the crushing wheels through your blind devotion to a formidable force—suffrage.

I voted for the last time in 2012. I did not intend to vote. I told people I wouldn’t vote—that voting was legitimizing a corrupt system. A wedge issue sucked me beneath the wheel. While there, I stared at the names of the candidates for president and then wrote in “Nobody.” Still, I felt icky, ashamed enough to reject the sticker I was handed to attach to my clothing, an advertisement that I was present and counted, a reward for participating.

What about you? Do you still have that Obama bumper decal on your car? Do you still believe he’d fulfill those lofty campaign promises if he didn’t have an obstructionist Congress? Please.

Are you one of those supporters who said, “During his second term, he’ll make those changes? He won’t be concerned about running again.” Please.

Some months ago, I told someone I don’t vote. He was angry. Said I was responsible for unleashing vast problems and I’d get what I deserve.

I just reread that paragraph (above this one) and shook my head, stunned that he doesn’t get it. Doesn’t GET that it’s no longer a decision between greater and lesser evils. They, the men and women who manipulatively attempt to convince us that they are one of us and will act in our interests, are equally evil in their service to Wall Street, in their choices that deliver squalor and violence to the world’s children, in their acts condemning these children to either a joyless future or no future, period.

Furthermore, those who control the electoral model aren’t stupid. These uber-wealthy, the powerful exploitive class on whose behalf politicians perform, know precisely how to market voting as a vehicle of freedom and democracy. This is propaganda.

I’m reminded of another definition: engaging in the same behavior over and over and expecting a different result. This is insanity. Voting is insanity.

If I weren’t despairing and repulsed, I’d laugh that Hillary Clinton, signing, selling her book, and campaigning for Juggernaut 2016, said that when she and Bill left the White House, they were broke.

If I weren’t despairing and appalled, I’d laugh that Joe Biden, campaigning for Juggernaut 2016, said he’s poor, that he wears “a mildly expensive suit” but has no savings account, no investments. Jill’s name has to be on those monthly statements.

If I weren’t despairing and disgusted, I’d laugh at their out-pouring of, well, out-pooring.

But get a load of this. You MUST click that link. It’s a Whoa, a WTF?, an assault, offensive and insulting to sooooooo many people.

I’ve made a measured decision to boycott the vote, joining Election Boycott as an act of conscience. Hit that link too.

Missy Comley Beattie has written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. She was an instructor of memoirs writing at Johns Hopkins’ Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Baltimore. Email: missybeat@gmail.com.