No, we have not lost whatever few neurons we still managed to retain. However, consistent with our inconsistency, we consistently keep sending out the same (inconsistent) message: Things are not what they seem. F&P
Yesterday a similar article was posted advocating for the exact opposite. Vote? Don't Vote? Huh? What's going on?
That's right, we are advocating for you to vote. Have we gone mental? Has our chu-chu (train) derailed? Ahh…. grasshopper excellent question and the answer is no. We are the very same insecure people we were yesterday, with one extra day on our lives. Then what? What could have possible possessed us to advocate voting? Well… for that we need to go back to the future! Err… not really. We need to go back to our political evolutionary theories.
VOTE!
In general terms we expect this site to be read mostly by people living in so-called "developed" countries. They have spent their entire lives under democratic systems and their previous generation probably too. For them, the message is clear: democracy has outlived its purpose and it is now time to evolve. For them, the message is clear: don't vote. It is pointless. It is less than pointless. It is counterproductive. You are trying to delay evolution.
However (and there is always a however), these readers are not the only ones. Over time we fully expect to see other people reaching us. These people are from newly "liberated" countries. Liberated from what? From their previous political systems which were mostly more dictatorial than their current so-called democracies. For them, the message is clear: vote. It's not pointless. It is productive… just not in the manner you may imagine.
EVOLUTION CANNOT BE STOPPED
You are under the delusion that by voting you will be getting a better system. You are right but you are also wrong. It is true that a democratic system is far better than a dictatorial one, and in this sense we congratulate you. However, please note that you have just replaced one jailer for a more liberal one. That's all. Of course, you don't believe us. This could not be otherwise since you just went through a sizeable political evolution. You now find yourself in the "democratic cycle" with high hopes and high expectations (i.e. the democratic Nirvana). Everything is new and shiny. Everything that was wrong in the previous regime now seems to have been righted. All that the new system requires of you is that you tell it what to do; in other words, that you vote. And vote you shall.
Just one warning. Don't expect any miracles.
You will vote because you finally! get to have your saying. You are going to vote because now you can direct your life. You are going to vote because it is the right thing to do. And you are going to vote because you need to stabilize the current political system should the old one attempts to come back.
Don't you worry, it won't. At least not in its previous incarnation and herein lies the problem. As we have explained many times, all political evolution is transitional in nature (see Political Systems Lifecycle). What this means is that every political evolutionary step is never a clean break with the past. Your new shiny political system is not a representation of your future but a representation your idealized future. As dictatorships disintegrate and democracies take over, said democracies begin to operate with new and untested systems. In the beginning, said systems are strongly opposed to anything dictatorial because people would not tolerate otherwise. However and eventually over long periods of time, some of those systems will regress to dictatorial-light ones. This is so because people still believe that some (a few) dictatorial elements might be positive.
Before you were free and now you are rudderless. Before you were happy and now you are unfocused. Before there was freedom and now there is chaos. A "strong" leadership is required. A "clear direction" is necessary. A strong "sense of unity" is what's needed. And for that, you will demand a pinch of dictatorship. Not too much, just the right amount in order to bring the country from the brink of oblivion due to those "other" people who behave in manner not conducent to have a "strong sense of nation". And so the slippery slope begins.
What started as an attempt to organize and unite people on a set of national goals will eventually transmutate into a "modern democracy" (i.e. a demo-dictatorship). You won't recognize this very long trail. It will happen so slowly and so imperceptibly that you won't even feel it. It is because of this that you will continue to vote. Your reasons for voting are related to the original idealized democracy that you experienced, but your actual votes will be supporting this "modern" one with its increasingly darker dictatorial overtones.
Eventually, over many decades (and probably generations) you will begin to realize the truth. By then you will have the very same option that people currently living in "developed" countries has: to vote or not to vote. Eventually, you will make the same decision: no!
But don't be sad! This is just evolution which cannot be stopped or altered and it is running in the right direction. You cannot stop voting at this stage even if you would like to do so; so strong are your internal misgivings about not voting. You must vote until you get your voting hopes and dreams out of your system. You must be thoroughly disillusioned with voting before the next evolutionary step may take place. This is a basic evolutionary requirement for political systems that cannot be overlooked (see The Three Laws Of Political System Change).
VOTE!
It is for this reason that we say vote! Not because it is good for you (it is not; it is neutral at best) but because this will prevent you from being stuck in a political evolutionary step. If you just came out of a dictatorship you must vote or else you will never be able to evolve politically. Furthermore, if you stop voting now, the political evolution of other people will be delayed too. They will see your not voting and may decide to follow your example when they are not yet ready. Now that would be a tragedy! People who are not thoroughly disillusioned with a political system are refractory to change. This is so because they are not fully convinced that their current system is obsolete. And unconvinced people second-guess themselves and go nowhere fast. This does nothing but to delay their political evolution.
On the other hand, people already thoroughly disillusioned with voting will not be affected by your voting. This won't stop their evolution.
Voting is absolutely required to evolvution because each political step must fully complete its cycle. The political step known as "modern democracy" is based on the voting process and as such and until it burns itself out, there is no hope of evolving.
CONCLUSION
The decision whether to vote or not to vote must be based on where in the political evolutionary step you are located at. If you just entered a "modern democracy" then voting is the correct answer. On the other hand, if you have been in a "modern democracy" for generations, then you are ready for the next step and the correct answer is not voting.
You believe that your decision whether to vote or not is based on your so-called "freedom". Rest assured it is not. It is simply an expression of your personal political evolutionary stage. You cannot make such a decision using only your "free will" regardless of what you may think. If you try, it will come back and bite you in your derriere. Evolution cannot be rushed. It'll happen. Whether you like it or not. The good news is that you will like it.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
