Reply #43: Considered

[mrbluto]

Have I considered I could be wrong?

Heh.

I do so as a matter of mental hygiene.

I'm the one handing you a bar of mental soap on occasion.

I think your assumption that I hadn't consider the possibility of being in error more telling about you than about me.

Is that what often happens to you? Is that your experience? You find out that you hadn't considered the possibility that you are in error?

Nevermind - I don't expect an answer Nance.

I'll point out what was the essential underlying question in my post for you and your readers:

What is so magical about votes, or millions of Americans voting a particular way?

I'll tell you: consent.

It's all about consent - not the actual considered will of the citizens - consent.

The primary system, the electoral system, and the medium in which dialog occurs in this country are so damaged and twisted that it hasn't reflected the considered opinion of it's citizens in quite some time. From gerrymandering to hanging chads it's been decades. If I take the temperatures of millions of people with a busted thermometer can I arrive at any diagnosis? No.

The electoral system is a busted thermometer.

So why does it persist? Functionless things tend to fade away. If it persists then what's it's function?

The manufacture of consent.

Not to get all Chomsky on yer ass, but that's the remaining function.

People often say "If you didn't vote then you have no right to complain about who gets elected."

It's the exact opposite. At some level voting indicates that you accept the way you get "governed". It indicates consent. Once you give consent at some level you give permission and accept responsibility for everything this government does. It's not for nothing that even repressive regimes have elections. Your vote is a permission slip, a waiver of responsibility for those weilding government power.

The system that accepts and packages those votes and then labels it "The will of the people" is doing one main thing:

Manufacturing consent.

The American electoral system manufactures consent - and little else.

Get ready to ignore this Nance: I think you're part of that process here on the web.



Remember to ignore, misconstrue, & dodge when you answer, you know: SOP, standard operating procedure.