Voting no longer matters at all

A lot of well-intentioned people every election attempt to โ€œget out the voteโ€ and the like. I used to agree with them, even as recently as five years ago.

Now itโ€™s clear that voting no longer matters. Probably hasnโ€™t for twenty years or so, and probably wonโ€™t matter again without some drastic (likely violent, alas) change.

The extent of entwinement of Capital in our governance is now so tight and the wealth and power disparities among us so gaping that I no longer think any of the traditional routes of change, using civilized and orderly processes, will do anything to influence our course. Even social issues like marriage equality are probably not shifting for the reasons we think. As we enter into more and farther reaching global trade agreements, it will become progressively less important for Capital to worry about keeping us pacified, and the disconnection of our votes from policy will become more apparent.

The rest of the post doesnโ€™t really concern me. Change via voting is about as likely as an elephant dying from an ant bite.

Oh sure, some things โ€“ even a few important things that Capital doesnโ€™t care about โ€“ might change on the margins. But thatโ€™s it.

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