“Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.” — Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear
The omnipresent teacher? I don’t know about that. I can’t say I’ve ever felt an impulse to learn from an elected official; most of the time, they feel like a pack of teenage punks running amok.
The first thing I learned as a young officer cadet is that the leader sets the example. The example being set these days by many elected officials is shameful.
I was in a day-long meeting earlier this week that I came out of thinking there was no longer any point in voting, that it’s all a charade and the 0.1 percent of the population who scarf up 8 percent of the income manage to control 99.9 percent of the actual political power.
I know what you mean. Sometimes I vote only to reserve the right to bitch about the government after the new class of morons takes control.
I was talking with my wife last night at dinner about this issue. She and I concluded that voting can be viewed at the very least as a necessary gesture of defiance in the face of tyranny.