A Perfect System

(Cartoon by Yaakov Kirschen and published on 5/30/14 on his blog.  Click on image to enlarge and then trot on back.)

The blurb that accompanies Mr. Kirschen's cartoon says simply, "The system could also be good for America."

I don't often agree with Mr. Kirschen (he's too conservative and too much a Zionist for me), but I enjoy his cartoons a great deal simply because they make me think.  This cartoon especially sent the wheels spinning in my head bone.

My first thought was, "Oh swell.  Just what we need, trusting Congress to select the next president."  But then I got a series of thought in quick order.

Isn't that what we allowed the Supreme Court to do for George W. Bush?  And four years later what we allowed the state of Ohio to do?

And then I realized that for quite some time we've allowed others not part of any government to make that selection:  PHARMA, Big Oil and Big Coal, the Adelsons and the Soros, those with the big dollars to make the choice for us by donating huge amounts of money to 501c4 and SuperPAC committees to pay for nonstop commercials and trips to every boondock town in the country.

Now, every citizen gets just one vote, but somehow our individual votes don't seem to carry the same clout we used to have, especially when it comes to nominating conventions.  The two main parties have seen to that.  Not that this needs to be the case, however.

But when voters tune out and stay home, that's what happens.  In the recent California Primary, slightly over 13% of the electorate turned out.  I think that appalling, especially since voting absentee (by mail) is so easy.

A wise person once told me that in a democracy we get the government we deserve.

I think we're in trouble, folks.