It is election time in Tennessee once again. Campaigns are running and political enthusiasts are always sermonizing how important it is to vote. The average American vote will count but it does not matter. Voting does not matter because your vote does not really affect change. Comparing the 2016 presidential election with this year’s midterm can make an example of this.
The 2016 presidential election was the third largest voter turnout by the American voters. PBS reported that 58 percent of the American population voted for previous election. It is smoke and mirrors because it does not matter if the average American citizen votes.
Americans feel that it is patriotic to vote; it is not. More than 50 million Americans voted to not have Trump elected. In fact, more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton, yet it did not matter what the American people voted. Voting does not matter.
Voting is just a farce that the government allows the average citizen to participate so they feel like they have a modicum of control and say. Voting allows the people to feel like they are advocating change when they are just being ignored.
Fox News stated, “Clinton ends up with 2.9 million more voters than Trump.’’ This would mean that while Clinton had more votes than Trump, he still somehow ended up winning the election. The American people voted in masse for Clinton, but it did not matter.
One reason voting does not matter for the average American people is because we are not a democracy. A democracy is when every person has a say in the laws of their country, that is not the case. In this country we must elect an official to speak for the people instead of allowing the people to speak for themselves. Those officials then elect the president for the American people. This makes your voice unnecessary and largely ignored.
The popular vote that the average voter is a part of is frankly just a farce. The majority of the people elected a democrat for president. Majority of the voters were ignored. The representative that the people elect pick the president for them. The average voter is largely not included in the presidential election.
Some might make the argument that voting for a representative is important and our duty as an American citizen. However, the use of gerrymandering negates the integrity of the voting process. Gerrymandering is defined by Webster as the “manipulation of boundaries to favor a party or class.”
This act of gerrymandering often gives more power to the wealthy when it comes to voting for representatives. For example, Tennessee is gerrymandered in a way that the areas that have a high demographic of Democrats those areas only have two representatives. Although the areas that are usually republican have seven representatives. This is an unfair representation of Tennessee.
The Tennessean also made mention of 42 counts of voter fraud in 2016. Trump said, “The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing ‘Crooked Hillary’– but also at many polling places.” The voter had no idea that Trump was telling the truth.
The midterms can be a difficult, vague system. Many people tend to not even vote, although midterms can make a key difference in the presidential election in years to come.
For the midterms, Marsha Blackburn is the conservative candidate for Senate. Her stance is backing President Trump in whatever he does. The idea being that if an individual likes Trump and voted for him, they should vote for her too.
Phil Bredesen has made his entire stance off not being Blackburn. Bredesen has made a stance as being more liberal and moderate by nature. Bredesen has even disagreed with Trump’s plans saying to the Tennessean, “I don’t think the wall is the right answer.”
How will the Tennessee elections be different from the 2016 elections? It will not. This is a red state and Blackburn will win no matter how many votes oppose her. Red states stay red and blue states stay blue. Nothing is going to change that. No amount of misplaced youthful optimism or thrilling campaign speeches will ever change that fact.
Republican or Democrat, the youth is not interested in voting.
Today’s youth just do not feel like voting whether it is due to feelings of political ignorance, apathy or the knowledge that the government does not really care about the voting at all.
Agree or disagree this country is in a very broken state where Americans care more about their party than people. Vote for whoever you think is the best choice because your vote will count but it will not matter.
