I have always admired that anonymous child in The Emperor’s New Clothes who pointed out that the Emperor’s new clothes were no clothes at all (and wondered what happened to the poor fellow when he got home). Everyone else in the crowd that day was part of a conspiracy of silence: See no evil, say no evil. (One gets insights from this kind of thing into how something like the Holocaust could happen.)
To me, this child of no name is a hero for two very refreshing reasons: He allowed himself to see what was actually there, and he wasn’t afraid to say it out loud.
Which, strangely enough, brings me to the reason I’m not voting this year. Simply put, I’m not voting this year because there’s no one running for office who’s worthy of my vote. No one, indeed, who is willing to stand up and say, for instance, that the No Child Left Behind Act is about the dumbest thing any gaggle of ganders ever dreamt up. Or that our system of governance is fatally flawed because it makes it nearly impossible for citizen-legislators to hold office. Or that very few of the 16 million people currently unemployed are ever going to hold a life-sustaining job again. Or that Barack Obama ended any prospect of becoming a moral leader on the world stage the moment he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
One more reason. I grew up in a double-alcoholic household. I know a thing or two about the consequences of enabling narcissistic behavior. In my mind, continuing to vote for people who are perennially intoxicated on the heady spirits of heir own ambition is not the way to help one’s self, one’s country, or one’s world.
To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’m going to be voting next year either. You?
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