Vote. Honor the Past. Support the Future.

I have, in earlier years, been a non-voter because I despised the ineptitude of a two party system of white dudes for a melting pot country of incredible people with a richness of diversity and innovation. I thought then, and still think todoy, that the two most nefarious and destructive organizations in the history of humankind are quite possibly the Democratic and Republican parties, not necessarily in that order.

Nevertheless, I have since come to embrace the philosophy of radical pragmatism and have come to the conclusion that although the current system isn’t quite at the level of excellence I can envision, it is a bit better than the monarchies, theocracies, and serfdomes that have gotten us to this point in our societal evolution. And while I have looked past the curtain along with a lot of other people, and realize that the federal government has most certainly evolved from a republic into an oligarchy and the game has definitely been rigged, there are still a lot of city, county, and statewide issues and amendments that hit a little bit closer to home.

And while one of the voices in my head is a hardcore anarchist, we only get an opportunity for democratic activity once every couple of years or so, and I’d kind of like to see what an actual democracy will look like someday. So I think it’s in the best interest of current and future generations to take a moment and recognize what our species has been through in the past, and participate in what’s happening in the present. Regardless of how imperfect the system is, votes affect other choices that are going to be made about the environment, the economy, and human rights, and I feel a bit more hollow whenever I don’t play my little role.

I am still skeptical of the entire hierarchical system that I’m participating in, but if you imagine a pyramid with a widenening base, that pinnacle will eventually melt into the mass. That’s how I see the future evolution of oligarchy into democracy. If nothing else, I figure that I should play my part in nudging our evolution along and see if we can’t continue to innovate, upgrade, and evolve into the people we have the capability of being.

Because I think we can and will do better based upon the changes we’ve seen up to this point, in order to fully participate in the evolution of my species, I’ve got to play with the toys my people have created before I can help develop the necessary upgrades. I think I’ve even got some ways in which we can do that. The book will be coming out soon.

Go vote. It’s probably better for the world than Facebook.