An answer to "why do we have to keep voting"

I'm sure you've all seen it.

"I voted in 2020. Things are still fucked. And now 2024 is 'the most important election in history.' I'm tired of voting. Why can't they just fix it?"

Our own Cletus quoted an article from Lawyers, Guns and Money which neatly encapsulates why it's necessary:

As depressing as it is, the fight is never over. The war between the better angels and brute beasts of our nature never ends. Progress is measured in centimeters at times and must be vigorously defended forever.

JRR Tolkien began working on a draft on a continuation of the Lord of the Rings, set one hundred twenty years after the events he recounted in the book. The heroic age was over. The Elves were leaving Middle Earth. The Dwarves were hidden. It was a world of Men. And some were turning to Morgoth-worship, as had their ancestors in Numenor. Children were playing "orc". And he abandoned it. Why? Because as he had noted in other places, the Shadow always returns, as long as humans are humans, and he had no desire to write a story so banal: of human folly.

The Shadow always returns. After 2020, I foolishly made the comment that this blog would have many more posts about cats and dogs. Our own Nancy the Artist warned me that probably wouldn't be possible. And she was right.

The struggle is never over. Why? Because of human folly. Because, as Merlin said in Excalibur, it is the fate of men to forget the past, and repeat it again and again.

We made huge progress with Obamacare. And our adversaries have spent more than a decade trying to kill it. Why? They can trot out ideology all they want. They can prattle on about "conservative principles". But it's much simpler. They want to kill it because they don't see us as humans. They see us in the same way the Nazis saw Jews and Roma. Subhuman. Animals. Not worthy of life. It really is that simple. It's why political science is not fit for this age. Political explanations don't suffice. Sociology and psychology are insufficient. Sometimes you have to return to first things. Animus. Evil. Hatred. The base factors of our human condition. Some people want to progress, to make the world the Eden we lost. And some want to lay waste to anything different from them. That's really all it is.

We have rights only as we defend them. We have freedom only as we fight for it. Liberty is fragile. Our culture isn't debased, contra Mike Johnson, because of homosexuality, or abortion, or sexual license. Our culture is debased because people like Johnson cannot, in the depths of their souls, tolerate and accept difference. They cannot live with the fact that others don't agree with them. And this offense is so deep, so existential, that they rise up and seek to scupper any progress, to prevent or roll back any advance. And yes, they'll trot out their "deeply held" religious beliefs. But it all boils down to hatred and evil. It is the fear that they will be held to account by a vengeful God if they don't turn the world into their own twisted version of Eden. Their fear drives this. Their fear calls for them to instill and enact this fear on everyone. 

I don't care if you're a snake-handler, or waste your Sundays mouthing empty platitudes at a megachurch. But I care when you try to force yourself on me. I care when your vision for my future is dark and rancid. And then, yes, I will fight you. I will risk all to keep you underfoot. And this isn't a battle which can be won and then forgotten. Until we evolve as a species this will be a constant battle, as it has been for all of recorded history. Tyranny, oppression; these are old enemies which we have had to beat back repeatedly. I don't see this struggle ending any time soon.

But the best way to beat them is by being an example of light. By living your life in service to others. By considering what others need, not simply what you want. By seeing even those who would sooner see you dead as the same children of the universe you are. By simply being better than they are. Because I believe that most humans are decent at heart. They want to live their lives in peace. And the example we give wins more over to our side. It makes them think, no, I don't want to be always angry. Yes, I want everyone to have a decent life. This war has many fronts, and this may be the most important. All it requires is for you to be a decent person. The rewards are infinite.

Be of good heart and be joyful warriors. This life is worth protecting.

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