The Proof of the Futility of Voting

I posted on a couple of other blogs about my feeling that voting for national representatives, Federal politicians, has become an exercise in futility. That it is no longer possible to make a difference in the outcome of our government by exercising the right of franchise. The debt ceiling "compromise" (like compromising your principles, it is never the right or moral thing to do) has shown us to be powerless to elect representatives who will do the right thing.

The victory we thought we had realized in 2010 was a farce. The Tea Party and Republican candidates have thrown away their power to limit spending and the size of government. As Francis Porretto at Eternity Road posted:

"The Republican caucus in the House of Representatives was quite capable of preventing any increase in federal spending and the debt limit. All appropriations bills must originate in the House. There's no Constitutional obligation upon the House to take up a bill passed by the Senate. Therefore, with or without a budget in place, the GOP majority in the House could have prevented this disaster merely by "sitting on its hands" -- i.e., voting down any bill that includes a provision to increase the debt ceiling. As for the budget itself, there's no Constitutional obligation to maintain the funding of any program or government department. Thus, the House alone could have compelled the federal government to live within its means.

It chose not to do so. So much for Republicans' limited-government principles."

We are doomed, people, if we believe we can still work within the system. While I do not advocate starting hostilities, there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when we must resist further encroachment upon our liberty with force. Perhaps singly, in our own homes, or perhaps in concert with others of like mind. Yes, I understand that sounds nasty, radical, the posturing of a "domestic extremist", but as Winston Churchill was quoted saying:

"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."