And I would simply comeback with my answer would be is “why
bother”. I vote every day for what I believe in and that is in how I spend my
dollars on goods and services. That is a much more effective method of sending
your opinion to the powers out there.
Many years ago it was necessary to have some form of
representation in a central government like there was in the times of Davy
Crockett. I remember the Disney portrayal of this where Davy would go to
Washington to represent the citizens of Tennessee since they all couldn’t go to
the capital since they didn’t have the modes of transportation that we have
today.
(I found it sort of humorous that when I searched through
the two articles on Davey Crockett and the House of Representatives that I
couldn’t easily confirm my belief that it would be located in Washington. I am
Canadian so I wasn’t totally sure but I did finally find a reference in the
section about expenses and how the representative were paid different sums of
money based on travel distance. Mad a lot of sense then because the horses ate
more if they had to travel farther).
Well that was before all this Internet stuff and cars, debit
cards, smartphones and all the other things we take so lightly that are
actually our tools for voting nowadays.
Nowadays an election only results in a bunch of bozos being
replaced by another bunch of bozos that will work for your voting area to do
everything in their power to ensure that they get this same gig next time an
election is called. They just have to learn how to say a whole bunch of words
that have no real meaning and don’t offend anybody because almost anyone can
vote. They get paid and travel and eat well and get long vacations and they can
easily just point to someone else for whatever problem they get shoved in their
face. And if they do real well they can go back to practicing law for a higher
hourly fee or go on public speaking tours. Why? Because all kinds of people
will pay for the legal services of the now higher rate charging ex-politician
and listen to the marvels of what he or she didn’t achieve in their time of
office.
Let’s look at the real system in action now and specifically
at Monsanto. Worldwide Monsanto is seeing the wrath of the consumer voting
system in action and it will most likely have to shut down its operation
because no one will buy their products. That is a very powerful voice out there
and no government can effectively provide legal protection for the Monsanto
problem.
It isn't a simple problem with a simple solution but that is
how it gets done nowadays. If you all stopped buying at Wal-Mart because you
don’t like the way they pay their employees and switched to Costco because that
seemed fairer to you then you would see a panic action kick in from Wal-mart in
all kinds of ways to “buy back” your business.
It would be nice to shop for locally made goods but the
truth is so much is made in China nowadays but that won’t go on forever. Take
the case of the computer support business where many companies choose to farm
out their support to India based companies that really only greet you with a
well-mannered helpful approach but really do nothing to solve your problem. My
simple approach to companies who did that was to buy from someone else when I
had the opportunity. So Dell lost my next computer purchase to Hewlett-Packard,
Bell Canada lost my telephone business to Rogers, McAfee was replaced by Norton
and the latter will be replaced by another anti-virus program when I can find
one that doesn't use those offshore services.
My actions alone are not going to cause the change necessary
but the sum of all the consumers out there will. Their “votes” will do more to
determine the direction of our future than any single vote in a political
election.
I don’t go to polling booths because I get no sense of
anything that my vote meant something at the end of going through that ancient
process other than maybe giving some retiree a job for the day. I do feel
better though when I vote by buying a product and take some sort of
satisfaction when I send a permanent divorce email to Home Depot letting them
know that I have sampled business from both them and Lowe’s and have decided
that Lowe’s met my requirements and Home Depot did not. The reply was almost
like it was written in that same tone you would get in an online chat with a
McAfee or Norton rep.
So your debit card, credit card, Paypal account and email
are your new methods to go out and make your vote count. Just don’t go too
crazy. No you can tell them exactly how you feel, just don’t spend way beyond your
means. Some companies get it and I will continue to buy from them even if it
might mean I spend a little more on the initial purchase because I know there
are longer term costs attached to buying from the guy with the lowest price all
the time.
Lots of suppliers are no longer in business because they
fell into the trap of getting the big order at the lowest bid price. You cannot
sustain a business that way. What happens when that exclusive program runs out
with that big box company? The big box guy is always looking for a new supplier
at a lower price.
Some of the big box operations recognize that you just can’t
go around with the lowest price line anymore because they all have a match the
other guy program. I think Lowe’s is a current example of one that is trying to
do more than that in their acquisition of ATG stores online retail business. It
is next to impossible to meet all your customers’ needs at the store level so
they can broaden the inventory list by offering a large range online like they
do for items like household fans, appliances and the like. Online shopping isn’t
for everyone but if you know what you are looking for, the freight is usually
thrown in and the nice guy from UPS brings it your door.
So I vote to buy online more than visit a store simply
because it has turned out to be more efficient and cheaper for me; same product
but no disappointment if it isn’t in stock in the store. One particular order
was for 4 kitchen items that you can only get in a fancysmanshy boutique type
store so I placed the order online. They were unable to provide all 4 from the
nearest store which was about an hour’s drive away so they actually ended up
sending the order from a store almost a thousand miles away and at no
additional charge to me but that is what you do to provide excellent customer
service so I would likely buy from them again; so the system worked well there
and they got to “stay in office” for a longer period of time.
So eventually when no one shows up at the polling booths
anymore the news will get hold of that one and that system might change some
but don’t hold your breath. They will still try to get you to do get them back
in office somehow. I handle all the political survey phone visits the same way
I do telemarketers with a quick “No thanks” and a quick push of the off button
on my phone. The lawyer/politician in training doing the calling will soon
learn that nobody wants to talk about that stuff and he/she might actually try
to get a real job.
You have a lot more control than the so-called powers to be
give you credit for so use it wisely. Shop at businesses or retailers that
represent values that would match yours and you could actually say I could work
here. It all gets better from there.
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