Down with Representatives

Now is a time that you hear things such as “go vote!” and “we determine our future!” I don’t want to come off as cynical, but our vote doesn’t matter, and really never has. This is due to many reasons, but three of them really stand out to me. I will not only refer to the problems with our current system, but offer my idea for a solution.

1. We don’t choose our choices.

“We don’t choose our choices” seems like a dumb and maybe illogical statement, but with an explanation it’s one of the biggest problems when it comes to voting. Sure, we can vote, but who determines what our choices for voting are? Most of our choices turn out to be straight white males, who do not represent many people in the United States. You may wonder why this is? The reason is the root of all evil—money. This should come as no surprise. Hip hop heads know the acronym C.R.E.A.M. which translates to cash rules everything around me, and this reigns the truest in politics. It's extremely hard for a broke person, let alone a broke person of "minority" (who we refer to as minorities are not actually minorities), to get their foot in the door when it comes to politics. You need to know people with money, have money, and get even more money. This is hard for most of us to do, but not for people who are born into power and wealth; thus we seldom get relatable real candidates which is a real problem.

2. Our choices don't need to listen to us.

After we vote, the elected official has no real need other than the weight of public opinion to listen to those who voted. Government officials are supposed to represent the people, but after elected don't need to listen to the people. Governors, presidents, and everyone in between send through bills support causes that aren't consistent with the ideals of those who voted for them all of the time! This is not okay and truly doesn't make sense. We may have some say in who's in office, but not what they do when they get there.

3. Presidential elections give us even less say.

When voting in the presidential election, you really could see it as a scam. The electoral college was developed because our founding fathers truly didn't trust the American people to make the right decision. Thus giving more weight to a certain area than others, whereas in the spirit of fairness, there really isn't a good reason not to follow the popular vote. On top of that, we vote for who votes. When a state comes in as blue or red, we elect an official who may be a senator's brother, cousin of a governor, or any random person who somehow has governmental ties to ACTUALLY vote, and again, they vote for who they think or who their investors/monetary supporters think they should. Not who we "voted" for.

My solution: We live in a virtually run world. Our news come from the internet, our money and banking is through the internet, health records, job applications, pretty much every facet of our life is on and processed digitally. Everything except for voting. This needs to change. We need to develop an online system where voters can vote directly on the issue, so that our voices are really heard. We can elect officials still, to keep the system intact and push through the small tedious movements, but every month or so we have a vote on 2-3 issues that heavily impact our life. This gives people a more convenient way to vote, more frequent way to influence their country, and actually puts the power in our hands.