At this point in the election, there are only two reasonable explanations for being “undecided:”1.) You’re an idiot.
2.) You find both options on offer so profoundly distasteful that you can’t bring yourself to support either one.
Anyone who’s spent much time reading up on the state of the U.S. public education system knows there’s not much we can do about #1.
Hell, anyone who’s seen even a few seconds of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” knows there’s no hope for the #1s.
After all, who’s going to spend the time educating themselves about the minutiae of the political process and/or the candidates when you can rubberneck at train wrecks 24 hours a day without ever leaving your couch?
If you think I’m a cynic for saying so, let me just remind you that in a recent poll 15% of Ohio Republicans voiced their belief that Mitt Romney was primarily responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden, and another 47% had no clue who killed the guy. It’s almost enough to make you think back wistfully to the days of voter tests.
But fixing #2 is a snarlier beast. It doesn’t take Canadian (or British, or any other Parliamentarian democracy-ish) citizenship to wonder why in God’s name we’re still stuck with a two-party system down here (and therefore only two options on offer every four years).
Just ask Ron Paul fans, or all those annoying folks clogging my twitter feed with demands to “let Gary Johnson debate!” As my editor so artfully put it this week, “why, in a country that has literally thousands of cola options, is politics an either/or for you guys?”
The worst part of it is that voters of all stripes agree: the Electoral College is outdated, impedes democracy, and is generally unnecessary. But since it’s written into our constitution (which requires 75% of states to agree to any changes therein), it’s never going away. The Electoral College gives undue weight to states with relatively small populations (because no matter what, they have at least 3 electoral votes), meaning candidates can’t totally ignore those states’ specific needs if they want to win the presidency, which means that those states will probably always band together to block any effort to move to a direct-election process for the presidency.
So we’re facing yet another election cycle where not only are there only 2 viable candidates, it’s a realistic possibility that one – Romney – could win the popular vote, but not the presidency. Which leads to more entrenched legislative gridlock, which leads to very little ever getting done.
Now THAT’S democracy in action.
Read more: US Presidential Election: Why Most Votes Don’t Count | canada.com
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