Many people, especially gun rights advocates, are starting to parrot the familiar phrase that this election is the most important election of our lifetime. I think this blog nailed it:
Take a breath. This is not the most important election of your lifetime. Every election is the same, and it is an airtight bet that each new president is going to be worse than his precedessor. Bamboozled voters sprint to the polls every four years, and appropriately utter the same line beggars use: “Gimme some change, gimme some change!” And like those unfortunate beggars (who also don’t see their fortunes change), each time they are left holding an empty cup.
I’m 29 and this will be the third election cycle I’ve had to experience. All three elections have been labeled as the most important election of my lifetime and nothing has changed after any of them. Although I missed being of voting age by one year when Bush was running against Gore I remember all the talk about how that election was the most important election gun owners had ever experienced. Then when Bush was running against Kerry it was the most important election of my lifetime because Kerry would take my guns. When it was McCain against Obama is was yet again the most important election of my lifetime because Obama was a gun grabbing socialist. Now I’m being told that this is the most important election of my lifetime because Obama will be free of having to worry about reelection and be in a position to potentially nominate two Supreme Court justices.
If every election I’ve experienced has been the most important one of my lifetime then unimportant elections must be extremely nonevents. Let’s face facts, nothing has changed in the last three elections (or any elections before that, but I wasn’t paying any attention to the political arena at those times so I’ll refrain from further comment). Bush didn’t change anything for the two terms he was in office and Obama hasn’t changed anything for the one term he’s been in office. Neither Obama or Romney is likely to change anything either. The bottom line is the state’s violence continues to be wielded against the people of the world. While the police state expands here at home foreign countries are being invaded and occupied.
This isn’t the most important election of your lifetime, no election has every actually been important. Honestly, I would say this is the least important election of your lifetime because with each election the state’s power grows and as it grows elections become even more meaningless (if that’s even possible).