We’re being bombarded with advertisements telling us we need to register to vote. Somehow we’re supposed to believe that we have a choice in this election, that Romney is somehow different than Obama and vise versa. Thankfully the serfs aren’t buying it this time around:
The Democratic and Republican parties are struggling to engage new voters in this year’s presidential race, with an apparent deficit of enthusiasm suppressing the number of people who have registered to vote ahead of the 6 November election.
A Guardian survey of six of the most crucial swing states upon which the outcome of the presidential ballot is likely to depend has found that new voter registrations recorded between January and August this year are markedly down compared with the same period in 2008. The drop is particularly pronounced in several states for the Democrats – a likely indication that Barack Obama’s re-election team has been unable to match the exceptional levels of voter excitement generated by his candidacy four years ago.
The six states included in the Guardian survey – Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia – are all being bitterly fought over by Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney.
The state is desperate to get people out voting. Why? Because participating in the political process through voting makes people think they have skin in the game. Voters usually believe they are part of the state and thus are responsible for where the state goes. Fiscal conservatives will blame the voting public when the state continues to spend and spend, anti-war activists will blame the voting public when the wars continue to wage on, and advocates of gay marriage will blame the voting public when gay marriages continue to be illegal. The state gets to continue its reign so long as popular opinion allows it and popular opinion will continue to allow it so long as the people believe they are responsible for the ills of the state.
It’s reassuring to see that fewer people are buying into the bullshit of democracy.