You hear it all the time: if you want to see a difference in your community and your country, you must get out and vote. Obvious, this message is extremely prominent right now due to the upcoming midterm elections. But just how much does voting matter?

I realize that this is a blasphemous statement to many Americans across the political spectrum. Of course voting matters! This is for what our servicemembers fought and died. To say otherwise is an egregious disrespect to the foundations of our democracy.

And don’t get me wrong: I’m registered to vote and I will do so in the midterm elections. In my home state of California, we’re seeing a rising conservative movement that hopes to disrupt decades of liberal hegemony.

Imagine the paradigm shift if Republicans turned the Golden State red!

Our politics is in an extremely fractured state. So it’s incredibly jarring that when it comes to the simple act of voting in the midterm elections, we find wide-ranging consensus.

The issue, it seems, isn’t so much diving into the politics. Rather, it’s paying the ticket to enter the arena.

 

No One is Winning the Midterm Elections Except the Puppet Masters

If you tune into a liberal outfit like CNN or MSNBC, you’ll hear pundits complaining 24/7 about President Trump. Switch the channel to “conservative” Fox News, and you’ll get the opposing view.

Neither side, however, talks about the third option. In fact, while you’re watching your media programming – have you ever considered why it’s called “programming?” – the mainstream channels, whoever they are, would love nothing more than to deny and discredit its existence.

That’s because the midterm elections is nothing more than high-level drama. The constant bickering and politics, the pointing figures at the others, does nothing more than to ring up dead-media revenues. Consider that only 15 billionaires control America’s news programming. If that isn’t we playing useful idiots to our puppet masters, I don’t know what is!

Again, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t vote in the upcoming midterm elections. Yes, people did fight for our right to participate in a free government, and we should take that responsibility seriously.

My point is, let’s not get so myopic towards our politics that we forget what freedom truly means. Our men and women in uniform didn’t sacrifice their lives for voting rights; they sought autonomy and self-determination.

In other words, they fought for your right to vote…or not to vote. Both represent true manifestations of the freedom coin.

When you step up to the ballot box in November, don’t forget that fundamental reality.