Story Behind the Song
This has been on my mind a lot over the last several years. Perhaps what crystalized it for me was some of the stuff Michael Moore's been doing recently and also after seeing the 2000 republic national convention. What a joke that was. It was an infomercial. It wasn't news. It wasn't showing the truth of the republican party. It was this flashy facade that they were hoping would attract swing voters. And it might. Some swing voters may fall for it, but it was nothing but a bear and pony show. I was offended as an american that they think we're that stupid.
But maybe that's cuz they see that over half of the american people don't even bother to vote. Maybe they think we are stupid.
I'm guilty of it myself. I don't vote for the local elections. I always seem to be too busy. I only vote once every four years. During the presidential election, and this latest time I found myself thinking I wouldn't even vote then. What's the point? It really doesn't matter much to me whether the democrats or republicans get in there. I used to be a democrat. They're all suits. None of them represent me. Why waste my time? Why? Because it's an american right to vote. If we stop voting, this government becomes an aristocracy or it becomes run by corporations and big money. But we as the body public have already stopped voting, and I started becoming one of them.
The choices we are given are jokes. They are put there by influential people already with money and power, so they can get their own selfish goals accomplished. If you want your selfish goals accomplished, you gotta vote. And it won't make a difference in this election, but if we could get over half of us to actually come out and even write in "Mickey Mouse" or "none of the above" it would send a powerful message to DC.
We are no longer sitting back and tolerating it and pretending we are falling sucker to the whole circus. We want real choice. We want real issues to be addressed. We want solutions. We'll all band together and vote for people who have solutions that will work. We will not vote for people who have their own hidden agendas anymore.
That's what I hope. That's what this is about. I'm asking you to go to the voting booth this November and vote for anyone on this planet that you would personally want to see as president. I'm not asking you to vote for Bush or Gore or Nader or anyone who actually wants the job.
I just want you to show up.
Lyrics
My Fellow Americans. Particularly those of you who do not plan to vote.
I do not come before you today with any particular agenda, save one.
I come before you today to persuade you to vote.
Activist and public figure Michael Moore recently said the nonvoters in America make up the true majority of this country. Over 55 percent of America's population refuse to vote. Over one hundred million Americans in the last election. The majority of this country hasn't voted for several elections now.
Why is that? Do you understand what this means? Perhaps no single president in the past fifty years has won by the majority. The majority fell silent. The majority refuses to help make democracy happen.
George Jean Nathan said, "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote."
But why should we? Both Bush and Gore are sons of politicians. They are politicians themselves. They represent the Fortune 500. Big money. They don't represent the majority of the people in this country. When was the last time a politician personally invited you to dinner? Do any of these people represent us? No one who wears a suit and tie represents me, I can tell you that.
David Borenstein, creator of the website Quoteland.com, was once quoted as saying, "Bush Sr. was a jerk, Quayle an idiot, Clinton was atrocious and disgusting, most of those who persecuted him were hypocritical, Gore is shallow and weak, Bradley is an idealist, Bush Jr. a fool, and all of the independent candidates act like they're on drugs."
He's absolutely right. All these guys are utter boobs. Still. I am asking you to vote. Why? Because YOU are our government. Not these boobs. YOU.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."
I am not asking you to vote for Bush or Gore. Or Nader for that matter. I am not asking you to vote for anyone who actually wants the title. I am not asking you to vote in hopes of being able to say you voted for the winning candidate. We all know who's gonna win. It's either Bush or Gore and if I were a betting man I'd say it's gonna be Bush. Not cuz I agree with him on anything. It's cuz he's got more money.
It's a setup. It's fixed. The whole presidential election is a joke. Our vote doesn't matter. And why does it not matter? Because WE americans have fallen silent. We refuse to insist on being heard.
Famous novelist Louis L'Amour once said, "To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain." So if anything, vote this November so that next year you have a right to complain.
I ask you, as a fellow American, to get up off your ass in the first week of November, and vote. Do not vote for anyone who wants the job. Do not vote for anyone who spends millions of dollars on advertising campaigns. In fact, I strongly urge you to ignore any persuasive attempt to alter your decision.
You already know who you should vote for.
G. K. Chesterton once said, "The average man votes below himself; he votes with half a mind or a hundredth part of one. A man ought to vote with the whole of himself, as he worships or gets married. A man ought to vote with his head and heart, his soul and stomach, his eye for faces and his ear for music; also (when sufficiently provoked) with his hands and feet. If he has ever seen a fine sunset, the crimson colour of it should creep into his vote...The question is not so much whether only a minority of the electorate votes. The point is that only a minority of the voter votes."
You don't need me to tell you who to vote for. You don't need anyone to tell you. You only need to listen to one thing: your conscience.
You already know. There is, or has been, someone in your life. Perhaps you see this person every day. Or maybe you only met them once. Yet you recall their name and deep down in your heart you know, that person would speak on your behalf. That one person would, were he or she to become president of the United States, they would at least occasionally have you in mind. They would be someone who you would be proud to have represent you and this country. Deep down you know when it really mattered, that person would do the right thing. They would make a difference.
Don't worry if you think they don't have the trumped up credentials that politicians tell you you need in order to successfully be president. Forget all that. President Harry Truman said, "All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway." I mean let's be reasonable. A trained monkey could do this.
Forget the standard limitations of our present election process. Forget that age is a constitutional limitation. If you want to vote for your son, or your niece, go ahead! Forget the fact that whoever you vote for will not win.
Philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm."
Vote your mind. Vote your heart. Vote your conscience. I ask you to go to the voting booth this November, and make your voice heard. Write in whoever you want.
What's most important, is that you vote. You can write in yourself. You can write in your favorite comic book character. You can write in your favorite president of the past. you can write in a man who once ran for president but never won. You can vote for the man on the moon. I don't care. All I ask you to do is vote. Make your voice heard. This democratic process is an illusion if you do not vote. It is our sacred duty as Americans.
Plato said, "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
We have no one to blame but ourselves, for the condition of politics in this country. We have allowed this to happen. Throughout the history of our country, men and women have shed blood and died so that you have this sacred right. Please don't ignore it.
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