Fullest Sack of S*** of The Week: Extremists in Denial

Mr. Blunt and Cranky lugged a supertanker full o’ snark at certain members of the Loony Left this week, for being so insistent on having unattainable perfection that they wind up causing great harm by refusing to support the merely good. He did so (if he may say so himself, and he does; yes, he does) in a rude, caustic, bellicose and generally crappy tone. Not surprisingly, a fair few Loony Lefties took offense, and quite justifiably so. However, the obnoxious tone of the post did not render the point contained therein invalid.

As has been said before, this is not a blog that pulls punches or in any way pretends to be anything other than…well, blunt and cranky. However, the tone and topic selection are neither random nor accidental, and the style is not something based on a whim or too much Scotch. In fact, the blog is deliberately written in a very specific manner and for a very specific purpose: to get the attention of people who are living in bubbles, stuck in ruts, or deep in denial.

The specific reality being denied this week is that sitting out an election fails to impact the outcome (yes, some people actually believe this) of said election. Or that voting third-party fails to impact the outcome of an election. Both of these mindsets are mind-bogglingly stupid. (We shall exclude those who accept that their votes impact the outcome: that is not stupid, in fact it is refreshingly honest and can lead to some awesomely fun debates.)

No one with at least a third-grade education would deny that failing to put quarters into a piggy bank has an effect on the amount of money in said piggy bank: nor would they deny that spending a quarter on candy instead of saving it has a like impact on the amount of money in said piggy bank. Indeed, if you tried to argue the point, most of us would be calling for the “nice young men in their clean white coats” to come and take you away (apologies to Jerry Samuels).

But change “quarter” and “piggy bank” to “vote” and “ballot box”, and a surprising number of people seem to think that basic math takes a holiday. If that is not loony; denial; stupid; or any of the other pejorative terms this blogger has flung across the ether of late, he’ll eat the back tires off your tractor after it has been driven through a sewage lagoon.

Every vote counts, the more so since many states are trying to suppress the votes of anyone to the left of the Teabaggers. When votes are suppressed from one population (the elderly, the poor, the black, etc.) then our votes are even more important, because we have to make up the difference. We can’t control the bought-and-paid-for courts, we can’t control the corrupt and crooked lawmakers and election officials, all we can do is get our arses to the polls, and drag our friends with us. Thus do we show solidarity and support for our fellow Americans who have had their voting rights stripped away: by using our own.

And to anyone who thinks that their vote does not matter, or that they can take an election off so as to make some sort of hifalutin point: less than 600 Gore votes in Florida would have changed the course of world history in 2000. Six-Fucking-Hundred votes out of Millions. If just that teeny tiny number of people had not been in denial (or smugly sitting on their high horses, or complacent, etc.), then we would likely have had no Iraq war, no 9/11, no deficit, no Patriot Act, and so on. A few hundred people understanding that one sometimes must choose the lesser of two evils, lest the worst of the two should triumph: understanding, and then acting against the greater evil.


Your vote DOES matter, and has an impact. Everyone’s vote DOES matter and has an impact. We must all nut up and admit that our votes (or non-votes) come with consequences: most especially, we have to admit it to ourselves.
Mr. B & C
http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/fullest-sack-of-s-of-the-week-extremists-in-denial/