Giant Douche & Turd Sandwich

Mr. None-of-the-above may soon run the world

I must be more of a pragmatist than I thought I were, because the many political acts attempted to "signal" the public's opinion or dissatisfaction -- utterly wasteful of time and resources yet with no concrete changes effected -- annoy me to absolutely no end.

Let's not even go into the little show the Democrats and Republicans put on for us last night. I've seen enough reality-tv-absurb finger-pointing shouting matches, I don't think we need to see that on CNN or front page news as well.

While I'm all for the masses (and esp. the powerless) having their voices heard, I think peaceful demonstrations, writing to your whatever-politician, grassroot organizations, and other similar means have been and still are the most useful and efficient forms of aggregating or representing public opinion.

"Symbolic actions" within the political system and procedures, on the other hand, is nothing but the relevant individuals' or groups' pathetic need to leave a mark in the history books. This pitiful desire for exhibitionism causes society incredible losses in time, resources, and progress, leading to stalemate and uncertainty in the political process.

The only positive I see out of it is my own selfish motives as a theorist. It would be interesting to analyze and observe how a change of rule in this direction would change how politicians act and conduct themselves. My first guess would be that if status quo rules while Mr. None-of-the-above is elected, it will lead to more irresponsible and self-interested policy choices on the part of the incumbent, because, all else equal, there's now a higher likelihood that he might stay in power for longer.

Grrreat.