Lessons Learned the Day I Refused to Vote

There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing your vote doesn’t count. I’m a white male conservative who lives in California, and I can hear one of you saying, “There’s your problem,” and you’re right, that is a problem. The white male conservative vote (and, for that matter, the white female conservative vote) means nothing in a state run by women and minorities who vote Democrat.

I have been voting for 20 years, and in that time I have only seen the state slide further down the slope of progressive deviancy, with Democrat “Super Majorities” now the norm, and Republicans who …. well, who don’t do very much.

My vote has not made one lick of a difference in this state. When it has with specific state propositions, those same propositions are then challenged by the opposition and overturned in court. My vote means nothing in this state.

Yesterday we had our primary in California for the governor’s race and a few other races. On the GOP side we had a fellow named Neel Kashkari, whom the GOP establishment, from old guard Pete Wilson to the recent wanna-be presidential buffoon Mitt Romney, faithfully endorsed and provided with millions and millions of dollars. On the Tea Party side we had a fellow named Tom Donnelly, who was not endorsed, or acknowledged, by the CA GOP, and was forced to run his campaign on a very limited budget.

Right off the bat the GOP pissed me off by once again going “moderate” while ignoring the conservative side. In fact, they didn’t ignore Donnelly, they sabotaged him. Convinced they can’t win with a conservative, the CA GOP picked up and flooded money to a white Arab “diversity hire” who is more Democrat than Republican, and who thinks the greatest threat to the state is Jerry Brown’s high speed rail train linking Northern California to Southern California when, duh, there is absolutely no public outcry against the project, in spite of the overspending and usual allegedly corrupt shenanigans.

On the day of the primary, I said the hell with it. I’ve been pouring water into the ocean in an attempt to raise the level for 20 years, and I’m tired of it. The results were predictable. Tim “Have a Little Tea on Me” Donnelly got 14%, Neel “I Voted for Obama” Kashkari got 18%. The state suffered it’s lowest voter turnout in history, because what difference does it make? Here’s what’s going to happen between now and November:

Mr. Kashkari has (a) no chance and (b) might confuse voters into thinking they’re looking at a terrorist no-fly list rather than a ballot. Once this attitude takes root, there will be desperate lunges for relevance as he tries to rope in the Tea Party, who will have nothing to do with him because they’re again being ignored. Interviews will go viral in their stupidity that are not necessarily on the level of “the whole thing shuts down” variety but they will be close. He may even offer challenges to Brown–debates, etc.–who won’t bother to show up …. because he doesn’t have to. Kashkari will blow up like a supernova while Brown sails to victory in a landslide. The CA GOP will claim a moral victory because they offered a candidate who wasn’t the usual WASP, but will still go to bed after the general election wondering why the left still hates them.

Not voting yesterday was not an easy decision. I was off from work, the poling place is a five minute drive from the house, and I could have taken the time rather than spend all day on the couch watching rubbish on television. I almost caved and went. Just because. But I held firm. When I woke up this morning, I realized my mistake. It’s one thing to give up on the process, but another to not make a last stand. I should have gone to vote for Donnelly. Considering his numbers, it would have been yet another disappointment, my vote would have meant nothing, and I would have justified the decision to not participate in the general election. But, like Custer, at least I would have taken that last shot

So, yeah, I’m done voting as long as I live in California, but I hear good things about Texas. Your vote means something and you can even get machine guns there.

BRIAN DRAKE’s latest thriller is The Rogue Gentleman: Mine to Avenge, available at Amazon.Com.