Rant Tuesday: Being the Minority of a Democracy Sucks

Rant Tuesdays are for... ranting. Maybe one day I'll actually do my research, but it's just more therapeutic to spout vaguely supported ideas based on questionable statistics, verifiability be damned. Today's inspiration:

Being the minority in a democratic state sucks.

We've had our primaries recently, and as I have discovered since I've started voting, a few initiatives of questionable importance are being put on the ballot every time California holds an election of any sort. And as expected, the ballot results are not what I wanted.

I keep feeling like I'm wasting my time leafing through the election guide pamphlet and actually reading the text of the laws. Who gives a damn whether I've actually come to an informed decision or not, I only have one vote and if the result turns out one way instead of the other none of it really matters. It's not like if a vote goes 51% to 49% (as most propositions end up being), then the actual policy is suppose to meet halfway between one solution and another. Nope. It means half the people are happy and the other half gets screwed. Guess which end of the stick I'm more likely to be on.

It's not like I can really make a change either. I'm a firm believer that intelligent debate is useless. People will pay you lip service for you to get off their backs, but their anonymous vote won't change. If you want an actual behavior change, you either deceive or threaten. Otherwise why bother? I like my opinion better than yours, I don't care if it's prejudiced or factually incorrect, I'm comfortable with what I believe and no amount of truth or reasoning changes that. It's the path of least resistance. Funny thing, a majority of people like taking that path.

So I'm basically stuck. I can either choose to be blissfully ignorant or principally discontent. In the end, happiness be damned, you can pry my principles out of my cold, dead hand. That, and the single vote that I still have... and if the majority has anything to say about it, something I might actually lose in my lifetime, and wouldn't it be a bitch when that happens.