For the sake of it.

Recursive loops are the little snags in the otherwise flawless tapestry of logical thought. So many times today I have heard that I need to "do the responsible thing," "act as a responsible citizen," or simply to "be responsible." Why?

Because it's the responsible thing to do.

I know it's childish, but I mean it when I say that this attitude baffles me. This is a child saying "why?" and hearing "because." This is a dog running after ball that someone feinted to throw. This is a game. No one wins.

It seems like that's a shared idea across the board. Those who try their hardest to convince me to vote tell me that I shouldn't think of it as a matter of someone winning, I should think of it as a matter of someone losing. They want Bush to lose, not Kerry to win. They want Keyes to lose, but who doesn't?

Is that the purpose here? We do this dance every four years to try to scare off our enemies, to keep the angry volcano spirit from spitting his wrath on our petty infant nation and all it assures is that it'll keep us running. Would it kill these people to just stop and look about themselves?

The passionate "vote vote vote for the love of all that is holy this is your last day on earth unless you vote vote vote oh my gosh the sky falls and falls and the only way to stop it is to vote vote vote lookit my pretty sticker vote vote vote" crowd seems so ingenuine to me. Their ideals don't match their actions. They want me to vote so badly (someone actually cried at me today -- real tears -- because I had missed my chance to absentee) but they'd just lose their minds if I voted for Bush. They'd die if I voted for LaRouche. They'd kill me if I voted for Buchanan. So what does it matter if I vote vote vote since you're only satisfied when I vote for your guy? Isn't that like you getting two votes?

My kingdom for some democracy.