So,
Compared to the first two reasons, this last reason is like a sprig of parsley sitting next to the main course. I include it though because in my own search for the answer of what can be done, this fact spurred me on to keep looking. Prior to the 2008 presidential election, I was in a position that was probably very similar politically to the person who asked why people don't vote. I was part of the Ron Paul Revolution and luckily for me, I was living in Nevada at the time. Most people probably don't know this but the Ron Paul Revolution won the Nevada Republican caucus but the record books won't show this.
Not even with an asterisk?
Not even.
Going into this process, I understood that the game was rigged and that the 1% picked two acceptable candidates to represent the two faces of the one-party system. I understood that the media companies the 1% own (all of them) programmed viewers to choose one or the other and disparaged any candidates other than the two they found acceptable. My Democrat friends had been swept up in the Hopey Changey mantra and I admit that I was too although I knew that with Obama, there was no hope for change. They still went with their guy even though many of them had a gut feeling that he would not change anything but they so *wanted* to believe. I wanted change to and I found myself more involved in the political process than I had ever been and I was shown exactly how pointless it all was.
The grass roots campaign for Ron Paul had been strong across the entire nation but in Nevada, we rocked! People took classes on how the caucus works and parliamentary procedure, went door to door, set up call centers, and made plans to win the caucus. It worked too, incredibly, amazingly well. Ron Paul won precinct after precinct and county after county. Going into state caucus, there was an air of excitement because it was a sure thing that Ron Paul was going to win and even though the politically small state of Nevada would not change the outcome of the election, it would be a great moral victory and possibly garner attention for future elections.
Stickin' it to the 1%.
Even in losing, that would have felt good.
At the state caucus, it quickly became apparent to the Republican National Committee (of the 1%) that Ron Paul was going to win the caucus and do so unanimously or nearly so. Again, this would have no effect on the election but it would be a moral victory for the people and the 1% may have seen this as Smaug's missing scale. This small opening, this chink in the armor, this giving of hope to the people that they can actually make a change could not be allowed. It would only encourage people to continue to attempt to change the system. To make sure that never happened, the caucus was closed, the results locked in a casino vault, and the RNC hand picked McCain supporters and sent them to the national convention.
That probably saves a lot of time too. They should just do that every time.
That would take away from the fake drama created by the fake system.
Of course, the Ron Paul Revolution did not just shrug their shoulders and walk away. They filed a complaint with the RNC who reviewed what had happened. They sided with the Ron Paul supporters and said that what was done was wrong and they dismissed the McCain supporters that were set at the state level. The RNC replaced the dismissed delegates with McCain supporters that they hand picked themselves.
That seems fair.
GIGO.
The happy ending to this story, for me personally, was an unwavering knowledge that you can't change a rigged system from within the system and a better understanding of just how rigged the system is. Going into the process, I understood that we had to fight against media blackouts, which would change to intense mudslinging if we managed to garner some attention. I knew that the media would continue to steer the mindless Republicans and Democrats into fighting for the candidates chosen to be the front runners for either side (the idiocy of the horse-race mentality) and that the sheer number of zombies would crush any chance of Ron Paul getting elected. I knew that we weren't going to win but I truly thought, hoped, that we would make some small difference.
A naivete bested only by Obama supporters.
Which is only bested by those who voted for Obama a second time.
I was stunned for a while with the blatancy of the cheating that was involved and the motto of a government for the people, by the people still makes me want to hurl. The American people are not allowed to have a say in anything that the 1% deems important, especially who is going to "represent" them. This is a government for the 1%, by the 1%. I suppose that it always has been although in the past, they used to try to conceal it better and be more subtle in telling the American people to "Suck it!" Those days are gone. Obama's promise of transparency is one that he has actually kept, just not in the way that he was pretending that he would. He has openly served the 1% and has embraced the use of violence in a way that probably gives Cheney wet dreams.
I don't vote because every vote is a wasted vote. The system is designed to give people a false sense of control in order to keep them from looking for actual solutions which are outside of the system. It's a mental prison that keeps people under control and productive. Keeping people under control through the explicit use of force is expensive, creates physical resistance, and can sway public support to the people being oppressed. It's much better for the rulers if people will voluntarily submit to the rules and they probably laugh about having people actually vote to have their human rights stripped away.
Once your mind escapes this Matrix-like system, you can never look at it the same ever again. Like Neo, I was looking for an answer, always feeling uneasy with how things were. The Ron Paul Revolution was my red pill. I won't kid you into thinking that it was an easy thing to wrap my head around but I will add that there is no way that I would ever intentionally go back to that level of ignorance or naivete. I know that there is still a long, uphill battle in getting the changes that I want but knowing that my choice is ethical and makes sense logically and that even if I discarded those two aspects, I wouldn't be able to change the rigged system anyway, knowing these things, I have found great peace of mind in this area of my life.