Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Should Be Voting For

Should Be Voting For

I will add that nobody wants to be told who they should be voting for.

And yes: This is especially true when the people talking down to you are of that certain class.

You know the class I am talking about.

That class of people who will get on their private jets and fly away when everything they pushed for begins to tear the country apart.

Let me be clear. In my mind, this is not about wealth. I love wealthy people. Heck, I want to be wealthy. And as long as wealth is obtained thru voluntary exchange, I want as many people as possible to be wealthy.

This is about being talked down to.

For people will not tolerate it – no matter what you are worth.

No independent voter, disenchanted with the Republicans but struggling to pay his bills, wants to hear about what he should be doing or whom he should be voting for from some spectacularly wealthy “artiste” who lives in a compound in Hollywood—far from the pain and daily toil of ordinary Americans.

-Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw

The Most Beneficial Hallucination

The Most Beneficial Hallucination
The most beneficial hallucination today might be a functioning democracy?

Democracy is a hallucination, not in the sense that it does not work or does not exist.

Democracy is a hallucination because it gives the voter a sense of input and control that does probably does not exist.

Your Facebook and Twitter posts didn’t change anyone’s mind – and your vote is not going to change a Presidential election.

There is a better chance of you winning the MegaMillions lottery – multiple times – than your Presidential vote swinging the outcome.

However, if everyone believes this, democracy falls apart, right?

This might all be true for voting.

But what about the larger context?

What if everything you do matters?

As I got older, and more aware of my mental limitations, I came to understand that my vote adds nothing to the quality of the outcome. As far as I can tell, no one else adds intelligence to the election outcome either, but most voters think they do. And that illusion is necessary to support the government. It gives the voters a sense of empowerment and buy-in. That creates national stability. The democracy illusion is probably one of the most beneficial hallucinations humankind has ever concocted. If you think democracy works, and you act as if it works, it does work.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly
Sterling Terrell