You're too stupid and irresponsible to vote, and you should never do it. While this may not apply directly to you, the reader, it most certainly does apply to the majority of U.S. citizens who take it upon themselves to impose their beliefs and ideals on everyone else, in the world ostensibly (more on that later,) by participating in quadrennial pageants known as “Presidential elections.” Take aside the fact that the voting public refuses to understand the true purpose and meaning of ethical behavior, which should be the guiding principal behind government and economics, but is not, and just consider the fact that if these elections did have any real binding outcome on laws, regulations or policies that mattered in the day-to-day lives of people living in the United States, those voting in them are too fucking stupid and banal to be tasked with appointing the people that should create and enforce these things. It should be understood that this is by design, by allowing the voting public to participate in the political process, they are placated in their role and believe that they have power and determine their own collective fate. The argument is not being made that modern democracy has not played a role in the civil rights movement, abolition, equal rights, freedom of speech, etc... but the reality is that the role has been very minor. In every case of a true catalyst evoking freedom, the major causes have been civil unrest, with the threat of revolution, and money. Bottom, fucking, line.
So what is to be done about the fact that the general public has been hoodwinked into their own unwitting complacency by the promise of an equal ground through representative democracy? First, get angry, that has almost already been done with the Occupy movement, but let's be honest it's died down pretty quickly. Second, relax, because this existing relationship between conflict-of-interest regulated Capitalism, and opiate-of-the-masses Democracy is a house of cards. Both of the ideals which are meant to drive these naturally evolutionary ideologies are mutually exclusive of one another. A truly capitalist environment requires no governing, which is why right leaning business leaders want deregulation at all cost. A truly democratic, full-fledged government has no room for free enterprise, because the market makes too many decisions at too fast a pace for any voting based format to keep up with, and therefore it must stifle the growth of the market to allow itself to keep up.
Now, it should be clear that an unbridled capitalist market should destroy all forms of governing, simply due to the fact that the greed of the individual will always outweigh the altruism of the group, the altruistic group by nature will destroy itself for the benefit of all, while the greedy individual will consume for the sake of themselves at any cost. There is a fail safe however built into a free-market mentality, though, and that is that it is in fact not at the benefit of the individual to destroy the environment in which the market exists because the consumer base would be destroyed along with it. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 once described in an interview the idea that, the purpose of a successful capitalist is to re-invest in the infrastructure in which their success is built. This allows for further growth of the successful business venture which is spreading the growth, as well as a better educated, healthier, and intellectually advanced consumer base. The acceptance of these principals is dependent on the idea that business firms accept the concept that if they provide the best possible product, they will succeed, and not if they fool the consumer, they will profit. Let it be understood, that following the later ideology will prove short-sighted and will end in the demise of the firm, while striving for the former will lead to better business, better environments and better quality of life for the consumer base.
These concepts are important because it is necessary to understand where things can go, if driven properly. As of the current moment, the majority of individuals in the United States are enthralled with the idea that one day they might get rich, so they may as well be cheerleaders for the ultra rich now, because, “Gee wouldn't it be swell to be an asshole like them!” If you are a cynic, like the author, and if you've made it this far, you most likely are, you are probably struggling to come up with more than a handful of companies who appear to be striving for the benefit at all using profit as the means. They essentially do not exist, non-profit companies generally have the right idea, but are mired in their inability to create new and exciting goods and services to benefit the world and push technology and the human race forward because of the struggle to keep their business out of debt. The model of a successful business doesn't need to change, the model of executives sitting on massive bank accounts is what needs to go.
If a corporation existed on an island, with no governmental intervention or existence, what so ever, it's needs would only slightly change. It would need to provide security, infrastructure (food, electricity, sewage, etc...), and education for it's employees and their families. All of these things are done by private sector enterprises now, in most cases better than the government does them, so what would prevent our hypothetical business from absorbing those endeavors itself? Assume these things are done, at an acceptable rate, the employees are happy with the schools their children are in, the food they eat and the homes they live in (a la Hank Scorpio and Globex Corp. in the Simpsons.) The business is free to continue with it's goal of providing the best products possible for the outside market. In order to provide the best innovation, quality and profit margins, it needs the best people. In order to attract the best people, they must have the best schools, infrastructure, and environment to meet the needs of the top-notch workers they need to attract. We have just created a capitalist world economy, where socialist ideals are provided by the corporations and at higher standards than they exist in the modern, “developed world.”
This precludes a lot of things that the human race should have, and will hopefully one-day take for granted. Across the board equal human rights, the eradication of racism, sexism, homophobia and religion. Free speech would not be an issue, because free speech is necessary in a successful business environment to allow for unfettered innovation. And the general understanding that no individual may do any harm to any other individual for any reason, ethics.
This is where the world might be headed, it remains to be seen if complacent voting, and buying the cheapest, most convenient clothes will get us there, but most likely not. In stead the media, government, and large, evil-doing corporations will continue to play the U.S. voting public against itself in a never-ending game of “Red Vs. Blue” until a second civil war starts up again and we all kill one another, while Europe watches. Either way, you and I will be dead by then, so why give a fuck right?