Does One Vote Count?

I stopped by the main post office in the center of Prague today (itself rather a beautiful building, but one that your average tourist might miss – Prague’s filled with stuff like that) and sent off my ballot, which may be flying across the Atlantic right now.

I feel good about that.  It makes me feel that I participated in the process, fulfilled my civic obligation, stood up and was counted in the vast, anonymous town hall of the American elections.  It gives me, perhaps falsely, a sense of moral superiority over those who don’t vote.

I say perhaps falsely because I’m not sure that one vote does count.  In the purest possible vision of democracy, far from the tarnished reality of hanging chads, rigged voting machines, massive ad spending, lies, voter disenfranchisement, it counts for about 1/300,000,000th of the total.

But the U.S. does not really have that vision of democracy.  (to be fair, there is no other country that does, either.  While some are more representative than others, there’s always some degree of corruption)  We have a winner take all system which ensures, from the get-go, that whichever party you vote for, someone who is sympathetic to business, and to Israel for god only knows what reason, will win.

Also, I am registered to vote in the last district I lived in before I left the states, and it is about as safe a Democratic district as you can get.  It’s Maxine Waters’ district.  Now, Maxine’s a bit of a crook, and everybody knows it.  She has a regular habit of giving college scholarships, and other government goodies like that, to her relatives.  But, it’s such a safe district that the only guy running against her, fellow Democrat Bob Flores, is not even really mounting a serious campaign.  So, I voted for her, but it was really pointless.

I also voted for Dianne Feinstein, even though she’s a much bigger crook than Maxine Waters, and has funneled so much money into her husband’s business over the years that they might as well be Republicans.  But they’re not,and there’s that whole thing about committee chairmanships and voting for Obama’s appointees and stuff like that.

And, of course, I voted for Obama.   But, he was going to win California with or without me.