You Can’t Win, So Why Bother

Tim Bean

7/26/2012

You Can’t Win Guys, So Why Bother?

As those who have read my articles here undoubtedly know, I am no big fan of either of our established political machines, more commonly known as the Democratic and Republican Parties.  I have expressed several times how I believe that outside of rhetoric they are basically the same (watch this clip from The Colbert Report to see both Mitt and Obama saying the exact same thing, or the 9:39 mark of the opening segment from The Daily Show).  The government still expands under each of their rule, both increase government regulation, both raise taxes, and both are beholden to big money special interests – not yours and mine, who they are supposed to actually represent.  I think there are many people out there who have very similar, if not the same beliefs as I do, but every election year we (well some of us) go and continue to vote the same yahoos into office and we continue to get more of the same stuff and then we continue to complain about the ineffectiveness, wasteful, inefficient, overreaching acts of government.  It has become a very sadomasochistic cycle, bordering on the absurd.

Those who have also read many of my posts know that I am a Libertarian and that I support Gary Johnson for President.  I have lost count of the number of times I have been told by people that they would vote for Gov. Johnson, but since he can’t win they would rather not “waste” their vote.  First of all there is no such thing as a wasted vote, so long as you believe in the vote that you are casting.  Then there is this whole notion of if you can’t win, then why bother.  That is what I call giving up, surrendering and just being a chicken.  If that is supposed to be the prevailing nature of human beings then I don’t think we as a species would have ever made it beyond being food for predators.  Even if we would have developed into a society like ours today, then I don’t think the hero in movies would come out victorious when facing insurmountable odds.  While we’re at it, let’s send all of the Olympians home that have no shot at winning any medal, let alone the Gold; I mean they can’t win so why bother right?  To bring it a little closer to home, if that is how we all are meant to think then there simply wouldn’t be a United States of America.

Imagine if when the members of the Continental Congress approached George Washington to be General of the Continental Army he said, “You can’t win, so why bother?”  That more than likely would have put an end to the American Revolution right then and there.  The odds were ridiculously long that those 13 colonies and their puny, poorly equipped, and even more poorly trained army of less than 17,000 men (if they were lucky to have that many) could defeat the British Army, which was everything the Continental Army wasn’t, with nearly 50,000 soldiers sent to put down our little rebellion.  The British were the superpower of their day; there was no conceivable way that a bunch of farmers and merchants could possibly defeat the professional army of Great Britain, especially when they were outnumbered 3 to 1 – but they did.  Of course to echo both Mitt’s and Obama’s comments, we didn’t do it by ourselves, we did have a little help from the French; they sent almost 8,000 of their soldiers to fight with us; leaving us still outnumbered by about 2 to 1.

If however none of these examples matter to you and you still wish to operate under the “you can’t win, so why bother” philosophy then consider that belief also runs counter to the inherent gift of Free Will that all of us have.  That little piece of pessimism essentially confirms that we enjoy being a part of the herd and not our own person.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.  ~ George Bernard Shaw