On November 2nd, I'm not going to vote. 60% of you want to kick my ass and the rest probably don't give a shit. "This is the most important election of our time," I've heard most of the people I've spoken with say. Is it really? Maybe, but I refuse to vote in protest. Not in protest of the most important election of our time, but in protest of voting and our election process.

I am convinced that you and I rushing to the voting polls or filling out our absentee ballots has absolutely no effect on who is to become the leader of the free world. Do you really think that they would trust us with that power?

The Last "Election". Was it Bush or Gore who won? It seems pretty obvious that what transpired was a little "fishy." You can make your own decision as to what happened, but let's just say the winner isn't sitting in the Oval office. The winner didn't start a war with Iraq.

The Electoral College. I did a report on the Electoral College in junior high and it seemed pretty clear then and even clearer now that the Electoral College does not in any way benefit the people in the electing of a president. The history of the Electoral College on the Federal Elections Commission's website (www.fec.gov) clearly shows that the Electoral College is at best outdated and never represented democracy:

"Direct election [of the President] was rejected not because the Framers of the Constitution doubted public intelligence but rather because they feared that without sufficient information about candidates from outside their State, people would naturally vote for a "favorite son" from their own State or region. At worst, no president would emerge with a popular majority sufficient to govern the whole country. At best, the choice of president would always be decided by the largest, most populous States with little regard for the smaller ones."

So the Electoral College was formed:

"Finally, a so-called 'Committee of Eleven' in the Constitutional Convention proposed an indirect election of the president through a College of Electors.

The function of the College of Electors in choosing the president can be likened to that in the Roman Catholic Church of the College of Cardinals selecting the Pope. The original idea was for the most knowledgeable and informed individuals from each State to select the president based solely on merit and without regard to State of origin or political party."

Based on a religious ruling system. Interesting.

The Candidates. Since when did having two choices become better than more than two choices when you are hiring someone? And this someone just happens to have so much power that he controls the fate of the world. This someone will decide on the health and education of our children. This someone will decide who gets jobs and who doesn't, who prospers and who doesn't, who lives and who dies. With that in mind, shouldn't we have as many choices as there are willing people to do it? It's actually not that great of a job--which is why the main reason to be president is that you can benefit your other ventures by giving favors to your friends.

One really good concept the men who wrote The Constitution had was "that gentlemen should not campaign for public office." The saying was "The office should seek the man, the man should not seek the office."

Shouldn't we be seeking out whom we want to be our next leader, not voting for the lesser of two evils? Is that democracy? When it comes down to it, a large part of my conscience does not want to vote merely because I don't care and I don't think it matters. Bush or Kerry will get into office and to me they are the same, rich white corporate politicians.

I believe that voting is a scam, a smokescreen continually implemented over the years as an empty exercise to make the American people think they have some say in what will happen. What we need here is a complete overhaul of the system.

What should we do?. After exploration of a number of different political parties I have decided that the parties themselves have got to go. A good analogy of a party would be a gang. It's a group of people with lots of power watching each other's back. Political parties are a group of homies in three piece suits, looking out for each other and making sure the gang in power gets the most kick-back.

If there were no parties, there would be no voting along party lines and no left and right group of people--just left and right on issues and the issues would decide who should be president.

As far as Campaign Finance Reform, candidates shouldn't be allowed to accept any contributions from individuals or corporations. If our tax dollars should be going for anything, it's for reforming our system and what better place to start than how our president is elected?

Every candidate should get equal press coverage--equal time in front of the people--and the people can choose whether or not to access it, but at least we will have information. There should be a standard televised interview of each candidate asking them the same questions and also allowing them to tell us why they should be president.

How will not voting help us get there? To tell you the truth I don't know if it will, but I do agree that our greatest two powers as Americans are as voters and as consumers. What if no one voted? What do you think would happen? Let's say, for arguments sake, that an overwhelming number of eligible voters did not vote. There are two scenarios:

Either nothing happens and the political machine that we have created will go on working as always. Would this not be proof that your vote does not count? And would you not be angry? Would you finally see that we are helpless if we continue down this path and that something must be done?

Or it is such an unusual experience that something happens? We will see that we do have some power. We will see that we can have an effect on what happens to the future of the United States of America. Maybe we will learn to use it, and to use it for good. To pull together the American people and unite them in a struggle to make our country a great place to live no matter who you are.

If you really want to rock the vote, don't. But it will only work if we all get on the tracks and stop this train.