To the normies…

We all know it’s more productive to vote than to spend your energy trying to explain emotional issues to someone who is ideologically incapable of understanding them. Let’s face it: you’re not going to convince Uncle Alfred that climate change is a hoax by shouting over Thanksgiving dinner. Voting, though? That’s the real deal.

Selling yourself, your country, and your community out just to feel good in the moment? Hard pass. If you think virtue signaling helps, it’s like giving your dog a treat for barking at the wind—it feels good but does nothing to change the weather.

Now, you might be wondering, “Where are we?” “Why would they do that?” and the all-time favorite, “Are they fucking serious?” Congrats, you’ve just asked the top three questions in politics. Just throw a dart, and you’ll find a media program, news headline, or social media post that makes you ask at least one of them.

Oh, and political polls? They’re horoscopes written by a partisan with a math degree. Sure, they throw some numbers around, but they’re about as reliable as your cousin’s astrology app predicting you will find true love next week.

To be a competent voter, you need at least two of three things: knowledge, attitude, or brains. Take your pick. But seriously, if you’re lacking two of those, maybe just stay home and, I don’t know, read up on the issues?

Campaign wins? Pure luck most of the time. Two wins in a row? That’s luck, plus uninformed voters. But three wins? That’s when things start looking a little… shall we say… suspicious.

California Communism.

Here in California, where the progressive communist democrats rule the state with an iron hand, we are overwhelmed by deceptive and misleading ballot propositions placed on the ballot by politicians and their special interests, not the public.

To add insult to injury, the uni-party, which controls the corrupt Attorney General’s office, massages and manipulates the propositions with misleading, false, deceptive, and confusing titles to confuse and confound voters into voting against their own interests.

The only remedy is to sue for corrections. Unfortunately, cases are often heard by activist judges who are skilled at delaying their rulings until the last minute—and after progressive media propagandists have saturated the public with deceptive rhetoric.

It is not unusual to find hidden tax increases and loose restrictions that allow for repurposing bond money from one cause to another. Or find that infrastructure is used as collateral for state loans or is manipulated by sale and leaseback agreements. Or a tranch of money in a so-called lockbox has been replaced with a worthless state IOU.

Consider Proposition 5, which guts Proposition 13, a measure that requires the assessment of each taxable property based on its fair market value and limits a property owner’s general levy tax to 1 percent of the assessed value. Of course, the measure doesn’t say it guts Proposition 13; it “allows local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure with 55% voter approval.” Sounds relatively innocent for a massive tax increase.

Proposition 33, Rent Control, expands local governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property. This alters private property rights and makes investing in income property a risky proposition.

Or Proposition 32, which raises minimum wages and destroys entry-level jobs. The idea that a burger-flipper should earn $35,000 or more plus benefits is ludicrous.

Look at Proposition 2, which authorizes $10 billion in general obligation bonds for the repair, upgrade, and construction of facilities at K–12 public schools (including charter schools), community colleges, and career technical education programs, including for improving health and safety conditions and classroom upgrades.

Look closer, and you may find that this is $10 billion or more of state debt, is to be spent on unspecified expenditures in school districts with money flowing to politically connected consultants and union contractors without fair bidding procedures--or siphoned off to pay off teachers’ unions. And the progressive communist democrats are continuing their fight against charter schools on behalf of the corrupt teachers’ unions who believe they own your children and parental rights harm children.

Gay marriage was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, yet the Democrats need to get out the gay vote, hence Proposition 3, to recognize a fundamental right to marry, regardless of sex or race.

Proposition 4 funds the money machine that is climate change. Yes, we want clean water, land, and air. We don’t want our progressive communist democrats to kill fossil fuels, including clean-burning natural gas, and destroy the energy lifeblood of our economy.

Proposition 6 purports to end slavery by removing current provisions that allow jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude to punish crime. It will enable prisoners to unionize and demand pay hikes from taxpayers for cleaning their cells and maintaining the grounds.

Proposition 35 is a tax increase on healthcare, permanently increasing the existing tax on managed healthcare insurance plans.

There are many bad things on the ballot, and it takes an informed Californian to decode and discern the truth. Want to see for yourself? Look at the California Official General Election Voter Information Guide.

Bottom line…

At the end of the day, real change happens when people get out and vote.

It’s not about feeling good momentarily by posting the perfect tweet or crafting an argument that’ll never change anyone’s mind. It’s about showing up, making your voice heard, and refusing to let anyone—or any flawed political poll—steer your future.

So next time you’re tempted to dive into a social media shouting match or stare blankly at another pollster’s prediction, remember: voting is the one action that’s exponentially more important than all the noise. It’s like showing up to the gym of democracy—you don’t get stronger by just talking about it. You’ve got to lift; in this case, lifting means showing up at the ballot box.

And who knows, maybe someday we’ll stop asking, “Are they fucking serious?” and start asking, “How do we fix this?” But until then, vote like your democracy depends on it—because it probably does.

Remember, folks: vote as early as possible to avoid election day glitches, and don’t sell yourself and your country short.

Steve