NOTA Bene, Redux

Photo Credit: K a P p Y || At this rate, maybe we should legitimize selling votes, after all money controls the system

Eight years ago I wrote the post NOTA Bene. I felt then, and still feel now that the duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats is harming the US, and is leading to polarization of politics. Invoking the Founding Fathers, they did not want political parties. Let people stand on their own, and make their case to the public.

But no, the Republicans and Democrats make it hard for others to run against them. As such, we need NOTA, “None of the Above” to be a choice on our ballots. If NOTA wins, the election must be redone, and two months later, a new election is held where the prior losers (in every sense of the term) are forbidden from running.

Tonight I offer an enhancement to NOTA. There could be a type of NOTA where parties are not allowed to nominate candidates if NOTA wins. This would have the salient benefit that parties would nominate more centrist candidates in order to avoid a situation where they would have no one running in the second election, if NOTA were to win the first election.

Particularly in this Presidential election, where both both candidates are old, and incapable of any serious reasoning, NOTA is a choice that is far superior. We could clear away both Trump and Biden, and their parties as well. What could be simpler?

Let’s bring politics to the center, and eliminate the power of ideologues who gain power through the primary system. As NOTA ended tyranny in the Soviet Union, let it end dopeyness in America.