At some point, most Americans have asked themselves this question… Does my vote count? The short answer is "Yes... by not by much". In the grand scheme of things, believing that one vote every two to four years counts, is like believing that feeding you children every two to four years will keep them healthy. Our system is one that is (and needs to be) fed weekly, daily and even minute-by-minute by the very thing that drives it… money. Money is what makes the world go round and that includes politics. If you’re not voting for products and services like you’re voting for candidates, then you could be unwittingly voting for candidates that you would otherwise despise.
Take Hermann Von Siemens for example. He was CEO of the Siemens AG Corporation back before the start of World War II. Siemens was a major player in helping the Nazi party rebuild the German Army, improve infrastructure and would eventually help put in place the mechanisms that drove the Holocaust. Had the world known what was going on behind the scenes, the Nazi party may have never come to be and we might have saved ourselves an entire World War simply because people would have quit buying from Siemens.
A more recent example was from the Standing Rock, oil pipeline protests. Most of the credit goes out to the brave men and women who stood and fought for their rights but a major credit needs to go out to the city of Seattle as well. Their city council voted to stop using Wells Fargo as their “bank of choice” because of their involvement in funding the pipeline. The city of Seattle cycles about $3 billion a year through Wells Fargo and keeps an average balance of 10 to 30 million dollars each day. It may not have been enough to stop the pipeline but it was definitely a move in the right direction. Had a few more cities rogered up and joined in the boycott, the end result may have played out very differently.
That is the true power of money and also why people have more power than they realize. It’s far more effective than simply “going to the polls” every two to four years. People have the ability to vote every single time they lay down a dollar or swipe their credit card. Now, realistically most people are not going to spend their entire day googling every product they buy, but then you don’t really need to. The easiest way to do it is by looking at our nation’s leaders, policies and their proposed legislation and decide whether or not you agree with them. If you don’t like what they’re doing then don’t support any of the businesses that are contributing to their campaign. If you agree with them then buy to your heart’s delight. Either way, follow the money.
But what if you can’t follow the money? Simple… don’t support them at all. If they’re not transparent with who’s providing them with campaign contributions, chances are, they’re special interest groups (PACs, SuperPACs). In that case, you wouldn’t want to hire them to unclog your toilet, let alone control any kind of political office. Hidden contributions are nothing short of political deception. If you can’t trace the money, it’s because they have something to hide.
Bottom line is, keep going to the polls and voting for who you think is the best candidate for the job. It’s still very important. But if you really want your vote to count, then vote with your dollar and eventually the candidates that end up on the ballot will be higher caliber people.