Why I Don't Vote

Today was election day here in the state of Louisiana. While I did very little research on one candidate for governor, I decided this morning not to vote. I simply can not vote for people just for the sake of preventing another person from getting into office. All of the candidates sing the same song, but once the election is over everything goes back to hell. Nothing changes and you wait another four years to listen to people beg for your vote, and trash the city with all their paraphernalia. Unfortunately when it comes to voting, just like everything else, people are voting against a candidate because of their race. Perfect example: the mayoral race after Katrina. People voted for Nagin because they didn't want a white man (Mitch Landrieu) in office. Eventhough Landrieu was clearly the better candidate, he lost because black people didn't want to vote for someone who could move this city forward. Black people decided to vote based upon some conspiracy theory that all of the white people were trying to push all of the black people out of office and the city. And here we are almost three years after Katrina and nothing has changed for the better. I understand that people marched and died for our right to vote. But what people need to understand is that those people marched and died so that we could exercise our right to vote or not to vote. There is a difference in being told you can't vote as opposed to deciding not to vote. I am not saying that I am right in all of this because if I came across a candidate I thought was sincere in wanting to help his or her city or state, then I would vote for that person. Hell I would even campaign for the person. Pass out literature in the heat. But I don't see any sincerity in any candidate for any political seat. I guess in a perfect world elections would be about change for the better; not because of black or white.