In case you haven't heard, there was a presidential election yesterday. They say it was the MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME! Instead of freaking out, let's take a step back and check our perspective.
My name is Ryan and I am an agorist. Today, we are talking about the election aftermath.
I don't know if you have heard, but we just experienced the most important election of our lifetime. At least, that's what I have been told by friends and family from all political persuasions. The funny thing is that I have heard the same about every election that has happened in my lifetime.
Either every presidential election truly is the most important election of our lifetime, or this is all just political speak used to get people invested in electoral politics. I lean toward the latter being the truth. Politicians use democracy to give people the illusion of control. If you criticize what these politicians do, then you are told that you should have voted harder or been more involved in the process. This illusion only holds up if people continue to vote and take part in the system.
The thing is, no matter how many of these elections happen, the government keeps growing, and our freedom keeps shrinking. This isn't because of how much we vote or don't vote. It's because of evil people in government doing evil things.
So, what do we do? If voting doesn't make the difference, then what does?
Agorism is what makes the difference. Focusing on you and your family is what makes the difference. Imagine if people took all that time and energy that they put into pointless political action and instead put it into making their lives better?
This has been a hard year in so many ways, but for me and my family it has actually been pretty incredible. We used the stupid COVID "lockdown" to prepare our house to sell. Then, on the very day that realtors were allowed to go back to work (yup, you heard that right, even realtors weren't allowed to work in PA for a time), we found someone to sell our house.
We have since sold that house and moved all the way down to Florida. For a little more than we sold our home in PA for, we purchased three acres of wooded land and a big, beautiful manufactured home. In fact, we closed on our land and home today. Woohoo!
While in PA, we had one growing season. Here in Florida, we have at least three growing seasons! We are learning what can be planted when so that we can best take advantage of the climate here. As soon as we have our home, we are getting chickens and goats. Rather than using city water and sewage, we will have well water a septic tank. Out back, we have a spring-fed lake. If we ever need extra water, we are set! Our land is in the dead center of the Ocala National Forest. You can't go there without seeing wildlife. There are deer and bears in the forest and lots of fish in the lake. If we needed to survive, we could do very well on our little homestead.
I could right now be stressing over the presidential election. I could be pouring over the news and arguing with people online about it. But, ultimately, I don't see the point. That is a waste of my time. My plan is to use my time and energy to make my life better. My plan is to make sure that I have food, water, shelter, and a means of taking care of my family whatever comes.
If they are going to tell me that every presidential election is the most important election of my lifetime, then I think that I'll just begin calling every day the most important day of my lifetime. Every day is a new chance to focus on what matters most. Every day is a new chance to make life better for myself and my family. Every day is a new chance to follow my conscience and do what I know is right.
Whoever wins, we live. Let's check our priorities and focus on the things that matter most, rather than get swept up in and stressed out about things that we can't control.
This is TechnoAgorist, episode 42.