'America Must Stop Voting'

This column is not start of some fascist movement, nor am I a 'pinko' or a communist on any level.

Let's get that out of the way so that the lynch mobs don't have any time to form.

Before you ask for my head, I beseech ye to read on. Though the title of this column could have your practicing your best expression of outrage in the mirror like you did when you heard that Miss America had been spending many of her nights on top a New York City bar or in one of its bathroom stalls, I think you'll realize that it isn't in any way involved with politics (at least not how you think it does) or our democratic rights (at least not the ones in the Constitution).

People say outlandish things and use their unpopularity to their advantage all the time. Look at Ann Coulter and the opinion that gives opinions a bad name, Rosie O'Donnell. Controversy sells just as much as sex does. Make it a sexy controversy, and you've got a bona fide hit on your hands. If we weren't a bit creepy, creepy things wouldn't thrive.

However, if you want to get yourself ostracized quicker than an unmarried pregnant girl in church, say something about the troops or the freedoms that they are fighting for. If this were the subject of this column, or my intent for its content, then I would not flee from my fate at the hands of ye, the angry mob.

In knowing all that, ye angry mob, I must declare that I don't want America to stop voting on this day, April the 6^th in the year of our Lord 2007.

Rather, I want America to stop voting for things they watch on television.

Seriously, if I hear the phrase 'America Voted' from another TV host that lacks both talent and personality, I may actually be able to stop this reality television addiction cold turkey like I did with watching MTV a few years back. Reality television is like my old obsession with watching MTV: it absolutely is repugnant to me in every way, yet I'm uncontrollably drawn to it.

You realize that you are getting older when a few things happen in your life. Things like having life insurance, a few kids and a mortgage is one thing, but the realization that responsibility is your new recklessness usually hits most young adults in a dimly lit office building in a nameless suburb far from any real city. The realization that can make a boy succumb to the idea of wearing pleated pants and planning for the future is when they find out they are too old to apply for MTV's 'The Real World.'

This show is the first of these reality shows that have become the bane of my existence. It is the head of the monster that now has sprouted arms that make us have to see if the gold digger that just took 56 million from the cheeky Beatle will be able to keep her fake leg from flying into the front row while she does the Tango.

Singing shows, dancing shows, model shows, design shows, ice-skating shows, shows where we re-enact 'Lord of the Flies' for primetime ratings (Survivor), and shows that even strangers make people come together in the cheesiest of storybook fairytales to potentially make a 'connection' and marry a complete stranger.

Tens of millions of people call on their phone each week to vote for Sanjaya or any washed up celebrity who wants a few more seconds in the spotlight, even if they have to do the Cha-Cha-Cha in order to get it. Yet, people forget that the 'Real World' started all this madness. It's not my fault that I can't change the channel, it's MTV's fault.

It amazes me when I read statistics saying that more people apply to get on the 'Real World' than apply to get into Ivy League schools, and that more people voted for the last American Idol than the last President.

So, perhaps the next 'Rock the Vote' campaign that MTV has will be to take current events, and this country's obsession with mindless voyeurism and put it to good use.

Hence, the reason why someone should put all the people that are running for President into a house, tape it 24 hours a day, and put that out on Prime Time on the sweeps weeks right before the November elections and watch how many people turn up to 'Rock the Vote.'

Call it the 'Real World: Pennsylvania Ave.'

You'd have all your favorite Real World stereotypes: the All-American frat-boy type that has it all figured out and lets his loud mouth and lower moral standards get him into trouble (Rudy Guiliani and Joe Biden fit here.)

The token person of a different religion or sexual orientation that is on the show to learn something new about their lives and more than likely, open their extremely closed mind. (This person always cries.) In this case, I think that the uber-conservative senator from Kansas Sam Brownback, and Mormon candidate Mitt Romney.

Misunderstood African-American: Sen. Barack Obama

Driven female whose drive and determination is often taken as bitchiness or in this case, being a robot: Sen. Hillary Rodham-Clinton

Been-there-done-that-know-it-all who pisses off the roommates with their comments: Senator John McCain, Senator Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and Newt Gingrich all apply here.

I think you get the picture. The voyeurs of America will watch weekly as their planned policies that they would be implementing for four years if they earn 'America's vote' will be seen while they shoot pool or play flip-cup rather than stand on a podium and read a speech that someone else wrote for them.

You'll get to know how John Edwards is feeling about his wife's health when he breaks down one night in the confession room, and you won't want to miss the episode when Romney and Brownback come to blows with a terrible combination of jagermeister and religious debate.

Hey, I know this is a ridiculous analogy, but so is the current system where the representative for each political party is based on who raises the most money.

If our choices for President are based on who begs the best, and who makes us feel safe as the figurehead of our country, why not see what our figurehead does when put in a house with 17 strangers, and forced to get 'real.'

I know the ratings would be through the roof, as would the voting in the next election.

Think about that America, the next time your dancing or singing show goes to commercial break.