On November 18, 1978, 907 people of the Jim Jones cult drank cyanide mixed in a grape-flavored drink to commit ritual suicide. A third of which were children. Reportedly many of them drank the poison willingly... but some of them had to be forced to drink at gun-point. However they drank it, they were dead within five minutes. This is where the phrase "Drinking the Kool-Aid" originates.

Though it wasn't actually Kool-Aid... it was the cheap-ass Kool-Aid knock-off called Flavor Aid.

But since Kool-Aid is more popular and well-known than Flavor Aid, that's the drink associated with those who blindly follow people or ideals to their own doom...

All of this was running through my head after receiving my ballot in the mail today (here in Washington State, all voting is via mail, and it's a Very Good Thing).

As usual, I am not voting for a damn thing in this election.

I really don't want to Drink the Kool-Aid, but so long as this country is stuck in this horrific two-party system that's killing us... I have no choice but to take a sip of it whenever elections roll around. Sure it will still kill me... eventually... but at least I'll be able to hang on to my soul for longer than five minutes.