DAMN YOU BaldEgg18!!!

/damn you.

you know, if all the people who say their vote doesn't matter voted, it would matter.

I prefer the australian (I think?) method where voting is a *duty* of citizenship. (yes, that means required)

That would sure as shiat shake things up. People might run more too.

So, the important thing is to not run your political organization like politicians run the government.

Rock The Vote = vote democrat

No wonder it failed.

likelyculprit:what about vote or die?

Vote or Die failed due to lack of follow-through.

Turns out 0% of non-voters actually died as a direct result of their non-voting.

BaldEgg18:

Rock The Vote = vote democrat
No wonder it failed.

BaldEgg18 is on fire this afternoon. (he also wins the thread with an added award for outstanding excellence in the field of obvious obviousness)

blah blah blah the corporations rule everything blah blah blah

why, then, praytell, do these things exist?

and why do these occur?

and AT&T is still the largest, most powerful company anywhere, right?

and GM is still the automotive powerhouse of the world, right?

/farking simpletons
//corporations do mostly good

blah blah blah the corporations rule everything blah blah blah

why, then, praytell, do these things exist?

and why do these occur?

and AT&T is still the largest, most powerful company anywhere, right?

and GM is still the automotive powerhouse of the world, right?

/farking simpletons
//corporations do mostly good
///previous comment was booboo - wiki no like non-absolute URLs

I volunteered once for them when I was youngster. (cue the I worked for them cliche) I remember watching the spokeman point blank lie to the cameras about how many people we had registered to vote during the afternoon.

birkin: Uh... You do know that SBC is reforming Ma Bell, right?

Get out of the Eighties. It's not communications companies we're talking about here. You don't have to pay to rent your phone. We're talking about how most of the textbooks made for American schools used to be made by a couple dozen companies, which are now consolidated into about half a dozen. Media companies, which formerly numbered in the hundreds, now boil down to less than ten. Halliburton speaking "american solidarity" out one side, and giving our troops tainted water.

the fact is that Rock The Vote was a creation of liberal democrats who sought to treat young voters much like the democratic party treats blacks - a constitutency whose vote could be taken for granted, whose interests could be safely ignored and whose existence didn't have to be acknowledged except during election cycles.

the liberal interests had this formula rejected on a massive scale by young voters who saw absolutely nothing attractive about what Rock The Vote promoted or represented. maybe the younger generation isn't quite as stupid and they try to make us believe.

I don't really like democracy, I prefer freedom.

Voting should be a requirement of full citizenship.

nerfball: You have that right, actually, to a point. However, the "conservative interests" just come out and imply that everyone is stupid, not just thr young people, and scare everyone out of just coming out and saying that our two-party system is irreversibly flawed and needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. And when a third party does come up, they are either crackpots, or treated as such. Both parties are broken.

Nerfball. You just read my mind. I've been talking to many of the newer hires where I work, and many of them are just plain cynical about the Dems. They resent being told that just because they are young, they should believe and vote one way.

Fme:Another good point. Does anyone make choices anymore?

HAHAHA Libtards!!

/I got nothin'

It's difficult, because I'm young and neither party represents my general beliefs. When I express one opinion, especially in Farkdom, I am immediately labelled a Liberal or Conservative. I feel like I'm in limbo.

Fme: That's good. It'll be nice to have another person in the "crazy third party psycho confused shiathead supporters" corner. It's lonely here.

/opens a Guinness

Opens a PBR.....thinks about joining the Libertarians.... but doesn't want to be labelled a pot growing hermit.

well, hell, we're used to being incorrectly labelled anyway, right?

OK, so where do I fit? Atheist, pro-choice, female. Voted for Bush last election, first time I voted for a Rep EVER. I guess that makes me either a "crazy third party psycho confused shiathead", or a neocon?

You'd be the first. If the 'Cons found out that they'd let in not only an outspoken female, but a pro-choice one at that AND an atheist, they'd implode in a bloody shower of self-righteousness.

....wait.
maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

2006-02-07 05:42:22 PM FmeinthegoatA

It's difficult, because I'm young and neither party represents my general beliefs.

The way I see it, it's a major problem. The establishment parties have gotten ballot access locked up so no outsiders can play any more. The last guy who made an impact was Ross Perot, and I think a lot of his popularity came from the fact that he was already well known and couldn't be easily brushed aside.

So if you are socially tolerant and fiscally responsible, sorry, there's no place for you in the US electoral system. Like guns and think national health care is a neat idea? Sorry, bub. Can't have that here.

The system is broken, and smarter individuals than I have been unable to come up with a way to fix it. And until meaningful reforms are made, voter apathy will continue IMO.

I like the visuals on that. Actually, I actually have a good girl-friend who's in the same boat. So I know I'm not the only one out there.

actually!

See, now that the lib/con BS dies down, and no one is left to listen, we finally come out of the woodwork and say smart things. Thanks, zymurgist. 8)

BaronVonAsshat

You're welcome.

Oh yeah... one more thing we need in the US... we need people to actually think about issues rather than accept whatever their preferred medium (TV, print news, talk radio, favorite blogs, etc.) spoon-feeds them.

But I wouldn't hold out much hope for that.

Well, there's an exception to every statement. 8/

So, you are finally forced to vote based on the lesser of 2 evils. I boiled it down to which subjects I am most serious about and won't budge...vs. which subjects I am willing to be more open minded about. Then I look at the candidates.

Finally? I've had that problem for years, heh. Pick one idiot or the other, rest assured that neither one really gives a shiat about me or people like me, wring hands, vote, repeat.

zymurgist:

The way I see it, it's a major problem. The establishment parties have gotten ballot access locked up so no outsiders can play any more.

if it was left entirely up to the people to pick party candidates, the people would select candidates the same way they pick entertainment and we would have ben afleck running against britney spears for president because the people can't understand what is really at stake so they just pick "the prettiest candidates."

as for me, i like it that the people who really know the candidates well pick one candidates and let the people choose between two individuals.

people complain about not having any choice, but the average person isn't even intelligent enough to tell what good acting consists of. do you REALLY want to let these same people choose a president all on their own?

FmeinthegoatA

What happens when you have one candidate who supports one important issue, the other candidate supports another important issue, and both candidates oppose each other on their respective issues? Not hypothetical... this happens to me all the time.

OK, I also listen (sometimes force myself) to several points of view throughout the day. (I have the radio on at work) I listen to PBS, Rush, Glen Beck, Air America.... I know...punnishment. And I decide who I think is full of shiat.

I see that as a bit dismissive though, nerfball. I agree, certainly, but I prefer to give people a bit more credit. People should have a choice of the issues, and be presented a set of candidates who fit those issues. It sounds backward, but so does the system we have now.

nerfball

In 2000, most of the Republicans I personally know liked McCain. He didn't get the nomination for a variety of reasons, but chiefly among them was the phenomenal cash machine that the Bush family was able to organize. So I didn't really see it as the people who knew the candidates best picking the better candidate... I saw it more in terms of the candidate with the most money being able to buy plenty of negative advertising and swamp his opponent.

JMHO.

Zymurgist, which issue is more important to you? You have to go with the one who supports you one those issues you are unwilling to compromise on. I know it sounds trite, but I feel better at the end of the day when I do this.

Epsilon

I show up for election day and vote for the Libertarians. It sounds like your friend is more rational than I am.

/Im still going to vote no matter how pointless
//I will vote for the candidate I want to win, regardless of their chance of winning

FmeinthegoatA

My solution (and I don't recommend it for anyone... it works for me):

I find somebody else to vote for, or write in "None of the above." I have been accused of "throwing my vote away" but I live in a heavily Republican area of a heavily Democratic state... so local Democrats have a tough time getting elected, and statewide/national Republicans have their own uphill battle. Point being that my Republican friends say that I wasted my vote on the Libertarian candidate for President, and I smile and tell them that they did the exact same thing when they voted for Bush.

I chose not to vote in the last election, because I could not find one candidate on the ballot that deserved my time.

Give me real candidates and I will cast a real vote.

/does not hate America
//rock the boxen

See, the Libertarians in my neck of the woods are all either for legalizing pot, or they are forming their own militias. Oh, and tax evasion.

Epsilon:

This is strange to me because he's not a loser or anything. He's got a good job, a wife, two kids, owns a nice house, etc. So it's puzzling to me why he believes it makes no difference who is in the White House. I tried to get him to vote in '04, spent weeks trying to talk him into taking the 10 minutes it takes to go to the poll and push a button, but in the end he wouldn't do it.

I'm very close to stopping voting myself.

I normally vote third party, as I consider the two main parties simply branches of the same junta. Think about it, if you wanted to give your one-party rule legitimacy, you could make two parties, nearly identical, and then call it a two-party system. It's Jack Johnson vs John Jackson.

In the Pres. election, my state (California) was going to Kerry. It wouldn't have mattered if I had voted for Bush (which I would never have done)... it was going to Kerry. Done deal, neither candidate bothered campaigning here.

I use to like to think that my vote was more of a voice for change being one of 40,000 or so as opposed to one of 2,000,000. But at the end of the day, the same politics is going to rule and democracy will slowly die.

The ten minutes would be better spent with my family.

"1n 50v137 ru5514"?

2006-02-07 05:49:43 PM FmeinthegoatA

"OK, so where do I fit? Atheist, pro-choice, female. Voted for Bush last election"

Where you fit is either, 1) Unaware of what the Bush administration stands for or 2) Very confused about what you stand for.

Okay, apparently Der Kommissar doesn't like the phrase "1n 50v137 ru5514", cos I just had two blank posts and one that never showed up. Never noticed that before.

FmeinthegoatA

See, the Libertarians in my neck of the woods are all either for legalizing pot, or they are forming their own militias. Oh, and tax evasion.

Im failing to see the problem.

stillh20: Man, I hope you're joking, for your sake.

I Am 1) very aware of what the Bush administration stands for, and 2) F-yeah I'm confused. Mainly because I get this visceral reation from people like you when I say I voted for Bush. He actually covered the topics I care the most about during the last election. And Kerry has a big chin and a B*tchy wife.