American Voters Disgust Me

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by polarnomad
If 83% of the population doesn't show up to vote then I would actually think that there might be some hope for real change in the future of politics. It would just require someone to tap into the root cause of this apathy.

Absolutely true. However, (1) this apathy/disengagement serves the Dems and GOP well, and (2) those parties wield very effective control over the rules that make the emergence of viable 3rd parties nearly impossible.

[ixnay]

Re: American Voters Disgust Me

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Rick Perry is the runaway winner in the Republican primary for Texas governor.
I don't know about the Democrat side. I never heard of any of them.
Kinky Friedman is so far behind he may cross the finish line in time to run again.
Why am I disgusted?
It's not because of Rick Perry. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a fine job.
What disgusts me is that 17% of registered voters made the decision.
Don't even say it's Texas. It's not. Apathy is so rampant it's...disgusting.
Get off your asses and vote.

Kinky needs to collect signatures from only people who didn't vote in either primary. Perhaps 83% of the state didn't vote today so that they can support his candidacy.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Re: Re: American Voters Disgust Me

Originally posted by ixnay
Kinky needs to collect signatures from only people who didn't vote in either primary. Perhaps 83% of the state didn't vote today so that they can support his candidacy.

That'd be sweet .

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


Absolutely true. However, (1) this apathy/disengagement serves the Dems and GOP well, and (2) those parties wield very effective control over the rules that make the emergence of viable 3rd parties nearly impossible.

Time to sharpen up the guillotine!

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
No. it's not. What seperates you from some wino that doesn't even know what day it is?
It's all based off voting. Do it, or don't complain later. Pretty easy.

I activley boycotted the 2004 elections and tried to convince the friends who I had who did vote, not to vote.

Not voting is an active act of dissent, if you choose to make it one.

I don't know if your a moron or if this is a really, really bad troll attempt.... the way that post you just made came off.... ugh.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Wycoff
So is not voting.

Nope, because dissent is all about the message received by the political elites. They interpret not-voting as apathy, and as such they don't consider a non-vote as dissent.

Besides, voter apathy serves them very well, so they aren't likely to change the rules to make you vote.

Voting third party (and there always are third parties in American elections) enrages the political elites however. Just look at how the Dems reacted at Nader's votes in 2000. I wouldn't be surprised if Perot received similar flak from the repugs during his political carrier.

[fed1943]

I learned that from an american,so:
Even when there is noone you want to vote for,there is always someone you want to vote against.
Best regards,

[Provost Harrison]

Re: American Voters Disgust Me

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Rick Perry is the runaway winner in the Republican primary for Texas governor.
I don't know about the Democrat side. I never heard of any of them.
Kinky Friedman is so far behind he may cross the finish line in time to run again.
Why am I disgusted?
It's not because of Rick Perry. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a fine job.
What disgusts me is that 17% of registered voters made the decision.
Don't even say it's Texas. It's not. Apathy is so rampant it's...disgusting.
Get off your asses and vote.

I think it is endemic of modern politics. In the last general election, Blair and the Labour Party only actually won the vote of only just over a fifth of the eligible population - hardly a popular mandate is it? But when so few of the parties have anything new to bring, and it's hard to tell any of them apart, voter apathy is hardly surprising, is it?

[Drake Tungsten]

Nope, because dissent is all about the message received by the political elites. They interpret not-voting as apathy, and as such they don't consider a non-vote as dissent.

This isn't always the case. If the evangelical right doesn't show up at the polls this year, for example, I guarantee that Rove & Co. will view it as a sign of dissent, not apathy. The key to having your non-vote recognized as dissent instead of apathy is belonging to an identity group that one party or the other depends on in tight elections.

[SlowwHand]

Want more people voting? Change the system. If you don't want to, then don't complain about low participation. Pretty easy.

Wycoff. You're the one whining. You change the system. Pretty easy.

I'm saying, vote or don't complain about the after effects.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by SlowwHand


Wycoff. You're the one whining. You change the system. Pretty easy.

I'm saying, vote or don't complain about the after effects.

The tricky part is that you can't vote for anyone willing to change the system

[Solly]

What proportion of votes are decided by a vote of one?

That's why voting is pointless. One vote doesn't decide a thing.

[Tattila the Hun]

But there are plenty of "ones". They make "many".


I'm sure they could make it a "rank these candidates from 1-5", position 1 giving 5 points, pos 2 giving 4 points etc. Who ever gets the most points, wins. Surely, those who really want their candidate to win, put their main opponent at place number 5. But those undecided might put one guy 1st, and his main opponent 2nd.


Propably too difficult for the american public.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun
But there are plenty of "ones". They make "many".


I'm sure they could make it a "rank these candidates from 1-5", position 1 giving 5 points, pos 2 giving 4 points etc. Who ever gets the most points, wins. Surely, those who really want their candidate to win, put their main opponent at place number 5. But those undecided might put one guy 1st, and his main opponent 2nd.


Propably too difficult for the american public.

Too difficult for you actually. There isn't a set number of canidates available to vote for. It varies from place to place. Unless it's something like a school board election, it would fail.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I'm saying, vote or don't complain about the after effects.

I wonder about this... Sloww, do you vote in your school board's election?