The soft-money ban, (I assume you’re speaking of McCain-Feingold) does not take effect until the next election cycle.
Then unregister, dude, so you don’t screw up the percentages. 
It’s also a heinous violation of the First Amendment and a waste of Congress’s time.
A complaint by friedo, a voter.
Doh. My last post was a response to UncleBeer’s soft money comment.
Isn’t there a legal requirement for every employer to allow four hours time off to vote on election day? And even if the senate candidate was not to your liking, I seriously doubt that was the only office on the ballot to vote for.
And if you are displeased with the options and don’t vote in the general election, I somehow doubt you even bothered to vote in the primaries that selected those options.
My father became naturlized a month ago and, along with my mother (who was naturalized several years ago), took a couple of hours off of their busy day and proudly voted and participated. Its a small sacrifice to make, people.
Don’t sweat it. You can still give as much dough as you want to state and local party organizations. I’ll double-betcha they use it to support the party’s candidates for federal offices.
(Four HOURS to vote? I went out to buy a piece of fish for dinner, and voted on the way back!)
No. Some states have laws regarding this, others do not.
I’m not quite sure if this is in response to my post, or is just a general argument, but let me respond. And my response is to a number of posts, not just yours specifically El Gui, so I realize I might be answering something you didn’t say.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t vote. I’m objecting to the line of reasoning that says “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” The fact is there are a number of reasons why people don’t vote. I have met a number of people who are quite active in policy issues that do not vote as a matter of conscience. They believe the system is seriously flawed and they will not participate. They do not believe in choosing the lesser of two evils and argue that participation merely legitimizes the process.
Are they right? I don’t know. But to say they don’t have a right to complain is wrong. You might not agree with their position, but that doesn’t mean they’ve forfeited the right to complain, demonstrate, debate, or participate as they see fit. Distilled to its essence, the argument that non-voters can’t complain is simply: if you don’t agree with my view of voting, you don’t have a right to complain. I think that’s a seriously flawed argument.
I spent all day yesterday from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. doing election monitoring in Chicago. I was assigned to a primarily middle-class, African-American ward. A vast majority of the people I saw in coming out to vote were older people, and I gotta tell you it was amazing.
Of all the people who would have every right to be pissed at and bitching about the system and the way it is run, these people were it. They had lived through legal segregation, poor educational opportunities and racism. They worked hard nearly every day of their life to build the American dream, even in the face of underepresentation, and with a lack of politicial voices. Still, rather than bitching and whining like some of the twenty-something, privledged people in this thread, they went to the polls. It was a wonderful, eye-opening experience for me.
Nearly every election judge I talked to were concerned at the lack of anyone under 30 showing up to vote, and they were concerned for the future with such low voter turnouts among younger people. Of course you have the right to criticize the government even if you don’t vote. However, with me, you got a serious lack of credibility to get over.
My first two national elections I’ve been able to vote in were 2000 and 2002. Now if that’s not a weird introduction to voting, I don’t know what is. (That makes me 20, for you people keeping score at home.)
Well, then, exercising my First Amendment rights I shall ignore your opinions on how the country should be run. You have no credibility with me if you can vote, don’t, and still bitch about the system.
I am sick and depressed (as if that should make a difference to any one) over the whole bunch of people who think opting out of the process is a valid approach to elections. As far as I am concerned I have a duty to vote when I have the opportunity. That duty is to my self, not to the nation or the State or to the county or to the town. It is a duty I owe to me and to my kids and my neighbors.
It is just an abrogation of that duty to say that I will not vote because the people running are all crooks or because I don’t like the candidates or because my vote doesn’t count. Like it or not, the candidates are going to make decision about my life and the lives of my family and neighbors. They will decide where, when and how all sorts of things are going to happen ranging from whether I can build a garage to whether I will be arrested and prosecuted for sedition. It is pointless for me to sit on my spreading butt and complain that things are not perfect enough for me to make the effort to go down to the court house and express my preference from a list of imperfect candidates. It may be a circus but I want my chance to select the clowns.
This isn’t like supporting the Chicago Bears. Whether the Bears win or lose will not effect whether or not my child puts on a soldier suit and goes off to God knows where to shoot at and be shot at by strangers. This is important! Why can’t people get that simple concept through their heads? Why don’t people understand that if they don’t vote and I do then I get to decide? They may not like my decision.
Why don’t people understand that one of the objectives of the attack advertisement we have been subjected to over the past months is to discourage voting. If good people are chased away from the polls then the true believers, the wild eyed radicals and the moss backed reactionaries, the guys looking to may a fast buch on the tax payer, are going to call the shots. Make a choice! Get off your butt! Participate in deciding your own future. Quit whining!
Can’t win for losing, I suppose.
I’d suffer a lack of credibility among my peers if I didn’t vote at all. But when I vote for an off-party candidate, I’m accused of either throwing my vote away or helping X win instead of Y.
Sheesh.
Zoff says it all so I wont even think about getting bent.
no I didnt vote
yes it was a well thought out decision.
Jon Carroll says it better than I can.
Low voter turnout helps the incumbent. Therefore voter cynicism tends to aid the status quo. If you didn’t vote, you voted for sticking with the current system, so stop whining about getting what you asked for.
(sorry, I can’t get the “quote” function to work but this is from Opalcat)
This is the first mid-term election I voted in. I’ve only been old enough to vote since 95’, and while I voted in 96’ and 00’ I didn’t vote in the mid-term election in 98’. I’m not sure why I didn’t vote then, except perhaps as a college student, I didn’t feel extrodinarily affected by the state elections, nor well-informed enough to have a preference on who was elected. It’s easy to make excuses if you try…
Wait, if you vote for the eventual winner and they screw up what can you complain about in that case? Shouldn’t it be you can only complain if you voted and your candidate lost? And shouldn’t they be complaining about the voters who voted for that guy?
A rhetorical question to the extreme. Person A knows all about the issues, engages in debate with friends and family. Actually works for groups promoting certain agendas. Has actually well founded opinons on the issues and even the candidates, but doesn’t vote. Person B sits around all day watching SportsCenter, hads a vague idea and opinion about the issues, but gets off his ass to vote. Which person is a better participant in democracy?
68% could vote for your choice of Senator.
72% could vote for your choice of Governor
100% could vote for your choice of Representative
100% could vote for your choice in local representatives from dog catcher up to state legislator
100% could decide if a judge or justice remains in office
100% could write in a candidate of your choice in any office you desired.
The majority of you had propositions to vote on. Tax increases that would affect your life.
Don’t tell me there was no reason to vote. Don’t tell me you didn’t like the candidates. Don’t tell me your vote didn’t matter and this is a protest against the system.
Please, whatever you do, don’t quote me the 1st amendment because I’ll stop you at the first word: Congress. I have every right to say you should have voted, because you should have.
Also, don’t forget that 100% could loudly pat themselves on the back and strut around proudly because they pulled a lever.
I didn’t vote-because I keep putting off registering. Yes, it’s my fault. Quit hitting me.
At any rate, George Carlin said that those who don’t vote have more of a reason to complain. “Hey, I didn’t vote for these asshats!”
I actually filled in a few holes. It was a pretty complex process let me tell you. I do feel proud for figuring it out all by myself.
I didn’t vote, and I’m pissed about it. Why didn’t I vote? Because the idiots at the MVD neglected to file my re-registration when I moved and changed my address (which they’re supposed to do as a convenience if you ask - and I did ask. Twice.) Mr Winnie, who processed his address change online, was fine. But I actually dealt with PEOPLE, and they screwed me up. I’ve fixed the problem, but it was too late.
:mad: