I did, in fact, vote, although I neglected to vote for a governor because I felt both Gray Davis and Bill Simon should have been barred from running on the basis of not being actual human beings. Can I still complain about the governor, or do I have to limit my grousing to the Lt. Gov or my House Rep?
I’ve never voted in a South Carolina election. Can I still complain about Jesse Helms?
I was still in grade school when Reagan left office, and as such was never able to vote against him. Can I complain about him?
Just trying to figure out what I am and am not allowed to do.
Complain about Helms all you like…but he’s from North Carolina.
Idealogically, there’s not much difference between the two Carolinas, though–I’ve lived most of my life in one or the other of them.
North has Helms, South has Strom.
Six of one, a half dozen of the other.
(And now I’m in Florida, where Bush’s brother got re-elected Governor. Sheesh!)
Did you even read my post?
Not having time to vote yesterday is not the same thing as not having time to vote.
The single father who couldn’t have made it to the polling place yesterday could have gotten an absentee ballot and mailed it in - (or he could have taken his kid to the polls with him. I always went with my parents. Every single election. IMNSHO, it is good for kids to see their parents and other adults voting.) In some states, he could have gone and voted well before “election day.” Yesterday would have just been the last possible day to vote.
You could have done the same.
It is not an excuse, it is an explaination. Fuck you for telling me how my life is, you ignorant fuck. I vote for you to eat a big bowl of shut the fuck up. Not that you have the reading comprehension to understand what i am saying right now anyway…
I’m very proud of my wife. Very early yesterday morning she got hit with a very nasty stomach flu. She was either in bed or in the bathroom for the rest of the day. She couldn’t keep anything down other than water, some watered-down Gatorade, and a little soup drunk through a straw. I stayed home from work to help her, and had to help her get around the house as she felt a little better.
And yet, despite all of this, when I put my coat on to go vote yesterday evening, she got herself out of bed and went with me. She had to sit down to do it, but dammit, she voted. If she can do it, sick with the flu and too weak to stand for more than a few minutes, then anyone can, and should. When I asked her why she made such an effort, she simply replied “It’s too important.”
I don’t see the slightest connection between voting and complaining, regardless of whether you had ample opportunity to vote or not. Unless your election was actually decided by one vote, your not having voted has nothing to do with the suffering that you are complaining about. The same people would be in office anyway, acting the same way.
Yep, I read it, but apparently you didn’t read mine. Not having time is only one possible reason a person wouldn’t vote, and is often tied to other reasons. Sometimes it manifests itself as “why should I take the time to vote when I can use the time for something more productive”. You don’t like that equation. Tough. It’s valid.
I voted primarily because there was a constitutional amendment that I wanted to vote for. Had that amendment not been on the ballot, I might not have voted. Why? Because rubber-stamping the incumbent or voting for a third party candidate who would clearly lose is worth less to me than working another hour or so and earning more money for my family. You don’t like that equation. Tough. It’s a perfectly rational approach. You might take a different approach, but that doesn’t make you God of voting.
First of all, I did vote. Second, why would I have asked for an absentee ballot when I intended to vote on election day? What if my schedule change prevented me from voting? Would I be stripped of the right to complain, or do I get a pass for giving it the old college try? I’d like to see some definition of the metes and bounds of this prohibition.
Hey Tars Tarkas, you seem semi-literate, so let me throw a word out to you: Absentee. Takes one stamp and a fraction of the energy you just spent railing on amarinth and you’re ready to go.
I’m sure Illinois would love me voting for candidates i’ve never heard of based upon how well i like their names, or to vote for bond issues just to raise their taxes out of spite, but if that gives me the right to complain about the cost of tea in china…
Getting back to the OP briefly, who was chiefly mad that someone who hadn’t voted was complaining about going to war with Iraq: was there anything on the ballot this guy could have voted for that would have had any sort of impact on this issue one way or the other? Seems that there really isn’t much of an opposition party on this issue. If everyone he could have voted for supported the war, should he be faulted for not voting for any of them?
I will continue to complain largely and loudly about the fact that I could not bring myself to vote for Gray Davis nor Bill Simon. I’d rather have voted for Kodos.
No, elections aren’t decided by one vote, but if 50,000 people decided not to vote because elections aren’t decided by their ‘one vote’, it will make a difference.
I only regret I never got the chance to vote against Senator Frog-With-Glasses. I pretended yesterday as I threw my vote away*, but it just wasn’t the same.
There is a good point to be made here – does one have to vote for all offices to have the right to complain? I voted for offices where I actually could stomach one candidate or the other, but I couldn’t bring myself to vote for anyone for the state Senate or the state House. All the candidates for those bodies (three in all) were running unopposed. Two came out in favor of an issue that I am vehemently opposed to (and I looked at their platforms and wasn’t too fond of them overall either), thereby making me disinclined to vote for them, and the other’s platform and past voting record made me disinclined to vote for him. If I disliked all the candidates, did I have to vote in that race to complain?
That’s fine by me. You voted. Not for everyone, but you voted.
The people that didn’t vote yesterday didn’t vote for the next mayor of their town. They didn’t vote for the next judge. The next school board representative. The next tax increase. The next college to fund.
There’s more on the ballot than just the Governor and Congress. There are things which will affect your life far greater on a day to day basis than anyone you elect to go to DC. So don’t vote for them. Those running right there in your community still need your vote. Don’t ignore them because you didn’t like anyone running for Senate.
Is that a joke? I hope it is… (a) she’s not infectious, and (b) would you rather she had stayed home? Now the sick can’t vote either? Gosh, I guess that year I had a cold I should have just stayed home and kept my votes to myself. :rolleyes: