Almost 50% of America didn’t vote. Niether candidate got more than 49% of the popular vote. Whoever wins will be ruling by mandate of about a quarter of the American population. In fact, isn’t that 50% just among registered voters, making the balance even more ridiculous?
The non-voters could have easily swept in somebody other than algeorge bushgore, with about 40 million votes to spare.
Just a thought.
I did vote yesterday, and I still don’t feel that I did my civic duty. For the candidates whose names I recognized, I don’t think I thought intelligently enough about why I was voting for them or against them.
There were issues on the ballot that I had no idea existed until I entered the ballot box. Where the fuck was I when these were being debated? How in the world could I intelligently vote yay or nay on three seperate issues when reading their explanations took longer than the three minutes I had to choose before the next person needed the booth?
There were a good 12-15 judges up for re-election I had never heard of before. Why the hell couldn’t I recognize anyone? I voted for them all, just because. What the fuck did I do that for? I should have just left them all blank, rather than blindly voting in someone I didn’t even know. Worse, they could have fundemental principles that completely differ from mine and I helped keep them on the bench.
Civic duty? Fine, fine. But why do I just feel like a cow in the herd today?
Polycarp – I bow (and/or curtsey) in humble respect to your knowledge. Hurray to you for bringing facts into the Pit!
Alphagene – Touche! A marvelous Python reference.
Any Honked-Off Voters Preaching – I hope that you take a few moments away from your remote and Cheetos ™ at times other than election time to make your voices heard to your representatives in the government letting them know how you feel as their constituent on issues of relevance.
I went to high school with a complete jerk that is now going to go cast a real live presidential vote. In the Electoral College. He’s an idiot, I know for sure, I watched him cheat on a test by copying answers from the only person in the class dumber than him.
But he votes in every election, attends party meetings, and canvasses and works for the Republican Party. His opinions really do matter. If you don’t even vote, you are asking this blockhead to plan your future.
One out of four elections is not what you need to do, to have a voice. You may claim that the parties don’t nominate people you agree with, but the real working membership of local political parties in most places are groups of perhaps a hundred people. You can matter in that frame of reference. If you work at it, you can have influence. That influence can make changes in the party closest to your own point of view.
Another old high school buddy of mine is a minority party member around here. He even got himself on the ballot for state legislature. He missed getting elected by only a few hundred votes. My politics are somewhat different than his, but I find him a better choice than the other buddy. The thing they share is a willingness to do their duty as citizens. The Elector mentioned above was sent to the legislature in a previous election, by about the same margin, and he’s a moron. But he is a hard working moron, who considers his “duty” to be an opportunity.
To those who didn’t vote because of disgust with the lack of choice amongst candidates:
You have the option of leaving all of that blank and voting only on the Ballot Issues and Tax Levies (levys ?). These are normally simple FOR or AGAINST type votes. Why not vote on these issues? Surely you can see how these issues have a very direct impact on your local community? Surely you are not upset by the fact that MAYBE is not a choice?
I live in a City School district where the Public School Tax Levy has failed 5 years in a row. I live near one of these schools–as a matter of fact it is the one I vote in. It is in such horrible shape (cracked windows, graffiti, etc.) that I thought it was not in use. Then I saw children at recess at this very school one day.
Every year I vote For the Levy. This year it finally passed. I have made a difference in my community by voting on this issue. Even if I had left the rest of the ballot blank (which I did not) it would have been well worthwhile just for this one issue.
Hmm… we had electronic voting machines too, and there were instructions in the lobby for how to do a write in. You had to choose a special option and then see one of the volunteers to write in your candidate.
I agree with you 100 %, Satan. I feel proud and exhilirated to have participated in such a historic event.
Amok, JTR, Democritus: You may not like Bush and Gore, but what about state and local races? Got news for you, a democracy depends upon participation at ALL levels, not just voting for the head honcho.
JTR: To paraphrase Robert A. Heinlein, any society that heaps scorn on the concepts of honor, duty and loyalty is very quickly going to turn into a society not worth living in. I don’t think voting is an onerous task, and I think every citizen should be proud to cast a ballot.
And to the people who say they didn’t vote because they didn’t want either Bush or Gore as president:
You’re not voting for JUST the President. There’s the senators, and house members, and judges, and sometimes even bills to be voted on.
When I voted I didn’t just pick a president, I picked about 17 other people for various public positions.
FUCK YOU SMUG VOTERS!
Let me ask you a question.
How many of you are active outside of voting?
How many will organize, and fight for causes you believe in?
How many will sit back and whine about how their canidate isn’t supporting what they said they would?
How many will sit on their asses until the next election, then vote for another person who will screw up America?
How many, with a look of disgusting self satisfaction will say “Well, at least I voted”
For all you non-voters, at least you aren’t contributing to the problem.
At least you aren’t under the illusion that you’re making a difference.
You know full well what you are doing.
I wish the same could be said for most of our so called “enlightened voters”
Democracy is not a once a year process, it’s a fucking year round process. If you’re not going to participate fully, shut the fuck up.
Some people here are probably too young.
I missed the deadline, as did my father, who’s so damn fucking busy and coming home tired every fucking night.
Look, do you think our votes counted? Fuck. Gore HAS my state, and he still might fucking lose the fucking race.
Oldscratch,
You honestly believe that not being involved in politics AT ALL is better than being involved enough to research the issues and candidates and vote in elections?
Do you truly think democracy is ALL or NOTHING? What level of participation is acceptable to you to allow one to be “smug” about voting? Researching issues? Going to community council meetings? Starting petitions? Running for Office? Starting a revolution? Who gets to decide? You?
Is it better to throw up your hands and say : “Well, I’ll never start a revolution so I may as well not vote!” ?
Guinastia: I don’t think Satan was talking about minors. They certainly have a legitimate excuse for not voting.
Why didn’t you and your father consider getting up a little early in the morning? Sorry, but I don’t consider being tired an excuse for not voting. I have known farmers and construction workers who work damn hard on Election Day and they still find time to vote.
To repeat myself: Elections are about far more than the Presidency!! I am sure there were local and state races in your district, and it was important to vote in those.
oldscratch: You wouldn’t like it. I would just lie there and laugh.
I have to respectfully disagree with Satan that anyone who didn’t vote deserves that extent of abuse.
This is America, where we have the freedom to vote or not. But to many people, voting has become their once-every-two-years civic participation. Then it’s back to the bag o’Cheetos. It’s sad, but in this country we’ve become consumers of government rather than participants. I would rather have someone who actually goes out and tries to make a change in his community and never votes rather than someone who votes every time they get a chance and then considers that their payment due as far as civic partcipation goes.
Peyote-my dad gets up at quarter to six every morning. He’s fucking busy as hell, and just HASN’T HAD A CHANCE.
Right now, he’s also going through hell at work.
Leave the guy alone.
Well, I walk to the refrigerator and back between commercials. Does that count?
I will fight for what I believe should be fought over. Not every issue requires a “fight” (literally or otherwise) in order to be won.
Probably the same number of people who rush to mindlessly justify their apathy and laziness.
My, my, subjectivity galore!! If you mean, “Will you firebomb abortion clinics or spike trees”, then I sure won’t. If you mean “Keep up-to-date about what’s happening in the country”, then let me raise my hand. And if you mean “I’m better than all of you voters because I don’t believe in this governmental system”, then fuck off, punk.
Hehehe! What can I say? Non-voting is a victimless crime. Hell, it’s not even a crime…
Here’s my own story:
I’m a middle-of-the-roader. A swing voter. I’ve voted both Democrat and Republican in the past. Neither party suits me perfectly, but both parties are pretty close to my political position. I’m not disaffected and alienated. Quite the opposite. I’m so damned satisfied with the status quo on most counts that it takes a real difference on the issues between the two main candidates to make me go out of my way and drive down to the voting polls. (And I have absolutely no interest in promoting the cause of any of the third-party candidates.)
This year there was no difference between the two main candidates on the issues that I care about. They were both taking roughly the same line on all the big items (economy, national defense, etc.). At times it seemed like they were practically struggling to define some differences between them. So I considered this particular election to be little more than a beauty contest. This election was really all about which candidate you most (or least) trust to run the country, based largely on your assessment of their personalities. It wasn’t about issues.
I prefer to vote in an election that’s about issues. I don’t bother voting in beauty pageants. I honestly don’t care whether Gore or Bush ends up running the country, because the net result four years from now will be pretty much the same. Despite the alarmists on either side, I take it for granted that Gore won’t institute socialism and Bush won’t institute fascism.
As for local election issues…I don’t give a shit. I simply don’t follow that stuff. Let those who are half-way informed about local issues determine the results. If they screw things up badly enough, I’ll eventually take an interest and vote to straighten things out. Until then, it’s just not on my radar screen.
And that’s my own story. Other non-voters will have a different story–disaffection, alienation, or whatever. But in my case, I simply lack a good reason to go down to the polls. I’m satisfied for the most part with the status quo, and I don’t see where one candidate will make my life substantially better or worse than the other.
I’m not saying that everyone else should do the same as me. But I disagree with those cheerleaders of democracy who would try to bully people like me into driving down to the polls. It’s my call. My call. And I assure you that I’ll show up at the voting polls when the issues really matter.
As for your Heinlein quote: I’m not “heaping scorn” on anything. I’m just waiting for an election worth my time and effort. Once again: I assure you that I’ll show up at the voting polls when the issues really matter.
This is what I faced. I don’t want to see any of the “major” candidates anywhere near the oval office. So I went to the polls fully confident that I was going to vote for my mother. None of the other candidates earned my vote. I’m not giving any of them the satisfaction of knowing they came closest.
I may not vote for the person who wins in the future, but nobody is going to get my sympathy vote.
By the way, I’m not trying to be militant about my right not to vote. I’m just saying that it’s none of your business.
If you really feel strongly about the fact that I didn’t vote this election, then by all means pass a law requiring everyone to vote. I abide by the law for the most part. If I must vote, then I will.
But until then, mind your own business.
Fuck, I wish I would have posted what JTR just did in his/her(?) last two posts. That is exactly my stance. To the freakin’ letter.
Hell, I’m so enthusiastic about the process that I went and bought my very own Congressman. He’s pretty good, too, even though I couldn’t afford one of those fancy Committee Chair models.
And since it looks like I might be getting a tax cut, I’m thinking about making a down payment on a City Councilperson, or maybe a member of the State Assembly.
[n.b.: There may be some sarcasm contained within this post]