# GOP RIP: the price of progress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419 "2012-02-20T14:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/121 "2012-02-21T19:20:47Z")
> [@curioushat](#): > > I was in third grade and 8 years old, so I didn’t vote unfortunately. > > I mentioned that the likelihood of my vote having an actual impact on the election results is infinitesimally small. That is true. Even in Florida, where I am not from, one vote did not make the difference. 250 did. And all those people could also claim that the likelihood of their vote having an actual… ah, why bother. ---
**Author:** ![curioushat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@curioushat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curioushat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/122 "2012-02-21T19:42:56Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > And all those people could also claim that the likelihood of their vote having an actual… ah, why bother. Yes, you are correct. And the larger the number the higher the chance that it could have an actual impact on the election. There’s a difference between me refraining from voting and preaching that to the masses. Individually it almost for sure does not matter. Collectively it more likely matters. I don’t see your point. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/123 "2012-02-21T19:43:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Excuse, please, but didn’t you say this: > > Am I missing something here? If this MB is “solidly on the left” doesn’t that mean solidly left of center? But that center is a mathematical abstraction? It doesn’t really exist? Or what, exactly? > > Kinda looks like you are evading the question like a matador evades the horns with a graceful _veronica_, a swoop of the semantic cape, an poor ol’ dumbass **'luc** stands there blinking in confusion, outsmarted again! You can believe that if you like. I don’t mind being underestimated, kinda prefer it, actually. On average, this board leans left when measured against US politics. If you don’t accept that, fine. We can agree to disagree. And if you disagree, then I’ll just assume you’ve been taking eye blinking lessons from **Bricker**. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/124 "2012-02-21T20:20:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > … then I’ll just assume you’ve been taking eye blinking lessons from **Bricker**. Do you know if I can take the course online? Does he take PayPal? Wasn’t the GOP dead when Obama was sworn in? ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/125 "2012-02-21T20:22:36Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Do you know if I can take the course online? > Does he take PayPal? > Wasn’t the GOP dead when Obama was sworn in? Yes but it raised from the dead three days later. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/126 "2012-02-21T21:39:12Z")
> [@curioushat](#): > > I would vote for Ron Paul because of his drug policy. Not much else matters to me since I view politics as mostly a popularity contest, and the masses have little idea what they are voting on besides voting for someone with a good smile and an attractive personality. I also know that there is an infinitesimally small chance that my vote would have an impact on the general election. If Ron Paul actually won, Og forbid, drugs might be legal but the ensuing Depression would mean you wouldn’t have enough money to buy them. His ideas have had plenty of exposure. That the reaction has been that they are stupid doesn’t mean they haven’t been heard. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/127 "2012-02-21T23:47:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And then the political center-of-gravity in America will move significantly left, for the foreseeable-on-a-generational-timescale future. I hope, but who knows. As a center left (which means US progressive liberal by global standards, not the Joe Lieberman/Max Baucus of US standards) I really hope that happens. Young people tend to be a lot more open to concepts like a safety net, universal health care, gov intervention in the markets, alternative energy, and the public sector in general. But who knows. Like I said, the same thing was said about the baby boomer generation. now they are a strong bloc pushing for regressive social and economic policies (them and people a little older, the pre-1946 generation). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/128 "2012-02-22T00:15:56Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Yes but it raised from the dead three days later. But, surprisingly, while having developed the usual hunger for live-human flesh, still showed no interest in brains. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419/129 "2012-02-22T00:21:14Z")
> [@curioushat](#): > > I was in third grade and 8 years old, so I didn’t vote unfortunately. > > I mentioned that the likelihood of my vote having an actual impact on the election results is infinitesimally small. That is true. Even in Florida, where I am not from, one vote did not make the difference. 250 did. So, IOW, even a slight statistical uptick - infitesimally small, almost too small to measure statistically – in the number of potential voters who care enough to vote, and care to vote for Gore over Bush, could have made the difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-rip-the-price-of-progress/613419.md?page=6)