YOU said if I voted I could make a difference. So I voted and it made SHIT-ALL difference. GOOD LUCK TURNING OUT THE KIDDIES NEXT TIME BITCHES.
This is what bothers me the most about this whole thing, is that I really thought that Kerry was the right choice for AMERICA, and that people all across the nation would recognize this and pursue it. I was very excited in the morning when they were still talking about record turnout and first-time voters and shit. But it didn’t pan out! Bush didn’t get elected by evil corporate interests and Dalek voting machines, he got elected by people just like me, except that they have beliefs about what is good for America that I literally don’t understand! Did we fail to convince people that Kerry was more than just a pusillanimous pushover? (And goddamn it, that’s what he was, by the way. I’m getting a fucking bumper sticker that says “Don’t blame me, I voted for Dean.”) Was it that thing that poll reported, that 74% of Bush supporters think he supports policies he actually is against, did that do it? That’s our fault too, because education is OUR stupid platform. Who stood up and looked at these two candidates and decided that Bush was better for our country? I want to know who these people are, because I don’t want to keep losing.
I love America, but there are principles that I hold dear, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I am afraid that these ideals will be abridged. How can I most effectively defend them four years from now?
(From a less emotional standpoint, I think Liberal was spot-on when he said that the Democrats were fighting from a basically worthless, defensive stance, and refused or failed to take control of the election. But this isn’t news; this is what happened in 2002, also. So in some sense it’s not surprising, except in that one might expect the Democrats to learn from their mistakes at some point.)
You castigate those who told you your vote was important, because getting up off your apathetic duff and using it, did not result in the man you wanted to win prevailing?
I’ve heard of entitlement issues before, but this is riduculous.
Thousands, possibly millions of people voted this year for no reason other than to remove the incumbent from office, who would not have otherwise voted.
What about the automatic Moral Superiority Points you get for having voted? Now you can say “Don’t blame me, I voted against him,” or, “I bet you’ll vote next time, hippy!” You know what I mean?
However, your vote was not decisive. Your voice was joined to record millions of other voices. Granted that this did not turn out as you wished, but that’s no reason to step back and refuse to even participate in the process next time.
I don’t agree. Kerry is a decent and honorable man. Had he won, he would have served as President with honor. And that’s coming from a Bush voter.
No, where Kerry lost was simply on the issues. Bush got my vote because I believe our actions in Iraq were fundamentally sound, because I believe that the Patriot Act is an important tool to combat terrorism and crime, because I support the No Child Left Behind Act, because I believe that vouchers are an excellent way of giving some measure of choice to low-income families that desperately want an alternative to public schools, because I believe abortion is a terrible choice for the country to permit, because I think that the tax cuts passed these past years should be permanant.
There is no shame or dishonor in holding the opposite position on each of those issues. Reasonable people may disagree and remain reasonable people.
So, when the home team loses, do you suddenly start bad mouthing them, as well? Face it, you gotta stick by your vote, win or lose. And, it DOES count, damn it! Don’t go feasting on sour grapes, now! We’re sending Bush a message that this country is STILL hotly divided, and he ain’t Mr. Popularity. - Jinx
For five and a half years, every time I voted I knew that my vote was going to be thrown out.*
That’s not counting the time that the ballot got to me too late for me to even bother sending them in to the County Board of Elections for proper destruction, since by the time the Army figured out where my ship was, the election had been called for several weeks.
You vote does count, and was counted. You didn’t get your candidate into the office you wanted, but I think Bricker’s already made an excellent post on those issues.
Don’t give up after just one election. Besides, the President isn’t the only office that is filled by election. And frankly, it’s one that will affect the person on the street the least, compared to the US and State Legislatures, or governors or other local offices. Don’t just think about voting every four years. It should be an annual chore, duty, and honor.
Since 2000 apparantly election laws have been changed to make it mandatory to count absentee ballots no matter whether they might affect the election, or not. But that’s a very recent change.
I saw this on InstaPundit . I’m not sure where he got it from:
*You have the right to vote. You do not have the right to see the man of your choice in the White House.
If George W. Bush wins the election, the world will still spin on its axis. Canada will not grant you asylum. If John Kerry wins the election, America will still be America. Australia will not grant you asylum.
People who vote for the other guy aren’t stupid, brainwashed, or evil. They are your friends and family. Someone you love will almost certainly cancel your vote. (My wife cancels out mine.)
If, by some chance, everyone you know votes for the loser it won’t mean the election was stolen. It will only show that you live in a bubble.
If this thing is close (the victor could easily win by 0.1 percent) try not to read too much into it. We’ll still be closely divided.
If the election doesn’t go your way, don’t pop off as though America were Guatemala under the generals. You’ll get lots of attention, but it won’t be the kind you want. People will laugh, not near you but at you.*
What I don’t like is the fact that no matter whether or not I went to vote last night my state was solidly no matter what going to Kerry. I’m not angry that my state’s votes went to Kerry, rather I’m bothered by the fact that I could’ve just voted for the guy I absolutely didn’t want to win or even Mickey Mouse for that matter and not a damn thing would’ve changed. My seventy something year old grandfather moved to Florida and does nothing but sit in an armchair and argue Bush is better because Saddam and Bin Laden were great friends and that Saddam funded 9/11 (:rolleyes:) while his vote is prized as being nearly worth a limb to either party. I’m actually bothered more that it doesn’t matter who they are or what their beliefs or brains there are lots and lots of people out there whos vote is WAY more valuable than mine rather than being… oh, equal? I live in the same country as them but my singular vote is really worth shit compared to that of someone living across a state line.
I feel like you do, passengerpigeon, but a trifle worse, because my vote has always been the kiss of death. I hadn’t voted for about 10 years because it was just too painful, but I thought it was important to make a statement this year. It won’t happen again.
At least I got to vote against the anti-SSM constitutional amendment, which I’m sure was passed by a huge landslide.
The only local elections were unopposed, except for one judgeship, which I wasn’t prepared to vote on because it wasn’t on the sample ballot.
Yeah, frankly, that bothers me, too. I think the whole electoral college thing needs some tinkering, because it leads to situations where, in essence, your vote doesn’t count. If you vote and your candidate loses the state, it’s exactly the same outcome as if you had never voted at all. In 2000, when I lived in Kentucky, it didn’t matter if I voted for Gore or Nader or my best friend’s chowchow, or if I just sat my ass on the couch and didn’t vote at all, because there was absolutely no chance of Bush not winning the state. If he got 99% of the popular vote, if he got 50.1%, it didn’t make the least bit of difference. He was getting all the state’s votes, no matter what.
When it was all said and done, my vote didn’t count in any appreciable way that year. Turns out it didn’t count in any appreciable way this year, either. My voice isn’t heard, because I can’t shout over the other guy. Sometimes the whole thing just feels like an exercise in futility. And that, my friends, is why a lot of people don’t vote.
I dunno. I live in Santa Cruz, California, so if I get a home team that wins long enough to start losing, I’ll come back here and tell you. (Incidentally, since I live in California, I knew from the start that my vote wasn’t enormously relevant, but I made the minuscule effort to get out. I don’t really want to withdraw from the process. I want to know why the Democrats can’t win elections, so that it can change. I do have to look at it from the perspective of a young adult who is almost a first voter (don’t blame me, I voted against Arnold), though, and from that angle all the yelling and the documentary and the song by Eminem and the phone call from Martin Sheen’s recording seem kind of frustrating in retrospect. On some level, I was just like every other crazy liberal on this board/my stupid town with the whole “rise up as humans to overthrow the evil empire” thing, and like many of them, surely, my immediate reaction was “this isn’t how the movie is supposed to end.” I’m trying to pave over that.)
I guess I didn’t badmouth the Raiders when they started losing. But apparently I should’ve.
Hmm. Raiders and Democrats: an uncomfortable analogy.
These are the important points here, and I agree with both of them, but that means I have to live with them. And worse, so does the Democratic Party.
Because it means that maybe we didn’t lose because of shenanigans or whatever, maybe we lost because Bricker is right and we really are marginalized. Recent election results certainly seem to support that conclusion. What do we do about THAT? How can we make America a country in which my positions and the positions of those close to me have even a prayer of widespread support and acceptance?
Maybe you and I have switched attitudes today (though you get to come at this as a gracious winner) but don’t give that crybaby the satisfaction of a gracious, understanding, and tolerant answer. “Boo-hoo-hoo! I took an hour off and voted but my guy still lost! I’ve been cheated so I’ll show YOU! I will never vote again!” WELL, CUE THE FUCKING VIOLINS!
So he got your vote because you, and fifty million other people, are all idiots. Says a lot about America, but fifty percent of people are of below average intelligence so I shouldn’t be surprised. Har-UMPH!
Wow, being an asshole is FUN! No wonder Brutus likes it so much.
