I didn’t vote in our last election. Hell, I haven’t voted yet, and I’ve been allowed to for 6 years now.
My first question is as follows: Does anyone have a clear, compelling reason why I should vote? I’ve tried to be an informed (politics-wise) citizen one or two election seasons, and what I’ve found is everyone basically sounds the same, except for the lunatics running in the Branmuffin party or whatever the flavor-du-jour is.
(Note: I realize this could be read as an IMHO survey. I’m looking for a factual response, e.g. “You should vote because Penn’s Woodlands/Abe’s hometown will probably be the deciding state in the upcoming blah blah blah and yackity-shmackity”)
(Further note: Please don’t pull out the “One vote” email forward, lest I be forced to smack you with Snopes.)
My second question follows this laundry-list of my beliefs on “hot button topics,” in order of importance to me:
The smaller government is, the happier I am. If I never directly feel the icy hand of government upon me, for good or ill, I will die a happy man.
First amendment=good. Second amendment=mistake.
Far be it from me to tell a woman what she can or can not do with her body. To the “abortion is murder” gang, I say: Far be it from me to tell a murderer who they can or can not kill.
Now, if I recall correctly, 2 and 3 side me kinda Democratic-ly. But 1 is square with the Republicans, and it is my most important.
Assuming I’m right about that, the question is: Do any of the non-Dem or Rep parties favor small government, no censorship or guns, and RU486 for any that ask? Or do I actually belong with the Branmuffins?
Ah! Brilliant, Jonathan Chance and ravage2! What the system needs is a ballot with a “I am dissatisfied with the whole political process. Please don’t let any of these shmoes fill this House/Senate/Gubenatorial/Presidential seat, as each of them are idiots, and the vast majority will probably just make things worse than they already are. Better to keep the seat open than let one of them fill it.” choice. I’d vote for that. I think eventually every seat would be empty. Or maybe something would change.
Anyway, thanks for reaffirming my decision to be with the REAL majority: the Apathetic Party!
And before you say that they are a third party and that you’ll be “stealing” the vote from a “real” party:
(1) You wouldn’t normally have been voting for any “real” party anyway"
(2) A vote sends a bigger message than staying at home watching Jerry Springer, wearing your wife-beater shirt, eating nachos and whining that the government is too intrusive but not getting off your lazy butt and doing anything about it.
(3) If you decide not to vote because it sends a message, you are sorely mistaken. All it says is that you are satisfied with the status quo.
That’s right! A vote for the Libertarian Party says, “I demand my right to watch Jerry Springer, wear my wife-beater, eat nachos and whine without getting off my lazy butt! So stay off my back, and lemme do it!”
All I will say is that you really believe that the Reps believe in small govt, less interference with private lives, etc., then you just haven’t been watching. The basic philosophy of the party was best embodied by Robert Borkwhose judicial philosophy can be summed up as follows. Limits of government power over the private citizen: none. Ability of the government to regulate business: none. Do you really think that John Ashcroft has any interest in the Bill of Rights, except for the second amendment? He has said so in so many words. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is now the land of the police and the home of the cowering.
As for voting, well, you never know of course. Elections have been decided by one vote. Your best bet, of course, is to get active in politics and convince a million people to vote as you believe.
You voting insures that not just the extremists vote. In a society where everyone is lazy, only the extremists vote, and that tends to produce extreme candidates. So, even if you are moderate and don’t think your candidate will win, vote anyway.
And by extremists, I mean anyone who has a extreme position, regardless of what it is that’s extreme.
Blalron: No, I’d be happy if some other party stood a chance in hell of getting into office in either Penna or Illinois. And I have never whined about the government one way or the other, since I don’t think I have that right (no voty, no whiny I says). I realize that not voting sends no message, other than “You pols weren’t even inspirational enough to get me off my lazy ass.” However, and I’m not trying to be offensive, the Libertarian candidates I’ve seen come off sounding like they used The Illuminatus Trilogy as their campaign manual.
Hari Seldon: I never said Reps believe in small government. I said they believe in smaller government than Dems. I was (unconsciously) ignoring Libertarians, which is exactly what the two frontrunner parties want me to do. As for me being an activist … going from apathy to activist would require massive amounts of crack, and I just don’t have that kind of money.
airdisc: If only the extremists voted, I would vote for the extreme candidate closest to my beliefs. Unfortunately, aside from Branmuffin candidates (I like it, I’m sticking to it), there don’t seem to be many of those. We have “compassionate conservatives” and “centrist liberals” instead. A fair attempt though. If every candidate was Branmuffin in their own way, I think most everyone would vote out of terror of the wrong lunatic winning.
For the sake of clarity, by Branmuffin I don’t mean Libertarians, Greens, or (some of) Ross’ party. I mean this guy: Miro Drago Kovatchevich
i doubt that voting will do you very good. i don’t for a few reasons: 1.‘everyone’ says that you should. nuff said. 2.in 1980, i stood in line for many hours in bitter cold to vote for reagan (or against carter…i can’t remember which). my polling place was about 300 feet from my house. when i got home, i found out that 30 minutes before i cast my vote, carter was on tv crying and conceding. 3 yrs later, reagan shocked and disgusted me with one of his stunts. 3. winners are determined by the electoral college or some local group/counting committee, supreme court…not voters. 4. whatever you vote for will not be law even if it becomes a law if some lopsided judge rules it unconstitutional. 5. the person whom you vote for will double cross your interests while his sycophants who benefit from it (not you, of course) will hail it as a bold and innovative political move, or bemoan the fact that he had to do it to legislate one of his pet projects, while your interests were ignored because of the political realities/necessities of compromise. 6. just remember some of the old midnight specials that legislatures pull and you will see just what a vote is worth. 7. your agenda will probably never be brought up to a vote.
these are just a few of the reasons that i don’t vote.
i consider myself a role model!!!
