That job being voting for whoever spends the most money?
No. I imagine most of the big money will be spent on T.V. advertising, and since I rarely watch live T.V., and don’t watch the news or news channels (which is where much of the political advertising goes), I won’t even be aware of who the big money spenders are.
In this month’s election, I had never heard of some of the mayoral candidates until I read the ballot pamphlet. I also tossed pounds of political advertising that came to my mailbox on a daily basis without reading it. I will read traditional news sources (the mainstream media) and the discussions on this and other sites to get an idea of which candidates most closely reflect my positions.
My decisions will still be based primarily on intuition and gut feelings, but hopefully they won’t be influenced too much by money.
Presidents Perot and Forbes thank you for your votes!
I probably will be voting for Obama, who has the most money at this point.
Doesn’t work if you spend your own money, that already shows you’re not corrupt enough or in the right way to have the support of the necessary puppet masters.
I’ll vote for whoever gives me the most money, thank you. (Or maybe I won’t. Secret ballot, you know. ;))
Huh? This doesn’t even make sense.
I will vote for whoever supplies me with a miniature American flag.
It is helpful to understand that the essential point of democracy isn’t to optimize the greatest good for the greatest number of people (the masses rarely understand what is good for them) or are ensure that all points of view are represented (the sheer number of different opinions assures that only the only the loudest or most extreme receive attention) but rather to make the public at large feel a sense of involvement and self-determination, thereby undermining a mass movement for revolution or radical change. By allowing for a bad option and a slightly less bad option, you give the illusion of choice, when the reality is that only the most influential movements–which, typically, are those that are also the best funded and have the budget for effective, professional marketing and research–will really receive enough attention to be vote-worthy.
By all means, vote if it makes you feel good; if nothing else, even the most cynical voter can find candidates and measures to vote against. Just don’t think that you are “making a difference” by pulling a lever once every couple of years, or arguing politics over the water cooler in between of discussing your favorite television show. If you genuinely want to make a difference, get involved in a constructive organization or movement that reflects your views and values (that is, one that does not consist of camping out on public property and waving your fingers up and down to develop “consensus”) and make a positive change in the lives of people or public perception that will then flow up to politicians and corporate leaders. Expecting corporations to go against their financial interests or politicians to oppose their most powerful backers just because you wish it to be so is like a small child asking for a pony.
Stranger
Pretty much. I just like making fun of people that have a swell of pride when they participate in this “democracy” or genuinely dislike one candidate a great deal more than the other party’s.
Though that make a difference drivel you were talking about is meaningless as well and requires more work so other than people like that being less common I’m pretty sure they’re even more deserving of ridicule.
Wow. You’re so cool and edgy with your cynical disparagement of people participating in our country’s political process. Do you have a newsletter I could subscribe to?
It’s not meaningless, but yes, it is harder than most people (myself included) care to participate. However, it is trivial to demonstrate how the determined avocation of a position, such as environmental awareness, civil rights, or research for cancer, has affected the voting base of the population, which has then influenced their choice of candidates.
It is popular (and certainly easy) to blame “the politicians” and “the corporations” for all of the poor decisions and lack of foresight. But in fact, politicians and corporations respond to and live by the desires of their constituants and customers. They may make an effort to influence what voters and consumers believe, but ultimately, if you don’t like who is representing you in Congress or on the board of Union Carbide, you have to recognize that the responsibility lies in those who place them and keep them in those positions, whether by obtuseness or laziness. Voting is practically incidential to the process of democracy; the real decisions are made by society at large, embracing or rejecting core values that the candidates then attempt to demonstrate they enbody.
Acknowledging the error in one’s process of beliefs is the first step to correcting a problem and taking effective action. Do you believe that going to the voting booth and pulling a lever has “made a difference”? You’ve probably made more of a difference in the selection of brand of deoderant you wiped on your armpits this morning.
Stranger
Personally I believe most cynics have the same attitude you’re displaying here. They’re afraid people will laugh at their opinions so they refuse to believe in anything.
Hopefully, you’ll outgrow this. If you don’t, you’ll go through life being both fearful and irrelevant.
Hopefully he won’t.
That way he, and others like him, will continue to sit on the sidelines not voting so that the rest of us can continue unimpeded to participate in our government and move it in the direction we feel best meets our needs.
Uhhh, here in New York the elections were several weeks ago. 
I don’t recall seeing Obama on the ballot. 
I voted the way I always do, the way I always have. For the Democrats.
As was shown in that Ohio initiative to ban unions for government employees, throwing money at something doesn’t always work. At least, for normal people.
How Congress eventually votes on SOPA will determine whether it works on congresspeople.
Voting: meaningless
Anonymously posting a throw-away line on a message board: priceless!
You have a good alternative in mind?
I whoosh he’d answer the quoostion.
Humanity is an amoeba. No part of the goo is more important or relevant than another. We are all equally meaningless. Some get to hang out in the soft squishy center and others are grated against the rocks, but none of us have any say in where the blob goes. Life is a stage.