Do you vote?

Are you even registered? Has the current state of politics made you so disgusted that you stay home in what you feel is a form of protest? Or are you just apathetic and lazy? Not concerned with who you vote for but do you make the effort?

No I don't vote. The reasons why I don't vote are MANY, but suffice it to say, my individual vote doesn't count! And because of that, I find voting to be a waist of time.

Firstly: If I am an independent voter (not affiliated with either major party), then I can't even vote in most of the primaries or caucuses. In other words, since I don't believe in the two-party system, I am unable to vote within those parties for the best candidate to represent that party. That means that I can only vote towards the general election (the last two candidates). And if I wouldn't have voted for either of those guys in the primaries, choosing one over the other is simply voting on the "lesser of two evils". And since I can't in good conscience say that a guy with little political experience, who I know nothing about is going to do a better job than the guy who I disagree with all of his policies!

For example: John McCain is against gays in the military, BUT says that he would support ending DADT if military leaders supported such a thing. A year later, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says that DADT should end, and John McCain changes his mind! All of a sudden, it doesn't matter what military leaders think because it is and always will be a bad idea as far as he is concerned. So basically, he lied and if I had voted for McCain, nothing would have changed.

Barrack Obama is for gays serving openly in the military and pledges that he would end DADT if he is elected President. He avoids tackling DADT for the whole first year of office, then agrees to let the pentegon conduct a year long survey to determine how to implement it. Meanwhile, his approval rating goes down, repulicans who are against the repeal gain strength and the repeal bill fails to pass the Senate. Later, Republicans assume Senate Majority and repeal of DADT becomes a relic of wishful thinking that is never realized during the Obama administration.

So no matter which way I voted, the issue that ultimately forced me to decide one way or the other has remained the same regardless of who I would have voted for! What was the difference between voting for McCain or Obama as far as this issue goes? NOTHING! The results were the same.

Secondly: If I am a resident of a traditionally "red" state, but I wanted to vote for the Democractic candidate for President, my vote ALSO doesn't count. Why? Because the Presidency is determined by the electoral college, not the popular vote. And if the majority of people in your state voted republican, then only those (majority) votes count towards the electoral college. My vote would only count towards the popular vote (which doesn't matter at all). So again, I waisted my time by voting!

Finally: If you are in the military, and you vote via absentee ballot, your vote doesn't count! Why? Because the results of the Presidential election is often determined (or predicted) before all of the absentee ballots are counted. With the exception of a close race (where a recount might be necessary), all of the absentee ballots that didn't get counted in time are thrown out and not even counted. Because they are not going to waist their time counting several hundred thousand AB votes when they wouldn't be enough to influence the outcome in either direction. So again, me being in the military, voting is a waist of time!

Absolutely. I'm not affiliated with any party because I got sick of partisan politics a long time ago. But I do vote.

Of course I do. My people died for the right for me to. If you don't, then I don't see why you're complaining about the state of anything. Whether you suscribe to particular party, you're party's candidate sucks....whatever, it doesn't matter. Just vote.

Yes I sure as hell DO vote.

You see those ads on TV all the time with a dozen people saying 'one vote makes no difference', but if you were to take the tens of thousands of people who say that, and have them vote, you'd see a hell of a difference in the polls. And the way I see it, if the guy you didn't vote for won and doesn't do anything, you have the right to say 'I thought you were full of crap but you're in a position to prove me wrong, so why haven't you?' and if the guy you DO vote for wins and doesn't do anything, you have the right to say 'we got you up there so why haven't you done anything to help us in return?'

Nystyle709 wrote:Of course I do. My people died for the right for me to. If you don't, then I don't see why you're complaining about the state of anything. Whether you suscribe to particular party, you're party's candidate sucks....whatever, it doesn't matter. Just vote.

No disrepsect to you personally, but people who say "just vote" (the implication being it doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you are voting) ARE MORONS! You know why? Because if you emplore me to vote (knowing that my politics are different from yours) and I vote against all of the candidates who you voted for, you basically had me cancel out your own vote! So telling people to "just vote" is completely asinine and retarded!

If you are going to say anything at all, you should be telling them WHY you think it's a good idea to vote for the candidates who YOU are voting for. But people don't want to do that because they think it's being "pushy" or not politically correct. So they come up with this "just vote" nonsense! Half of our great country is conservative and the other half is liberal. So unless you can convince the majority of people (ie: more than half) to vote your way, telling them to "just vote" is a waist of time. Because statistically, of all of those people who "just voted", half of them voted against what you voted for!

And just to add something, because our country is so divided among the two political extremes, even IF the guy who YOU voted for gets into office, half of the people are not going to like the changes that he makes, then 4 or 8 years later (depending on the numbers from the electoral college) a candidate from the opposite party will be in office to undo all of the things that your candidate did! Neither party can get anything done, because the other party wants to block those changes. Then that party accuses the other of not doing anything so that they can get into office and be blocked by that party next term! Politics in America is a revolving door of nonsense and very little of what YOU do counts for any lasting changes!

By the way, I just now realized that I've been spelling "waste" wrong the whole time. Waist and waste are in fact two different words, so for all those who think I am an idiot, just know that I have now been educated via the Dictionary!

Captainbryce, first, thank you for your service. Second, I'm glad you found your dictionary. Third, I guess you'll think I'm a HUGE moron because I'll go as far as to cast a right-in ( :biggrin: ) vote if there's no one on the ballot I want to see in office even knowing that the person won't win. That's the person I think will best represent my views. That is not wasting my vote. Not using my vote is the only way to waste it. I don't do that so I think I can piss and moan and say "Hey don't blame me. I voted but it's not my guy who is fucking it up." I do it because I refuse to accept what the two exclusive clubs who we let run things have to offer. If I go to a restaurant and they serve me a steaming pile of shit on a blue plate and a steaming pile of shit on a red plate, I'm getting out of there, going across the street and ordering a nice steak.

captainbryce wrote:No disrepsect to you personally, but people who say "just vote" (the implication being it doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you are voting) ARE MORONS! You know why? Because if you emplore me to vote (knowing that my politics are different from yours) and I vote against all of the candidates who you voted for, you basically had me cancel out your own vote! So telling people to "just vote" is completely asinine and retarded!

Seriously, that's such an innocuous factor for me....it doesn't hardly fuel my reason for voting. Of course, I'm a Democrat and I would love to see a Congress full of Democrats....but I realized that MOST politicians are full of shit anyway. I vote solely because it wasn't that long ago that I wouldn't have been able to. People have died for my right to vote. So I can complain about 'the system' all day and know I have the right to because I exercised my right to vote at the polls. Whether or not what I would like to see happen happens or not, I know I've done my duty as an American citizen.

If you are going to say anything at all, you should be telling them WHY you think it's a good idea to vote for the candidates who YOU are voting for. But people don't want to do that because they think it's being "pushy" or not politically correct. So they come up with this "just vote" nonsense! Half of our great country is conservative and the other half is liberal. So unless you can convince the majority of people (ie: more than half) to vote your way, telling them to "just vote" is a waist of time. Because statistically, of all of those people who "just voted", half of them voted against what you voted for!

And just to add something, because our country is so divided among the two political extremes, even IF the guy who YOU voted for gets into office, half of the people are not going to like the changes that he makes, then 4 or 8 years later (depending on the numbers from the electoral college) a candidate from the opposite party will be in office to undo all of the things that your candidate did! Neither party can get anything done, because the other party wants to block those changes. Then that party accuses the other of not doing anything so that they can get into office and be blocked by that party next term! Politics in America is a revolving door of nonsense and very little of what YOU do counts for any lasting changes!

I don't disagree, but like I said....there was a time where I wouldn't have been able to vote. That's something I will not let go to waste.

I do but don't feel obligated to vote in every election. So in other words, if it's for an election that I couldn't care less about or if I'm not especially impressed by one of the candidates, then I sit it out. Case in point: I didn't vote for the '04 Presidential election between Bush and Kerry. Kerry didn't inspire me, then of course Bush was a joke, and I frankly refuse to try and decide between or go with the lesser of two evils.

Yes - I vote... well - provincially and federally, but not always when it comes to municipal votes.

I jokingly say that if I don't vote, I have no right to complain about the state of affairs but in voting, at least I've tried to make a difference. In the most recent provincial election, some ridings were EXTREMELY close, so I know in that case, every single vote counted as some won by only... I think the closest vote might have been 12 apart.

Seriously, though, too many people have died in the history of my country to give me the right to vote and too many people are still dying all over the world for that right, so it's not one I take lightly. I watch what the Afghani people are going though and am so very grateful that I don't have to show up to vote under armed protection, fearing for my life because I'm standing up for something I believe in. The site of those women showing up to cast a vote... it makes me so grateful for the freedom I have to vote safely and with no fear of repercussions for casting a ballot. I'm not always happy with the choices, and have even cast a vote against one party, more than for another party, but I know that for each vote, the party gets a little bit of money - not much more than pennies, but still something, so I guess in that way, it does help a small, tiny bit, even if to just show my support by giving them one more vote.

The Canadian system is different from the American system, though, so maybe that's why I feel that my vote counts for more. We don't directly elect our leaders. We elect local representatives and the party that has the most representatives - "Members of Parliament" (Federal) or "Members of the Legislative Assembly" (Provincial) is the one in charge. The leader of that party is the one who becomes either the premier or out Prime Minister. In having a local representative - someone who knows the people and the concerns they have - helps me to feel that I have more of a voice. Recently I wrote to my MP about a concern and I actually got a reply back, addressing those concerns - a personal reply, not a generic "Thank you for your support. We are looking into the matter" type reply, but one that addressed my concerns and how the government was handling those issues. I don't know if I've explained it very well, so I hope it makes sense how our system in Canada is different.

At the good captain again. Why did you volunteer for military service in the first place? I suppose it just must have been to have a job. I don't think your answer would be to defend the United States and the freedom of it's citizens. The right to vote is basic to that freedom and you've made it clear that you think voting is "a waste of time". Why would you put yourself in harms way to defend something you think is so trivial? And as far as your individual vote not counting, try telling that to the father of the Internet. But thanks again for defending my right to participate in a meaningless process.

I do vote. The first time I voted was in 2008 in the Presidential Election. I'm a registered Democrat and I can't see myself ever voting for some slimey Republican. However, I don't bother with the other elections, like voting for who I want to be in the senate, etc. That kind of stuff I really don't care about.

Alan, maybe the people who don't vote aren't "apathetic and lazy", maybe the problem is that you judge someone like that before you know them.

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:Alan, maybe the people who don't vote aren't "apathetic and lazy", maybe the problem is that you judge someone like that before you know them.

Mandy, I didn't say (all)people who don't vote are apathetic and lazy. Per se. But that definetly is one reason why some people don't. If they don't care or can't be bothered to get off the couch, well that's a pretty good definition of "apathetic and lazy". And as far as only voting for POTUS at the exclusion of all other elections, it's those local and state elections that have the most affect on your every day life.

I vote in the bigger elections; presidential, governor and mayor. I admit that, beyond that, I am not much of a serial voter. I don't too much bother with city ordinances, and things of that nature.

Nhaiyel wrote:I vote in the bigger elections; presidential, governor and mayor. I admit that, beyond that, I am not much of a serial voter. I don't too much bother with city ordinances, and things of that nature.

Ditto. The bigger elections, I make time for. However, I didn't vote in the last mayoral election. I have to admit that I tend to detach from city politics.

I Vote. Its my responsibility to at least try to make sure someone I feel qualified gets in office. I vote left of center because I have yet to hear anyone from the right wing say anything that impresses me and I've been around for a lot of decades.