Why YOU VOTE

[nadinbrzezinski]

I know, I know, there are days it feels like why bother?

Well I have an answer to this sentiment, which by the way... the powers that be are extremely happy about your... why vote attitude?

I grew up in a country were elections were a sham... Everybody knew it

We still voted... IN DROVES!

We understood a couple things:

1.- If you vote, they will have to STEAL YOUR VOTE

2.- If enough people show up and VOTE... then it will be harder to steal

That is why you vote.

By the way, we will reach a point where we may reach the final box (if you listen to Malloy you KNOW exactly which one I mean), since those in power never learn. That said, one way to AVOID that last step, which has plenty of losers... is to show up and vote... IN DROVES.

See, it has nothing to do with your duty as a citizen... even if it is a duty... but in making it harder and harder to steal them.

[Solon]

1. eh, problem is I have no one to vote for, just people to vote against...

I have to vote for who will do the least damage in 4 years, not who will do the most good in 4 years. Life sucks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Yep, life ain't perfect

but if you do not vote, then it makes it that much easier to steal it and IMPOSE somebody who will be that much worst

[Solon]

6. The fact is that, every time I've ever gone into the voting booth...

its more in resignation than anything else. This has nothing with life being perfect, its with trying to find ONE candidate who is tolerable. So far, there are none, that are viable. My choices always devolve into choosing the candidate I despise, or the one I hate. Life in America sucks for a leftist.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Agreed, and it doesn't help that we have a media

set on not letting them speak out

But here is our choice... vote our hearts in the primaries and HOPE the votes are counted

[Solon]

Forgive me if I don't get excited about that...

I get to vote on "Super Tuesday" for the candidate I tolerate. Other than that, I don't look forward to the general.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. I don't ask you to get excited

but if they manage to get us disgusted enough and keep us away from the booths, then they have that much more validation to their agenda

Trust me, not looking forwards to the GE... but I will be there, just as I will make sure I vote on Super Tuesday... as much as I hate the corporatists, the democratic version are a tad more tolerable. Until the empire goes away... the needs of empire also drive a lot of this

[Solon]

16. I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking of bolting...

from the country. I really don't like the American mindset that surrounds me every day, by the media, our so called leaders, etc.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. 1929 comes to mind, as well as imperial collapse

sooner than later... and a shift of historic proportions... just like 1929

It is coming and I fear fast... and it could be violent

[Solon]

20. To be honest, I find it ironic that we would need a crisis the size of the Great Depression...

just to wake people up. Of course, with no leadership, it will end up being violent, so perhaps it is best if I get the hell out of Dodge.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. It took the great depression to wake people up from laizze faire

trickle down economics... it will take that size of a crisis again

But you are right, we have no leaders

[pinto]

9. Even if you aren't passionate about one candidate, harm reduction

is a positive step.

It's *not* all or nothing.

I mentioned in a post earlier about my take. I work from a harm reduction stance on injection drug use and blood borne infections.

The ideal goal is that no one shoot up, yet that's not realistic for a number of reasons. Instead of walking away, we choose to take a middle ground. Give users sterile needles in exchange for used ones, on demand, no questions asked.

We don't meet the ideal, but in a harm reduction approach we limit the spread of blood borne infections among users.

They may well live another day to meet that ideal on their own.

If you walk away, nothing happens. And that sucks.

Hang in there.

[Solon]

11. Heh, that's an amusing analogy considering most Democrats oppose clean needle exchanges...

talk about not compromising. The fact of the matter is that it isn't passion for any one candidate, or lack there of, I actively detest all of them, of both parties, just to different degrees. The Democrats are bad, the Republicans are worse, so I vote for the bad choice, rather than the worst choice.

[pinto]

15. You vote. That's a good choice.

:thumbsup:

[Solon]

19. I'm not so sure about that...

I'm not disputing the fact that voting itself is OK, just who I vote for sucks ass, yeah, I voted for McCaskill, but I will NOT vote for her again, no way, no how. There is only so much I can tolerate, and I already detested her when I voted for her the first time, now I pretty much stand opposed to everything she stands for. I voted for Bill Clinton too, and what was the result? NAFTA, DOMA, DMCA, pick an acronym, and he was for it, 100%. Fucking sucks.

[wildbilln864]

2. kick and recommended! n/t

[gateley]

4. Agree -- if we BURY them with our votes, it makes it harder to tweak the results. nt

[fenriswolf]

5. heh great choice

downhill fast or downhill slow what to choose what to choose. whats that you say? going uphill is impossible? no candidate wants to walk uphill? well this is a fine pickle.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. History should be your guide

I can almost promise that whatever they run on, will NOT be what they end up doing. The economy, the one they are all ingnoring, is bout to implode, so if ye are up to your US History... FDR did NOT run on New Deal either. Hell, that was the last thing in his mind during the campaign.

[fenriswolf]

14. i wasnt alive at the time

although i know the knowledge i havnt lived through it, thus i think this time is different then that time considering the different factors and its not only economic this time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. I wasn't alive either why it is called history

:-)

But many of the conditions are ready for an economic shitstorm of equal or greater degree than 1929

Back then the only thing saving the skins of many a Corporatist was the New Deal (which wasn't his idea by the way), but if the next President does not do something similar, I fear for this country... I fear in the level of a hot civil war.

(Yep, got a degree in history and talking of funny parallelisms, another country... one of the triggers for the Mexican Revolution was the Diaz administration suppressing a strike at the Cananea copper mines in 1909... guess what Calderon is doing right now? And some folks say history does not repeat itself)

[fenriswolf]

25. yeah except unlike then

the corporations are healthy as hell, its the population thats been drained. American isnt hurting as a whole. Its like john said. Two americans and we're in the one thats going down the tubes.

[TahitiNut]

10. (again) Here's what I wrote back in October 2002.

"Why I'm Voting, While I Still Can"

IMHO, every word is as relevant today, imho ... over 5 years later.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Thanks for sharing (eom)

[Skittles]

22. I didn't vote until I saw a LTTE from a Battle of the Bulge survivor

he said not voting was like not being able to vote - it shamed me into voting and I have voted ever since

[HughMoran]

23. K&R

We must vote.

[tom_paine]

24. K & R for a truth for an imperfect world

:kick: