Election day is coming in the U.S. Regardless to your political affiliation......

**** ** VOTE!!!! ** ****

An informed choice is better than none at all.
On The Issues

Are you talking about the elections roughly a year from now?

Nov 3rd elections for municipalities and other miscellaneous boards.

Thanks.

Election day is coming in the US...
...and the commercials and radio are becoming inundated with this mudslinging crap.
My mailbox has even been violated by these advertisements. I went out to get my mail and saw a campaign mudslinging piece of crap hanging from the flag on my mailbox.

But to further what you are saying, I always vote.

quote:

Originally posted by Bearcat99:
An informed choice is better than none at all.

I hate sounding negative, but I would also add that making no choice is better than making an uninformed one. I never cease to be amazed (and scared) by the number of people that treat elections as popularity contests or vote "the party line" simply because they have no idea what any of the candidates positions are on issues. This is probably more of a problem in state and local elections than national ones.

quote:

Originally posted by jarink:
I hate sounding negative, but I would also add that making no choice is better than making an uninformed one. I never cease to be amazed (and scared) by the number of people that treat elections as popularity contests or vote "the party line" simply because they have no idea what any of the candidates positions are on issues. This is probably more of a problem in state and local elections than national ones.

It's the 'American Way', according to Superman..

If you dont vote make sure you dont bitch about results.you have the right to vote not whine about somthing you did not vote on that went the other way than you wanted.

quote:

Originally posted by sakai2005:
If you dont vote make sure you dont bitch about results.you have the right to vote not whine about somthing you did not vote on that went the other way than you wanted.

That's really not true at all. You're presenting a logical fallacy.

There are very valid reasons not to vote.

quote:

There are very valid reasons not to vote.

Such as?

quote:

Originally posted by Zeus-cat:

Such as?

I don't feel like writing a poli-sci treatise here, so I'll keep it short.

Most people agree that the government has major problems with corruption and cronyism. Some believe that the government has been absolutely co-opted into just the sort of institution it was never meant to be by those that founded it. If you believe that the federal bureaucracy cannot and will not fix itself and you do not support it in its current form, then there's very little reason to participate since the outcome will be the same either way.

A very strong argument can be made that if you feel this way (and are a registered voter,) no vote is a vote of no confidence, and that far better represents your views than trying to decide between the lesser of two evils and empowering that which you wish to change.

I once had a poli-sci professor make a very convincing argument along those lines. If enough registered voters that were fed up with the system did not vote, the message that could send could have much farther reaching ramifications than simply putting another figurehead in office.

Agree with that sentiment or not, but it's certainly a valid way to utilize the democratic process.


Though I will add a caveat:
That applies more towards state/national elections than anything else. Local government is far more fluid and (in most places) less entrenched than the federal system. It is actually possible for a locality to empower a third party if it gets sick of Democrat vs. Republican idiocy. The same definitely cannot be said on the federal scale.

Boston Primaries had a 28% turn out. Less than 35% of registered voters are expected to vote on Tuesday. I'd say that's a vote of no confidence. Sadly a no confidence vote changes nothing, and cynisism runs so deep most can't be bothered to attempt to affect change by voting.

GoToAway, I WISH not voting would have the impact your professor says.

Personally I trust non of the government. Both sides have their own interests at heart. They all ask you to pull your pants down and take it like a man eventually.

quote:

Originally posted by GoToAway:
A very strong argument can be made that if you feel this way (and are a registered voter,) no vote is a vote of no confidence, and that far better represents your views than trying to decide between the lesser of two evils and empowering that which you wish to change.

I once had a poli-sci professor make a very convincing argument along those lines. If enough registered voters that were fed up with the system did not vote, the message that could send could have much farther reaching ramifications than simply putting another figurehead in office.

Agree with that sentiment or not, but it's certainly a valid way to utilize the democratic process.

..... IMO, this argument only stands up if those in power actually CARE about public sentiment in and of itself. Failure to vote as a mark of dissatisfction is self-defeating, as it can so easily be interpreted as simple apathy and acquiesence. I would suggest that most politicians and certainly the worst and most cynical politicians do not really care about public sentiment so long as they continue to get themselves re-elected to office. It doesn't matter to them what proportion of citizens in their voting district turn out to vote, so long as they win. A 3 to 2 win is as good for them as a 200,000 to 180,000 win; either result delivers them into office and it's much easier to rig results in low voter turnouts.

My opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by knightflyte:
Boston Primaries had a 28% turn out. Less than 35% of registered voters are expected to vote on Tuesday. I'd say that's a vote of no confidence. Sadly a no confidence vote changes nothing, and cynisism runs so deep most can't be bothered to attempt to affect change by voting.

GoToAway, I WISH not voting would have the impact your professor says.

Personally I trust non of the government. Both sides have their own interests at heart. They all ask you to pull your pants down and take it like a man eventually.

..... An astounding number of electoral offices in Massachusetts go uncontested beyond the internal Democratic Party primary process. The failure of the Republicans to even field candidates COULD be argued by the rhetorically creative to represent an ultimate statement of dissatisfaction with the current political climate on Beacon Hill. But they would be wrong, as it hasn't changed a thing in decades.

If people would wake up and vote and vote for those not an incumbent, politicians would eventually wake up. When wholesale changes are made and new people are in office, slowly, policies would change and the old boy network, not matter on which level, would die.