Enough Already - VOTE

[Chewy]

This mostly applies to people who currently hate or don't approve of Bush, but it goes both ways and is also for those of you who didn't vote for Clinton and then hated him (cause the same stuff happened then too).

Please, for the love of God, do not sit at home on your couch or chair and rant and rave about how the presidency sucks and the government sucks and life sucks. Instead of being a lazy, miserable, and pathetic person get out and vote at the elections next time, instead of sitting at home.

I don't care if you like the dems, the repubs, or both. I just dipise this lazy attitude of "I'm too dumb and lazy to vote" but I'm gonna "hate hate hate and complain all day long". Thats a sad and pathetic attitude and too many people carry it. Instead, if you want to be useful and try to elect the officials you want in office, get out and vote. This goes for local and state levels too, get out and vote. And ya know what? If "your guy" doesn't get elected... its probably for a good reason. Its probably because MORE people wanted the better guy.

So, if you don't get out and vote and try to make the little difference we/you can, don't bother complaining. We just won't care.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Statistically, you're wasting your time if you vote in anything other than a closely contested election. Since our presidency is decided by the electoral college instead of the popular vote, unless you live in a swing state you're not going to make any difference.

[Karkianman101]

But the knowledge of those statistics makes swing-numbers of people decide not to vote, on the count that they "won't make a difference". When this many people are abstaining, they WILL make a difference if they vote.

Anyway, I turn 18 in under two months, so it'll be my first time to vote.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by TychoCelchuuu

Statistically, you're wasting your time if you vote in anything other than a closely contested election.

You're focusing on just the Presidential election, which is "statistically" a small portion of our government.

It's too bad that Americans don't cherish their rights anymore like the people do in some countries:

[Trooper]

amen cing, i was blown away at what the percentage of Iraqis that voted in their first election, over 65% i believe. Yes its bad statistics that turn people off, and its also the way its set up. And its true if you dont vote, you dont have right to whine

[Chewy]

Think about it... if we put half the energy into voting and doing our part to make this country better than we do with games and forums like these, it would be astonishing to think where this country could be today.

[Adrielle]

This will probably get torn to pieces, but, ...

I've never voted in a Presidential election. Granted, I've only been able to vote for one election period, but I digress. I also don't bitch and whine about the Pres, either, so maybe I'm not a huge hypocrite.

Regardless, ... it's not that I don't vote b/c I don't think I'll make a difference, ... I don't vote because I don't really care as of yet. I live in my parents' house still and I'm going to college and I just am not into following politics and such, so if I were to base an opinion on a Presidential candidate it would be through sources which aren't reliable. I don't want to be an irresponsible voter, so I choose (for now) to not be one.

I plan on voting in the future when I'm older and perhaps more interested in it all, ... but for now I don't see the point.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Adrielle

I don't vote because I don't really care as of yet.

Hmmmm....

Why don't you care? Because you feel that it doesn't have an effect on you?

[Diceman]

In Canada, the party you vote for gets $1.25 to spend on the campaign in the next election. It's not a lot, but it does mean that even if I vote for a real dog of a candidate, I'm making a difference. A party cannot collect its earnings unless it acheives a minimum of 2% of the national popular vote, though.

[Adrielle]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Hmmmm....

Why don't you care? Because you feel that it doesn't have an effect on you?

That's part of it. That and I don't really know what to care about. I guess part of it is that I feel that I wouldn't be making a difference, but that's a silly reason anyhow. Politics really confuse me most of the time. The biggest thing is that I don't want to be an uneducated voter, but most of the time discussion of politics makes me sick--so I don't want to take the effort to educate myself in that way, at least until it would have a more meaningful effect on my existance.

I'm open to be proven wrong here, ... half the reason I commented in the first place.

[Chewy]

Adrielle, you will probably change your mind as you get older and start finding out about all the things that do effect you. But in the meantime, enjoy your parent's house!

[Adrielle]

Originally Posted by Chewy

Adrielle, you will probably change your mind as you get older and start finding out about all the things that do effect you. But in the meantime, enjoy your parent's house!

When I was 18, I moved out of my parents house and into an apartment with my ex-boyfriend. I had to grow up really fast. Too fast, really. Things went sour with my life, and basically I called "do-overs". That's why I'm back at my parents house. I intend to enjoy my brief opportunity to be a little LESS responsible and LESS grown up while I'm still young and have the chance. No need to dive right into adulthood when it can be a more gradual transition.

[Chewy]

Haha... point taken, my dear!

[Trooper]

The Key to being an educated voter is to find an issue you are most interested in, and find out what each canidates views on that topic, see how he acts around it, his additude toward others that are against what he say. If you start with one topic, before you know it you will know what all the topics are and actually care about whats going on.

This next elections big topic is gonna be immigration and pulling out of Iraqi.

[TychoCelchuuu]

The problem with voting on issues you're interested in is that you can end up with a crazy dude in office. The Palestinians voted on an issue they were interested in (social services and their economy) and now they've got terrorists for a government. If they had looked at things holistically, taking into account the peace process, instead of only voting for issues that were most important to them at that particular time, they would probably have been much better off.