Why should I vote?

[kentuck]

Seriously. Will it make a difference?

Isn't that the question many voters ask themselves on election day? They don't think it matters. Will they think any differently next election? Why should we think so? Isn't voter apathy and citizenship absence the biggest problem with our electoral system?

No doubt, most people here and most of our friends will vote next election. However, is there anything to indicate that the average non-voter will change his habits and start voting? Isn't his really our biggest challenge - simply getting people to understand that they have a duty to participate in our democracy? Otherwise, are we still spinning our wheels and fighting over a very small percentage of voters that are usually not well-informed but they vote?

[Mythsaje]

1. There's a lot of this sort of question here today...

My reply?

*****

I hear it all the time. “All politicians are the same. They don’t represent me.” Or, better yet, “I don’t do politics.”

“That’s okay,” I tell them. “Politics will do you.” Then I might add. “Got lube?”

There’s a strong swelling sentiment in this country that the politicians don’t represent the people, a sentiment reflected in the increasingly low voter turnout on Election Day. We can debate the reason for this for days on end, but the truth of it is unmistakable.

We can blame them, rail against them, condemn them for their attitude, but none of these things are likely to do any good. Some want to make voting mandatory, like Australia. Personally I think that’s a stupid idea. Forcing people to participate in something they don’t give a rusty rat’s ass about? Not a good idea. I can’t see how anything positive can come out of it.

I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

So how can we reach these people? How can we get people to actually vote? A radio caller once mentioned an idea that we have a voter lottery. A chance to win money for casting your votes. Well, on the surface it sounds pretty good, but…well…I’m sure we’d rather find a way to encourage informed voting. I’m not sure this would be the best way to do that.

So what is?

Well, first we have to determine which demographic is least likely to vote. Maybe we should sponsor a survey, try to figure out why they don’t vote. Get a consensus rolling. Where are we failing? We’ve got “Rock the Vote” “Rap the Vote” and who knows what else, trying to get the youth out there involved in the system. These things have seen a measure of success, but there is a great untapped resource of voters out there that just don’t connect with the system.

I think part of the problem is that we’ve allowed the whole electoral process to devolve into a mass of soundbytes, where the politicos aren’t so much talking TO the people as talking AT them. A lot of it is obviously manipulative, and, I’ll bet if you did do a survey, you’d find that most people dislike being manipulated by either side of the political spectrum. They don’t need slogans, they need solutions.

The media isn’t helping, of course. The mass communication medium that has sprang up over the past sixty years has done nothing to improve the connection between people and their “representatives.” Only in the last ten, with the advent and expansion of the internet, have we seen a way to reach the people as individuals actually arise. But only a few politicians and campaign people have tapped into this.

The RW has tapped its base, and I’m willing to bet that nearly all of the voters out there who don’t vote now are more attuned to the Democratic message, if it could only reach them effectively. Clearly. And attached to people they can believe will try to make a difference.

They say that “all politics is local.” Howard Dean is building a grassroots financing campaign for the DNC and doing a remarkable job of it. But it’s only half the battle. Getting the money from those who are already interested isn’t the hard part. Getting the votes from the people who aren’t is.

We need strong, charismatic leaders on the ground, in all our communities. Not just talking at the media, but walking around, shaking hands, and being real people. Listening to other people. Because we know that liberalism is about real people…their hopes, their fears, and those things they’d like to see to make their lives better.

It takes real people to connect to real people. So who’ll stand up and be that real person the voters can get to know?

Is it you? Or is it someone you know? Someone who’s willing to go out there and glad-hand, not politicking for any particular candidate, but for our Cause in general. Because that’s a part of what we need.

We already know that the majority of folks support Roe v. Wade and don’t want to see it overturned. We already know that the majority question the Iraq War. We already know that the majority of people want serious healthcare reform.

We need to let it be known that we want the same things they do, and we’re willing to work hard to give it to them.

Democrats. Neighbors helping neighbors. That’s what it’s about.

[niyad]

5. somehow, all people need to get the message that, as the women's

movement said in the 60's and 70's, 'the personal is the political", only they need to see it from the other direction of the way it was usually meant.

[acmejack]

6. Rerun season already?

I hope, either that or I am having one of those pesky inter-dimensional time continuum thinsg going on here...

[Mythsaje]

23. Similar threads

sometimes require similar (or identical) responses.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

10. People who don't vote and claim to be apolitical, are just irresponsible

The ones who claim that they don't vote because "it doesn't matter anyway" are the first ones to complain about the country.

I've had non-voters whine and whine incessantly in my ear about how bad things are going. But do they bother to read a paper? To write a congressman? To show up to vote? Hell no. It's like the person who throws garbage out the window on the highway, then complains why the city is so filthy.

[glitch]

2. Because if you don't they won't have to steal it. And if they don't have

to steal it we'll never catch them at it, try them, convict and imprison them for it.

Don't give it away.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. Oh Jesus. Not another one of these posts.

Ugh.

You're on a fucking political website - you must be fishing for an answer here.

[sam sarrha]

4. then get out and do something about it.. ferry voters, register them..

[IndyOp]

7. Because as a decent person, you have a MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

to take EVERY possible action you can take to end the war crimes, to end use & abuse of people in this nation and beyond, to take action on behalf of everyone who cannot.

WHY I HATE THIS QUESTION: "Why should I vote?" is because it is self-absorbed and complacent.

Who gives flying f*ck if it helps you?

You have a moral responsibility for the actions of your nation. The actions of your nation are against human rights and human decency.

The End.

GO VOTE. PUT THE ASSES OF EVERY IDIOT YOU KNOW IN A MINIVAN AND DRIVE THEM TO VOTE.

Vote because we are responsible for doing EVERYTHING we can to change the miserable world.

:nuke:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

12. Also - how about the thousands - no millions - of people who only

recently won the right to vote? And those disenfranchised? I hate this question because the OP clearly knows the answer.

[stillcool]

8. could this be the answer?.....

A Parallel Election would be held in tandem with the official election. It could be organized on a precinct, county, or statewide basis. And anyone could do it. It's simple. On Election Day, "parallel election pollworkers" (PEPs) would position themselves outside the polls. They would provide voters with “parallel ballots” to mark and a ballot box in which to cast them. At the end of the day, PEPs would compare their tallies with the official election returns. If the tallies don't match, the election can be challenged.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1108

[Lasher]

9. This is a lazy person's excuse

I know people who say, "It doesn't make any difference if I vote or not." or "It's all rigged. It's a waste of time to vote." These people go fishing or hunting on election day, letting others go to the polls to try and to ensure their votes make a difference. Even if the elections are rigged, they're going to have to steal my vote. I'm not going to give it to them by staying home.

Others say, "All politicians are crooked, so I'm not voting for any of them. One's just as bad as the other." Instead of doing research on which candidate is at least the lesser of evils, they focus on NASCAR races and professional wrestling matches, stupid thumbs up their lazy asses all the time.

These lazy people are among the most chronic complainers, when they are displeased with the candidates who were elected by others. They have no right to complain. There are times when I say exactly this to these complaining, lazy people who do not vote. Mrs. Lasher sometimes scolds me for being so blunt.

One important reason I always vote every single time is, I want to feel that I have a right to complain. I have been complaining a great deal since January 2001.

As I have grown older, however, I have decided that it is good that these people do not vote. If only 33% of people go to the polls, my vote counts for three times as much as it otherwise would.

Lasher

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

14. People who ask this question should be ashamed of themselves.

Does it hurt? Does it cost you anything? If you really didn't want to vte why are you posting on a message board aligned with a political party?

[kentuck]

16. Did you even read the original post ?

Did you not comprehend it?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. Yes I did.

Even if you were asking this for other people the answer is the same. I would say it to anyone who asked it.

Now if you were in fact asking on behalf of other people then my last bit doesn't apply to you. I just get so sick of seeing this question here.

Furthermore I think you know the answer.

[kentuck]

18. I think it is a very relevant question...

Probably every person that responded on this thread will go to vote on election day. However, the question still remains: what do we do to get those other voters to the polls? What do you say to them? What do you show them? That is the bigger question and it is important....very important.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

19. Now that is a very important discussion indeed.

The hardest people o convince that their votes count for anything are the poor minority citizens who have been twice disenfranchised (recently) who were inherently distrustful to begin with. I don't have the organizational answer but i do know that helpingt o get people to the polls and to help monitoring are ways to start.

[The Magistrate]

21. One Thing, My Friend

We certainly must not peddle the "not a dime's worth of difference" line ourselves.

If it is our purpose to move people to the polls who do not already make use of the franchise, the only method that can produce any result is to do everything we can to demonstrate the real differences between the parties, and how those may impact these peoples' lives. The lines of demarcation must be made clear, even exaggerated to the point of charicature

[kentuck]

24. I agree, Sir...

But we need to come up with a response to "not a dime's worth of difference". That is our challenge.

We need to personalize it for these type of voters that think there is "no difference". Because there is a difference if your job drops your health coverage for your children. There is a difference if your children play in polluted areas and breath polluted air. There is a difference if you lose your job and there is no assistance for you. The difference is stark. It is black and white. It can mean the difference between life and death. The only power we have is with the people. But the people have to care. They have to stop buying the bullshit about "not a dime's worth of difference..."

[proud patriot]

11. why you should vote

because you couldn't live with yourself if your cause lost by one vote .

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

15. In Oct 2004 my Father in Law told me his vote would cancel mine out

that's why I voted. I wasn't going to let a Republican vote go unanswered.

[proud patriot]

20. Bingo

[AndyTiedye]

13. We Write, Phone, Fax, Take to the Streets, Of Course We're Gonna Vote

At least whoever steals our votes will see how many they had to steal.

[noahmijo]

22. How about for starters in other countries people DIE for the right to vote

or don't have the right to vote at all.

So no candidate will ever reach your lofty standards, guess whose fault that is? OURS that's the bitch of Democracy it's a pack mentality and rule as Churchill said once "Democracy is the worst form government ever invented...except for all forms of government" something to that effect.

Seriously the times we're facing now we don't need shit like this, either quit bitching and get up and do something or sit still and keep wondering why we are facing the current state of affairs.

[fudge stripe cookays]

27. When I think of Alice Paul being force fed

for trying to get women the vote, I get so deeply angry when women don't vote. It's not just minorities. Especially with all that's at stake for our sex right now in terms of reproductive rights. It's what got me voting in the first place back in 1996 when I voted for the first time.

I was out of town for a business trip during early voting recently here, and sick as a dog the day of voting.

It's the first time I hadn't been out since I become hardcore several years ago. I felt sick to my stomach. But I literally could not drag myself to the polls. I made sure to make it to the runoff.

We may have electronic voting in our country now, but I'm damned sure not going to make it easier for the bastards by not voting.

[saltpoint]

25. You are a blue voter, kentuck. And an informed one.

That's my idea of great citizenship!

That's one reason. You know what you're doing.

[kentuck]

26. But nobody else votes just because I do...

We need to find a way to reach these people.