What's a voter to do when the voter does not agree with the ideology

[mmonk]

of the two parties in a two party system? The only thing left is a march on Washington. The only thing left is to be seen. The only thing left is to communicate to your elected representatives your disatisfaction. The only thing left is peaceful disobedience that does not go away until you are heard. The only thing left is to run for office. The only thing left is to come together in your communities and pull together in a time of struggle to make them better. The only thing left is survival for your financial and healthy well being.

[Sirveri]

1. Marches are ignored, or marginalized. They control the eyes.

The only people who will see you, are those who already support you. Civil disobedience is what is required, you need to cause pain to get attention anymore.

[pintobean]

2. For some reason, I thought this would be about voting.

[mmonk]

5. It's about what to do when your vote can't line up with what you want.

So in that sense, there is a relationship of sorts.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. When voting is reduced to two minutes picking the lesser

wretch, there is not much to talk about with voting. Yep, going to do it, yep, got no real choice. That means the expression of will that the vote should be is not present, and it will find another way. My ballot is mailed to me and mailed back. Marking it is a quick, easy thing that happens more than a year from now. How much talk can there be about a few minutes months away? Shall we discuss the sort of pen to use? What hat to wear?
When the choices are certifiable or he who compromises with certifiable, what's to talk about? The ardents do not like it when we express unease with the poor choices and right wing nature of both candidates, or the fact that Obama is opposed to marriage equality, just like his Republican allies, and add that to his 'compromise is all' routine, and that is frightening shit. But he's less objectionable than the Republicans, slightly, and in some ways. In other ways, he's much the same as they are.
Voting takes a few minutes. Late next year. There is no choice to be made. What's to talk about?

[fasttense]

3. Prolonged Occupation of Washington DC.

Starts the 6th of October in Freedom Square, Washington DC. http://october2011.org/welcome

And if you think Wall Street bankster just get bailed out too often, 17 Sept is the planned protest in Wall Street. http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html

[mmonk]

6. Thank you for posting those two links.

We need more of this.

[woo me with science]

13. +100000

Thank you.

[zippytheplatypus]

4. finance, journalism/transparency & collectiveise

All of these work far faster & more effectively than the political route anyway. If its a group you don't like attack their financing, expose them & replace them with friendly organizations that act in your interests. The other guys do this pretty well if you'll notice. Good guys can do it too..

[scheming daemons]

7. Run for office

[mmonk]

15. It was listed.

People can start at a school board level.

[alc]

8. If those voters chose to vote their ideology the parties would listen

Most voters who have an ideology (those who care) will show up and will vote for the party who they dislike the least. 5% can turn an election in most districts (and 2% in many). I'd bet there are at least that many voters unhappy with both parties. If they all showed up (so their vote is counted) and voted for a 3rd party/write in, the main parties would look at that and see a big block of voters they can go after. But, as long as those voters don't show up, or show up to vote for one of the main parties, they can be ignored.

It's better for parties to go after someone who could vote either way (+1 for you, -1 for them) than someone who at worst will stay home and if they show up will vote for you because they hate the other party more. So if you aren't in the middle, you can count on being ignored.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. The theory that there are lots of people who vote in either party

depending on the candidate is not proven, and in fact I have met precious few who vote like that. I mean, can you seriously tell me that lots of people were actually torn between Obama and McPalin? Tossing a coin over Bush v Gore? Who and where are those people?
If such people existed in numbers, they would in fact make themselves known, the nature of politics is to make power blocks. And yet this theory is all about how a smaller group controls all elections, and yet never puts that power to any form of use? You understand that such a group would be the first group of humans in history to hold such sway and yet not organize, not make use of that power to influence the candidates directly for their own benefit.
The 'independents' by and large vote for one of the two Parties, they just do not like to join or identify. I have known a few people who were extremely proud of being 'independent' voters, but none of them really switched from Party to Party, and none of them ever looked at other Parties, nor at organizing others who were like them into any fundraising or deal making.
The bulk of voters who 'could go either way' are not independent, they are idiots who do not know the names on the ballot, can not remember which Party Bush was in, and 'decide' their vote by emotion or name recognition. This is not being independent, it is being uninformed.

[OneGrassRoot]

11. K&R n/t

[woo me with science]

12. K&R What does one do when a government no longer represents MOST of the people,

but rather the banks and corporations?

Thank you for this post.

[mmonk]

16. Quite welcome.

Thanks for responding.

[NNN0LHI]

14. I know what happened during the 1980's when this type of thing happened

We got 8 foking years of Reagan and then 4 more foking years of old man Bush.

I am beginning to think that kind of thing is what it takes for some to understand the seriousness of these situations.

Don

[LoZoccolo]

17. Get other people to support your ideology. n/.t

[mmonk]

18. Plenty of us already out here.

We have to have ways to get active to shape things.

[MH1]

19. Change the system so that a third-party vote is not a spoiler vote.

Campaign for instant run-off voting (or other similar system that allows third party voting without the spoiler effect). Start with it in small towns that are open to the concept.