Voting

[SpasticChicken]

I HATE...i mean really HATE people who don't vote. I don't use hate often, it's a bad word in my house. 2nd to the F word but i shall use it for unregistered voters, or registered ones who won't vote. I don't know what r0ck you guys have been living under but every vote really does count! I don't thats sounds so typical and thats sorta the catch phrase for right now but it reallyis true. I can't stress this enough! I mean i know some 16 year olds who are very heavy into politics and i know others who don't even know who our president is (NOT kidding) Anyway, i just think if your not gonna vote you need a better reason than "my vote doesn't count" because thats BS! Well, thats me venting...any comments?

[Aiden]

I agree with you. If you can vote, then do it. I'm not old enough to vote yet, another year to go, but if I could I would. One persons vote could be the difference between win or lose.

[piñata]

Even though one person's vote usually doesn't count in an electoral college.

EDIT: That's not to say I don't vote -- I usually do, although I'm not sure about this year's election, which I personally consider to be a load of happy horse shit all the way around.

[Ape]

Yea, i'm going to have to agree with Pinata...kinda. When a single person thinks "my vote doesn't really matter" then they are probably right...but when 5,000 people think that way...yea, THEN it really does matter.


Either way, yea, i think everyone should vote

[Scythe]

The one thing that's worse than not voting is voting without understanding the views, quailities, and downsides of all the candidates, and making an intelligent decision based on your own views. Simply voting for what your friends or family are voting for without understanding completely undermines the reason for voting in the first place. IGNORANT VOTERS ARE THE BANE OF DEMOCRACY!!!

[SpasticChicken]

points taken guys I agree with that Scythe is trying to say. But what i was trying to say with the vote thing was one person doesn't think "yeah my vote doesn't count" tons of people do! which is starting to be a problem. And Scythe i think if you could find one thing that the canndite stand for and you really like, a person should vote for that. I know other things have to come into play but come on, life isn't burger king, so you can't have it your way.

[Scythe]

SpasticChicken is right. The odds are astronomically against there ever being a candidate who represents your own views exactly or even half-way. Just make sure you know that the ads are saying "Vote for Something," not "Vote for Anyone." Odds are that you care about something, so act on it and vote. its good to know as much as you can though, just in case the candidate supports one of your views but opposes many of your other views. 'Cause then you'd be making a mistake, meesa tinks.

[piñata]

That's why I have trouble bringing myself to vote for Kerry... he's just barely a step up from Bush, but he's still far too conservative for me.

[SuperBassX84]

Even though he's the "most liberal" senator...hehe.

I have mixed views on this.

First off, I don't like people who don't vote simply because they think it doesn't matter. THese people are jackasses. They're even bigger jackasses when they don't vote and then they bitch about everything the new president does.

Secondly, I agree with Scythe that ignorant voters suck. I've always kept an ear on politics, even as a kid...it's just always something that interested me because I knew that my life was very directly affected by what happened. To not even know who the VP is (and many people don't know) and then go out and vote is just asinine.

Third, I've noticed something. If everyone who could vote, did, Democrats would win in a landslide every time. However, if the only people that voted were people that were very studied in facts and figures and such of politics, it'd be as even as it is now, if not taking a Republican swing. That's what I think, anyway.

Finally, my brother doesn't vote, and if anyone tries to bash him, I will not hesitate to fight back. He doesn't vote because he honestly doesn't give a shit about who wins or what happens. The difference between him and the average schmuck that doesn't vote is that my brother won't complain about taxes and the war and everything else, and if he does, he'll acknowledge that fact that he didn't do shit about it in the last election. If you're not gonna vote, that's definitely the way to do it, IMO.

[Elfie]

SuperBassX84 said:

Third, I've noticed something. If everyone who could vote, did, Democrats would win in a landslide every time. However, if the only people that voted were people that were very studied in facts and figures and such of politics, it'd be as even as it is now, if not taking a Republican swing. That's what I think, anyway.

I disagree, especially seeing as the Democrats get a huge boom from the intelligencia, the people who are actually out there looking at the issues without having to worry about how decision will affect their company or stock portfolio. If only the educated would vote, we would see a swing towards the Democrats. Remember, there's a great difference between rich and educated.

[SpasticChicken]

Elfie said:

Remember, there's a great difference between rich and educated.

haha-isn't that the truth. Well, if my mom was a Republican,i would probably lean towards that side also. Which is what i did with the whole Democrat thing. When i needed to discuss politics in class i started listening to the issues and i agree with some(not many!) republican ideas but because of my up bringing i lean towards the democrats...which has nothing to do with what Elfie said but i'm just opening for what i was gonna say which was: Most people are democrat...haha i actually forgot what my point was and i don't wanna just delete this post cuz...yeah

[Lady Enelya]

I'm only juts eligable this year...thats a damn joke you should be allowed to vote from 15 in my view!! ESP here where everyone has political views of one form or another.

[piñata]

I agree, Enelya. If I were a lawyer, I'd get a bunch of 15-17 year olds together and sue the government for age discrimination... get the age of consent lowered while I'm at it, too.

[SuperBassX84]

Terrible, Candybag....just terrible.

The reason voting isn't allowed until 18 is the same reason driving isn't allowed until 17 - maturity. Honestly, we have enough people who don't know what the fuck they're voting for WITHOUT throwing in a bunch of 15 year olds whom the voting doesn't even effect. They can't go to war, they rarely pay taxes, etc., etc. Most of them would just vote the way their parents did, or against their parents if they hated them. That's the only difference.

And the age of consent....terrible. Just find someone over 18 or make sure the juvenile and her parents won't sue. Not a hard thing to manage. Jeese....

[Lady Enelya]

In Northern Ireland most young people are politically savvy since around 15, I was involved in a thing with Save the Children, putting together a report on how young people feel about politics etc. It came out that in UK and Ireland 83.6% of young people had been involved (independantly of their parents and schools) in campaigns for/against certain things so it is unfair to make a blanket statement, like:

we have enough people who don't know what the fuck they're voting for WITHOUT throwing in a bunch of 15 year olds whom the voting doesn't even effect. They can't go to war, they rarely pay taxes, etc., etc. Most of them would just vote the way their parents did, or against their parents if they hated them. That's the only difference.

Just becasue the current adult population are not interested in politics des not reflect on young people.

It may be more a problem with the americna political system than with ours. As we have several large parties in the general ellection, and anyone can stand for local assembly elections ...by the people, for the people...young people are still people.

As for the arguement that the vote does not effect young people,.. ever heard the phrase "We do not inherite the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" ....think about it.