Don't Vote
 

I’m not voting in the upcoming election.

And I’m gonna tell you why… and I’m only doin’ that because it’s Sunday night and I have shit else to do with my time because all the liquor stores are closed and I don’t wanna sit in a bar.

So, for the past few years or so I’ve been toying around with the idea of a new type of protest that I could attempt to execute against our currant Government. But then I realized that every form of protest has already been done and none have worked. But then I realized again that I didn’t only want to piss off our currant group of retards with bad hair. I wanted to get the word out to everyone that has ever held office and was ever thinking of holding office. And after drinking away any good ideas I had come up with I realized that I’m only one man and couldn’t change a fucking thing from the floor of the bathroom. And even more. I couldn’t careless about who was in office or what they’re doing. As long as they don’t fuck with my way of life then I’m just gonna sit and watch everyone else get all up in arms about things that have no bearing to their everyday life. Save the Whales? You live in fuckin’ Wyoming.

This is when I came up with my idea. Don’t fuckin’ vote. Don’t have anything to do with the political system at all. Completely ignore it. But only until we don’t have to choose between the lesser of two or three evils. Let’s look at our currant race for office. Bush Vs Anti-Bush. See, Kerry has no name or platform… he is simply running as Anti-Bush and hoping it works. And Bush isn’t running as anything. He’s simply Anti-Everything that might have a bigger dick then him. Which is why he doesn’t want lesbians to get married. So, we have two people that want to run our country that don’t really have any new ideas. It’s the typical “He is evil so vote for me “ Vs “I’ll beat cha ass ma’fucker… I know people…”

I don’t want someone to run my country that is banking on the other guy fuckin’ up so he wins by default. Ignore the other guy and run as yourself. Say how you feel on the subject and not what the money in your pockets thinks. And I have very little faith in that happening any time soon. Which is why I’m not gonna vote. See, I know it doesn’t make much sense right off… not voting means you don’t have the right to bitch about the state of the world. Yeah. I won’t. I don’t care. And once enough people stop paying attention to the form politics is in now… it will have to change. Me voting for Kerry or Bush will not change a fuckin’ thing. Neither one of them has a fuckin’ clue how to run a country. Bush couldn’t even run a good baseball team. And Kerry was getting high with Jane fuckin’ Fonda. I know it looks like I’m just being hard to please… this isn’t the case at all. I’m very easy to please. You should see most of the porn I like. As long as she has one eye and most of her teeth. I’m good.


I’ve already put my plan into effect. I’ve been talking to people around town and on the Net about why I’m not voting and why they shouldn’t vote as well. And the main thing people keep saying is, “No Vote, No Voice.” And I say, “I’ve seen your father naked.” I’m not worried about not having a voice. The way I see it is that I’m using my voice by shutting the fuck up. The silent treatment. We all get it from our mothers and we all know how bad it sucks. I think we should all give the Government a collective silent treatment. We’ve spent how many years now yelling and bitching and not a fuckin’ thing has changed. In fact it’s gotten worse. And what does that tell you all… ? Change ma’fucker. Change.

And I would love to death to be the one that started some sort of back-ass-wards revolution that involved on Election Day staying home and watching The Godfather Trilogy.

So let’s look at what might happen if we get instead of 20,000,000 new voters this year we get 20,000,000 to not vote. But se we can’t just not show up and expect them to understand why. As far as they know we were all getting high behind a 7-Eleven. And most of us will be. We have to tell them why. They have to know just how bad they suck. So, say we don’t vote and throw a protest that involves little to know work what-so-ever. See, we can’t show any effort or it makes it look like they are worth our time. And as we know… they aren’t. It’s how we deal with crying kids. Distracted them or ignore them. When no one shows up to the voters boxes and the election was decided by a few old Jewish women in Miami that can’t turn their TVs or Computers on they will realize where they went wrong. And then that’s when the power comes back to our hands. I’m just sure of it.


And all in all you know that no one will ever fallow what I say. Vote if you wish but any vote for or against Bush is a wasted vote. The whole country is in the shitter and they put us there. So why would we want to have more of them in charge. See, in Denver we voted in a new Mayor last year that had never held any sort of office and had never really had anything to do with politics. And Denver is now on it’s way out of the shitter. John Hickenlooper is the best thing to happen to Denver since the Rocky Mountains. Okay, so I know that not all stories like this are good. I seem to remember a wrestler that was in charge somewhere… I don’t really wanna talk about it. See, if we wanted to choose the best option for President we would have to vote for Ralph Nader. And that just makes me laugh. No, it really does. I know he’s a good man and did a lot for something that has to do with this country but all in all… he’s kind of creepy. Now, I did vote for him last time around and am kicking myself in the nuts everyday for it. The only reason I voted for him last time was for his slogan plastered on the side of his bus. “Bush and Gore make me Ralph.” Isn’t that classic? Not only does he not have a single opinion that matters but he thinks he’s gonna win on the base of a really fuckin’ bad pun. This man has to tell me what to do for the next four years. This time around we don’t have anyone else to vote for as a joke after a night of pre-election drinking. Unless you wanna vote for Kerry so your friends can say, “Who?”

All in all. Don’t vote. It’s not worth you time. When the country is still in the shitter after Bush leaves you’re gonna feel like a retard. At least for me I can say, “I’ve seen your father naked.”

I'm voting for Bush, so you can't cancel out my vote. Of course, everyone else around here will.

But I have seen your father naked.

This is why we need a "None-of-the-above" option.

see
politicians LOVE it when people don't vote..the incumbant normally stays in power that way bc of the voting base that keeps them there...

So, vote, but write in a candidate or vote your heart, something..

and my vote will cancel boco's :)

Let this be an example.........just say "No" kids.....just say No.

Re: Don't Vote
 

You've been listening to WAY too much George Carlin. :p

Well, if you're going to throw away you voice in government, at least do a little good with your toss. Vote libertarian. Voice disaffection with the current scheme of things and the two party system that forces 'lesser of two evil' choices. Or vote for any non-major party option. Green, Nader, socialist, whatever. Silence doesn't create change in this situation.
You say you're kicking yourself for voting Nader last time, but isn't that better than not saying anything at all?

I say you vote - and take a stand. There are far more things out there in the world that can affect you both on local and federal levels and one should pay attention.

For instance it caught my attention in the Congress soapbox:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/...ua_congressorg

I really began to think - WTF? When did this one happen and how'd it slide under the attention of others.

Its things like that where one should pay attention because that COULD defenitely affect you.

Yes you might protest the candidates or policies, but at least go with a penciled in guy or show you don't like how things are going by voting in or out the people that you consider the lesser evil so you can remove them later.

We do, it's called a write-in.

This site has some interesting views. It is Canadian... but interesting still.

"If you are part of a society that votes, than do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for .. but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule, you will rarely go wrong.

If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires."

- Lazarus Long

You have a perfect right not to vote.

In an era of fatcat lobbyists and special interests running the show, the ballot, once every couple of years, is your only power. I'd rather see you vote for Bush than not exercise that power.

I hate to sound like a cliche, but you, and your friends, CAN make a difference. I guess the only question is, would you rather expend all this effort and energy getting people not to vote, or expend it getting them to vote on something, someone you care about. If you're really serious about the former, then I pity you.

PS Colorado is a swing state, with some real potential for a very heated contest this November. Get involved - make that difference.

If you spent half the amount of time knitting as you seem to have spent rationalizing something that most americans don't even feel the need to rationalize than you'd probably have a few nice sweaters by now.

The problem, as has been pointed out by some people here, is that by *not* voting, you help the candidates you probably dislike most.

The reason US politicians tend to go for "family values" and "christian this-and-that" is simple: religious leaders can organize their people to vote. Politicians care about staying in power, and people that vote keep them there. If a lot of these votes come from extremists, the politician will try to woo these extremists. If the moderates don't vote, nothing will change here.

Your reasoning seems to be based upon the notion that politicians will see that a lot of people aren't voting, and will then suddenly change their ways to woo these people. That notion is wrong, period. You seem to underestimate the power of apathy. People that didn't vote in the last election are probably not going to vote in the next, so there's no reason to listen to their needs. The best way to stay in power is to pander to the needs of those people that *do* vote, and not to upset the rest too much.

If you want to make your country a better place, and hate the politicians that are currently in power, the worst thing you could possibly do is: don't vote.

but go ahead, make no difference. :)

If you really don't want to vote then staying home is not a great protest and will just be seen as lazy by the media.
Go in to make you're vote and spoil your ballot paper then atleast your counted in the "spoilt papers".

I've seen your father naked.

someone is either very drunk or very drunk...

since the americans do not count blank votes, abstention does not function as a mode of protest--in french trade-union elections, for example, there was along tradition of casting blank ballots, and these ballots would be counted along with the marked ones. the blanks would therefore function as a silent protest of sorts.

the problem with that is obvious: the meaning of the protest is unclear, and usually comes down to spin generated by the agency that does the counting.

but the americans dont work that way. if they did, then the problem of voter apathy would turn into one of political dimensions--no-one could have ever spoken in the 1980s about a "reagan landslide" based on 27% of the registered voters, for example---low turnout could call the legitimacy of the system itself into question. if, that is, the american system was a democracy.
but it's funny--the americans hate one of the basic aspects of democracy, which is uncertainty---think of the chaos that surrounded the last elections in florida--in principle there was no problem with taking extra time to actually count the votes, but the uncertainty over that 3-4 extra days would have...well, what?...the republican lawyers were able to chickenlittle the supreme court, arguing that something dreadful would follow on a period of uncertainty--of excess democracy, presumably...

but i digress.

in this election, abstaining would be a bad idea, i think. low turnouts generally benefit republicans. i find myself holding my nose and voting for a reactionary like kerry, figuring that at least he seems saner than what is in office now. not voting is a vote for bush.

What, do you want a cookie or something?

ACtually we do count those...called Undervotes. When a race has an Undervote rate higher than average, especially weighed against other races on the same ballot, it is noticed by those folks in the campaigns. In partidcular, when a candidate runs unopposed for a seat, but has a high Undervote rate, the opposing party will often target that seat to oppose in the next election.

On another note, electronic voting is leading to the end of the write-in. Here in Texas you no longer have the option to vote for a traditional write-in. So called write-in candidates must be registered ahead of the election just like normal candidates, otherwise they won't be on the electronic ballot.

Don't vote, fine, but then don't bitch about how bad things are. If you take no action to improve the situation, you lose the right to complain about it. Or, don't vote, but lobby for the solutions you think would work. Whatever. But sitting on your ass and saying "this sucks - I quit" is hardly productive.

Governments attempt to abuse power. We are able to vote in order to make sure they dont. If people stop voting then a small minority will one day gain power, turn our government around by force and oppress. This is why I vote and always will.

This is how I'm taking action to improve the situation. And I'm telling others to follow me.

If enough people don't vote becuase they don't feel either of the monkeys can run our country then they will feel the impact. Trust me on this.

Strangely appropriate, Dr. Freud.

Can I have your vote?

Oops. Yes. I guess it was.

There is no such thing as a write-in in CT. We go Dem every time in presidential elections, only because there are only three fucking names on the ballot! Bush, Gore, Nader. This time, it'll be Bush, Kerry, Nader. Where the fuck is my option for Aaron Russo? Where the fuck is anyone else? I think we might have had Perot on the ballot in '92. What if I want to vote for my mother, or my favorite college professor? Voting machines are destroying my freedom of choice on election day.

I havnt voted in a presidential election yet, and I'm 25. I really dont think Ive seen a lesser evil out of the canadates in any election in wich Ive been eligible to vote. Imagine going to a resteraunt and being given a choice between two meals:

a) a plate full of dog shit
b) a plate full of human vomit

Wich one would you choose? Thats what voting for president is like to me, except the choices are less appealing (the choice between Gore and Bush was no choice at all.. I could not in good conscience vote for either). You get to pick your poison. The way the poison works may be different but the end result is the same.

Voter turnout 1960-1996
It used to get up to 60%. Lately we're lucky to break 50%. Apathy never solves anything. In order to get elected officials to notice the drop in voting you'd have to get turnout down to 35-40% and even then they could call it a continuance of the trend. Honestly, this is a stupid and nonsensical plan, and I can't figure out why you've espoused it.

With the development of popular government comes the duty of citizens to participate in their own government for the sake of the common good. Not to do so is to abandon the political process to those who do not have the common good in mind. Given the nature of democracies this inevitably leads to unjust laws and an unjust society. These may come about anyway, but they should not come about through the negligence of citizens, who would then share in the guilt.

I completely agree. It's ridiculous to think that anyone is going to give a shit what you think while you sit in the corner with the lights turned off, mumbling. If you want to enact any sort of change you have to be loud and proud about what you believe in. If you don't care either way, then why the need for this thread?

The point of this thread. Info-tainment. Discussion. The same point as the rest of the threads here at TFP. i came up with and idea... threw it to the wolves and the wolves didn't bite. Oh well, next time.

so you're silent so thet the extreme Bush/Kerry shouters can be heard better?

What's all this talk about not voting for the currant government... I say, hell yes! Vote Raisin...

My voting strategy has always been to vote for the third most popular candidate, regardless of policies or party affiliation.

In the unlikely event of my candidate ever winning an election I'm quite prepared to lead a coup d'etat (as soon as I figure out what a coup d'etat is).

Since currants and gooseberries are so similar, doesn't it follow that goosestepping can't be far behind? No! It's too big of a risk to take. Vote the jam ticket!

inaction does not make action. unless you are ghandi. i laughed so hard when i read this. not voting is exactly what THEY want you to do. you have now become a member of the machine.