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We Can Do Better!

Josie

*probably reading smut*
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I agree. Personally, I think voting should be mandatory.
 
I agree. Personally, I think voting should be mandatory.

Well, I don't agree with that. I do think it's a sad fact that only 38% of voting-age citizens vote. People should CHOOSE to be more informed about serious issues that affect our nation.
 
Well, I don't agree with that. I do think it's a sad fact that only 38% of voting-age citizens vote. People should CHOOSE to be more informed about serious issues that affect our nation.
it is just easier to sit around and beyatch about everything than taking the time to educate yourself and to go vote. there should be a national holiday to go and vote, and to get paid for that holiday, you should have to bring something back from your polling place.
 
Well, I don't agree with that. I do think it's a sad fact that only 38% of voting-age citizens vote. People should CHOOSE to be more informed about serious issues that affect our nation.

People should choose to do a lot of positive things, but they don't. Than they bitch about the consequences. :shrug:

Also, the rest of society has to deal with the fallout of their stupid choices as well. Why should they be making other people suffer?

I guess the more I think about it, the more I am beginning to agree with Kori that people tend to be very stupid and selfish when left to their own affairs.
 
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Well, I don't agree with that. I do think it's a sad fact that only 38% of voting-age citizens vote. People should CHOOSE to be more informed about serious issues that affect our nation.

Why?

There is no compelling reason, for most people, to play the stacked game.
Voting is worthless, that's the cold hard truth. :shrug:
 
it is just easier to sit around and beyatch about everything than taking the time to educate yourself and to go vote. there should be a national holiday to go and vote, and to get paid for that holiday, you should have to bring something back from your polling place.
Well you see the way parties choose candidates is pretty corrupt in itself. So even if people voted the candidates would still be of the same character.
 
Why?

There is no compelling reason, for most people, to play the stacked game.
Voting is worthless, that's the cold hard truth. :shrug:

I agree with this to a certain extent.

The reason why only 38% of voters vote is because they only have 2 parties to vote for, and our electoral system makes votes for third-parties meaningless. If we actually let third-party votes count for something by instituting Instant Run-off Voting, I assure you that we would have a much higher percentage of the American people voting.
 
I agree with this to a certain extent.

The reason why only 38% of voters vote is because they only have 2 parties to vote for, and our electoral system makes votes for third-parties meaningless. If we actually let third-party votes count for something by instituting Instant Run-off Voting, I assure you that we would have a much higher percentage of the American people voting.

For me it's not really that.
It's that the vast majority of people choose a candidate for emotional and not researched policy reasons.

For instance, if people chose (in the last election) the Republican based on policy, McCain and Giuliani probably would have never been considered.

Just my take on it.
 
I agree with this to a certain extent.

The reason why only 38% of voters vote is because they only have 2 parties to vote for, and our electoral system makes votes for third-parties meaningless. If we actually let third-party votes count for something by instituting Instant Run-off Voting, I assure you that we would have a much higher percentage of the American people voting.

Electoral Fusion in NY somewhat remides the problem

Electoral fusion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
We can do better!

We can get 95% of the population voting for idiots instead of only 35%
 
Why?

There is no compelling reason, for most people, to play the stacked game.
Voting is worthless, that's the cold hard truth. :shrug:

That's not true, there have been some very close races. I would proffer you the following examples.
1. In 1984, Frank McCloskey was elected to represent Indiana's 8th Congressional District by four votes.
2. In the mayoral election in Ann Arbor in 1977, the outcome was decided by a single, solitary vote.
3. More than 233,000 were cast. Sam Gejdenson was elected to represent Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District in 1994 by 21 votes.
4. In 2000, challenger Maria Cantwell upset incumbent Washington Senator Slade Gorton by 2,229 votes out of nearly2.5 million cast.
5. Christine Gregoire was elected Governor of Washington in 2004 by 129 votes. Washington voters cast nearly 2.8 million votes. Christine Gregoire was elected Governor of Washington in 2004 by 129 votes. Washington voters cast nearly 2.8 million votes.
6. In the Salt Lake City school board election of 2004, Alama Uluave squeaked out a one-vote victory over Michael Clara.
7. Jeanne Windham was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2004 by two votes.
8. In 1978, Cleveland, Ohio, had a recall election in which an attempt was made to oust Mayor Dennis Kucinich. The mayor survived the recall attempt, and retained his office by only 236 votes. More than 120,000 votes were cast.
9. In the 1948 election of Lyndon Johnson as a congressman from Texas. In that election, with more than a million votes cast, Johnson won by a mere 87 votes, defeating former governor Coke Stevenson, who, till then, had never lost an election.
10. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president over Samuel Tilden by one electoral vote. Mr. Hayes won South Carolina by a scant 889 votes. As a result, he was awarded all seven of its electoral votes, and won the presidency.
11. John F. Kennedy won the Presidential election of 1960 by as small a margin as one vote per election district in 12 states.
12. In 1976, Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford by less than 1.7 million votes out of 80 million cast. Mr. Carter won Ohio by 0.27 percent and Wisconsin by 1.68 percent. Had Mr. Ford won both, he would have been elected president.
13. George Bush was elected president in 2000 by a four vote margin in the Electoral College. It came down to the counting of chads. Three independent re-counts showed that Bush was the rightful winner of Florida’s electoral college votes. In the end, Mr. Bush won Florida by 0.0092 percent, 537 votes, and all 25 electoral votes. Al Gore had his share of close calls too. He won New Mexico, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Oregon, each by a margin of less than 0.45 percent, and took all 30 of those states' electoral votes.
14. The difference in popular votes between Kennedy and Nixon was 49.6% for Nixon and 49.7% for Kennedy
15. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey had 42.7% of the popular vote and Nixon had 43.4%.
14.

Should one profer that in any election both canidates are essentially the same, one should consider the impact that some of these elections had on the impact on our country. Had LBJ not won the Senate we would have never had the Civil Rights Act. It took someone with his political connections in Congress and from the deep South to be able to get it through Congress. Whether you agree or disagree with the Act it changed the direction of this country. And local & state elections also can create changes that directly impact the everyday citizen, be it city, sales, or property tax. Presently in Texas, decisions being made on text books will have an impact on the nation. Though this may not happen every time, it does emphasize the significance of the ballot box. The greatest danger to our democracy can be found in our own indifference and apathy.
 
Has anyone heard what the voter turnout was this time around?
 
Following Steven Colbert's estimates from the rally Saturday I would have to say 15-20 billion people.
 
I just read 42%. That's kinda sad.
 
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