Disgusted with My Choices, I Didn’t Vote — Am I Un-American?
I live near Chicago, where everybody knows about the debacle with our governor a couple years ago. I have fielded many a snarky comment about that, and am thankful that I was able to deflect them, as I was not yet old enough to vote when Blago won the seat. However, this year’s election hardly shaped up to be anything different — it appeared as if Illinois would yet again be stuck with a poor leader. I thought about my vote: Quinn is a corrupt son-of-a-gun who will probably follow in the same steps as “Bleeping Blago.” Brady seems like a typical “I’m gonna say whatever the Democrat doesn’t say” Republican. Whitney? No, he’s part of the crazy Green Party. And Cohen was accused of domestic battery.
My choice was not based on laziness or ignorance, but disgust. How are we supposed to progress as a county, state, or country if we can’t even get decent people to govern us?
So with this, I call out to politicians, or people with political aspirations: please, for the sake of this country (and perhaps the sanity of the people), think about whom you are representing. Think of what your position means. Public office is a grand privilege. Rather than roll your eyes at the non-voters, think about why they’re not voting: target those people, the people who have given up on politics.
Instill hope in them that government can improve and can faithfully represent the people.
Unfortunately, Robyn, you’re all too American.
We live in a nation barely two centuries old that is almost a third of the world’s economy — despite being about 1/20 of the world’s population. Unlike other nations, rebuilt on the ruins of prior states, this nation began as just a colony of a great empire. Originally populated by the disaffected, transported criminals, and refugees — and after being purged by a civil war barely a hundred years from its independence — we have spent much of the last hundred years as “Leader of the Free World.”
Our nation is governed, wisely or not, by 535 legislators and an elected President. These few souls have powers beyond the dreams of any potentate in history. Cities can be annihilated, empires laid waste, fools raised to fortune, and dead companies revived, by mere words on a piece of paper. Were they able to exchange their lots for positions in the present day, kings and emperors of old could well prefer to be congressmen of the present.
And, yet, each of these lords must periodically take a turn before the electorate, and be judged — a point that more than threescore Democrats seem to have recalled a bit tardily. The Senators and Representatives who were set aside in this last election put their party ahead of the people….and have paid the price.
Which gets us back around to how the parties and the people can be so much divided. You say, “My choice was not based on laziness or ignorance, but disgust. How are we supposed to progress as a county, state, or country if we can’t even get decent people to govern us?” I say, “why do you assume that this is someone else?”
You say, “So with this, I call out to politicians, or people with political aspirations: please, for the sake of this country (and perhaps the sanity of the people), think about whom you are representing.” I reply, “why do you call out to someone else and implore them to think of you? How can you expect people so much unlike you that you disassociate yourself to be able to empathize and represent?”
Don’t allow politics to be owned by professional politicians. Don’t let parties set the agenda and choose between two evils. Get out there and make your party into what you want it to be, so that you can be proud of what it’s doing. Transform your party into people just like you, so that you don’t have to crawl to a political priesthood to intercede on your behalf.
Don’t retreat from government, because that will inevitably result in government that is more alien than today. Charge at it! Grapple with it! Tear at it! Write a congressman — and if you get a garbage reply, throw him to the curb during the next primary! Be heard! Move! …in order “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
You forgot to mention in your story of glory about the US the real natives of your continent:Once upon a time we used to call them Indianer(a name of respect from my point of view). Furthermore, the US profited from German scientists(in the 1930s, Jewish German citizens and after the war Hitler’s followers(Werner von Braun and Co.- approx. 10.000 – 15.000 people). The Russians did the same. Somehow, one could claim that the Superpower US was build on the ruins of old Europe and on Europe’s willingness to allow you to play Superpower. Though I will not blame you for that. Europe’s so-called leaders follow the actions of the US like a religion: They (the US) did it that’s why we have to do it too(globalisation, financial market system, shareholder value – terms unknown till 1989 in all of Europe except Britain. Personally, as a citizen of Germany living close to Switzerland, I would love to live in some kind of large Switzerland, nothing more but nothing less and you could play superpower till the end of time – but without our help.
Interesting view, Robyn… there is much work to do in Illinois especially in the blind-Democrat-voting Chicago.
No good candidates? Well why don’t you get involved yourself: run for your local school board or something else to start.
America is trying to wean herself off career politicians. Its a battle but one worth fighting for… so join the fight in Illinois. Isn’t IL worth saving, too?
Dead weight you are but it is not un-American not to at least vote against the worst candidate running.
An additional problem is that many times more evil has been done by stupidity than by intent. A book “Hungry Ghosts” chronicles the way China’s “Great Leap Forward” may have killed as many as 50,000,000 without anyone intending to kill anybody.
No offense Robyn but I bet you also attended the local public schools in the Chicago area.
Congratulations on your awakening. Just a few points I’d ask you to consider. Not voting isn’t going to miraculously make a better slate of candidates appear next time. Sometimes the only choices are bad or worse . I’d opt for less bad.
Next, if you were unhappy w/ your Obama vote then voting for the Republican would have been a way signal this. There’s nothing wrong w/ saying no ( or even Hell No! ) Sometimes that is the only choice you have.
Also, if you’re not far enough along in your awakening to consider yourself a Republican, I would recommend voting that way anyway just to help balance out all the dead people that vote Democrat in Illinois. I’m pretty sure most of the cheating and voter fraud occurs on the Democrats side.
I’m a fully awake former liberal myself. I think the Democratic party has taken a hard left turn and in a state that leans that way, not voting is a default vote for them. Good luck, being awake can be scary sometimes.
Well Robyn you really should participate in the primaries. That way you could help choose those decent people that gets to be on the ballot. Secondly you should take a good hard look at the actual policies of the politicians before you vote. Go and actually read the programs they put up on their websites. Seriously….No sane person could have voted for Obama if they had taken the time to actually read the political agenda he had put up on his website during the election. Stop judging politicians on their star quality, charm or perceived “intelligence”. Politicians make actual factual real world policy that directly affects your daily life. Their personality will have no influence on your daily life whatsoever.
What a pointless article …. all ‘I’ and ‘me’ as the cogs in an underdeveloped persona whirl and turn on the path to maturirt.
It seems that they’ve always become compromised by the time their name appears on a ballot, but once in awhile someone like Colonel Allen West appears who give you a sense that there are still good people out there who are willing to go through the mill to offer their service. There are likely just as many Democrats as Republicans who work for our benefit in relative anonymity, but they are few, unfortunately. Too often our choice is to select the least offensive.
In real life I have never, ever met anyone who found the “conservative” thinking to be any sort of eye-opener, at least not in a good way. I knew this cute teacher who moved here from Beijing and when she started dating American men, that included a guy who told her right away that he was a Republican. She wasn’t too sure what the difference was between American Democrats and Republicans, and the other guys she dated didn’t talk much about politics, so she asked me about it. I was excessively diplomatic because she apparently liked the guy, but I did mention that she might want to get him talking about his philosophy in general and his opinion about poor people in particular. She did and the result was that she stopped dating him and anyone else who described himself as a Republican or conservative.
There are reasons why few academics and scientists, especially at the upper tiers, are Republican.
conservative—> republican—> philosophy; poor people?
wtf?
academics and scientists not republican? is this a repudiation or an endorsement?
and what the hell are you cock blocking for bc?
did you two stay up all night and chat?
To think, all those professsional engineers and scientists I knew who were Republican, or conservative, or just downright anti-progressive independants were confused. These were incredible men and women, and yes, upper tier in terms of skills, ability and academic prowess.
All those brilliant, deductive and logical minds decieved. Damn.
“She wasn’t too sure what the difference was between American Democrats and Republicans,…”
Neither, evidently, are you.
Gawd, you really are a propeller head who never gets off campus. If they were going to put a caricature next to useful idiot from academia, you’d be it BC.
What’s most humorous is your superficial sophistication is the portrait of just how dumb most overrated academic liberals really are.
To Tex Taylor: Sorry, but statistically it’s true: few scientists vote Republican these days. And it’s looking very much like this trend is only going to get worse. But then again scientists are not exactly the demographic audience Republicans court.
For decades, “poverty” turned into just another career choice, and a racket like Pat Buchanan describes in one or another of his books.
Let’s get honest and just post along with the other jobs listed…
***GET PREGNANT NOW! *** All the food, housing, medical care, clothing vouchers and welfare checks you want and deserve so you and your current boyfriend can have the same things that America’s taxpayers do!
WHY SHOULD YOU slog out in the cold to a job JUST SO YOU CAN EAT? YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT!
AMERICA’S TAXPAYERS OWE YOU A LIVING! YOU YOU YOU DESERVE THE BEST!
On somebody else’s dime, that is.
Oh please, stop the whining. You make it sound like American politics was pure and pristine before Obama and Blago and their thugs got into office. Just stop it. If you go back in American history, you will see a wide array of lousy politicians who cared much more about themselves than they ever did about this country. Ever hear of Richard Nixon? Ever do any reading about how bad Jimmy Carter was? Warren Harding was one of the most corrupt men in America, yet he became president of the United States. Woodrow Wilson was just plain evil and Franklin Roosevelt was the closest thing this country ever came to having a dictator in office. And that’s only a few examples of the 20th century. Let’s not even talk about some of the nuts elected to office in the 19th century.
Look, Democracy is never pretty. You have to work at it, hard. Are there lots of terrible candidates? Sure there are. But for every bad candidate you’ll find a Harry Truman, a Dwight Eisenhower, or a Ronald Reagan. The only thing we can do is educated ourselves and try to pick the best candidate for the job. Then, when we find that person, we try to convince other people to vote for them. As Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government there is, except for all the others.”
Democracy is hard work, but I sure am not going to whine about it or throw in the towel. It’s up to us to make it better and not cry about it.
Democracy? WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY. We never HAVE been. We are a Constitutional Republic. LibertyShip, your assertion is totally incorrect.
The reason we have corrupt politicians is because Christianity is no longer the pre-eminent force in American life. People have no moral compass to guide them, therefore they elect men with great moral failings who are not unlike themselves.
Robyn…the solution is simple. If you don’t want a government circus, don’t elect clowns. And don’t believe everything you hear about a candidate either. Observe candidates, look at their record of voting. Do they stand up for what you believe; after all, they are representing YOU. It takes work, but the work will be worth the time spent in the long run.
Finally, those who refuse to vote have no right to complain. Don’t bother boring the rest of us with your crying about how bad things are if you didn’t bother to vote when you had the chance.
You are completely wrong. If there is no one to vote for there are always people to vote against. You have obviously thought about the candidates and seem to have studied their positions so you could have found someone who was not as bad as the others. The only people who should not vote are those who are to lazy to study the candidates/issues or are to stupid to understand them. You abrogated your responsibility as a citizen when you knew the issues/candidates and didn’t at least vote to keep someone bad out of office even if it meant someone else not quite as bad got in. You allowed other people to decide for you, who may not have been as well informed as you.
yes, you are unamerican.
Those of us, including most of the writers and commenters on this website were trying to tell you that it would be disastrous to vote for an inexperienced narcissist.
Here in the USA we have a privilege unique in all history in that we get to decide who will govern us. To whine about your lack of research and depth of thought now shows more about you than you think.
Dadofhomeschoolers.
Two things:
If you don’t vote, don’t bitch about the candidates or what they do. You voluntarily decided to let others decide for you, so don’t complain when they do something you don’t like.
And secondly please continue to not vote. Makes mine all the more valuable and will increase the likelyhood politicians will pay attention to my voice as a regular voter who has never missed an election for over 20 years.
So to all the non-voters out there: Thanks for increasing the value and influence of my vote, and keep your mouth shut when it comes to politics. No one whats to hear a whiner do refuses to work to change what’s going on.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
I have only missed one general election since 1976, and that was because I moved to Texas and missed the qualifying deadline by a week.
It’s your duty to vote.
Sheesh.
What is this? Take your ball and go home? 90% of us here didn’t want McCain and we voted for him anyway.
So with this, I call out to VOTERS, or people with CONCERN FOR THE FUTURE: please, for the sake of this country (and perhaps the sanity of the people), think about whom you are representing. Think of what your position means AS A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY. THE RIGHT TO VOTE is a grand privilege. Rather than roll your eyes at the CRAPPY CANDIDATES, think about WHO GETS IN IF YOU THROW AWAY YOUR VOTE IN A CHILDISH FIT OF PIQUE: target those CANDIDATES, AND WORK TO GET BETTER ONES NEXT TIME. IF THERE’S A FREAKING NEXT TIME.
FIFY.
Candidate McCain is a good example of why voting for the lesser of the 2 evils is good. Maybe not ideal, but good, unless you want to waste your vote on a 3rd party candidate for “principle’s sake.” If more people had done this, we may still have been a Christian nation. Think how much better things would have been if McCain would have won! We’d have another amnesty and we’d be sending Social Security dollars to Mexico, but there wouldn’t have been Government Motors, and we wouldn’t have sent billions of stimulus dollars that we don’t have to socialist groups and Muslim nations for payback. But most children need a good spanking from time to time.
I live IN Chicago.
You make “I’m gonna say whatever the Democrat doesn’t say” sound like a bad thimg. Around these parts that would be pretty damned refreshing.
Dear author, You write that you were “relative[ly] liberal,” have had your eyes opened, but did not vote on November 2.
True, that no one is forcing you to vote in the USA; that would be reserved for Communist countries.
But claiming to be “gun shy” is no excuse whatsoever. It is in my opinion cowardly and, at a minimum, wrecklessly irresponsible at such a crossroads in history.
If you have learned anything from your “conservative” acquaintenance, as you claim, I can only hope and pray you remember this in 2012.
I’d add that the author obviously didn’t learn anything good. Anyone actually paying attention to what was reported about his IL and US Senate terms would have seen exactly what President Obama was going to be. She could have used that knowledge to carefully compare records, or even positions and platforms (yes, I know, thank you) to determine the better of two candidates in terms of her belief structures. Listened to the little news, the small stories that got buried fast, and read. She could have then voted her conscience. Instead, she cowered.
Then again, I could be a hypocrite. I live in an area where I had numerous choices between smurf blue progressive – and – smurf blue progressive, or even no opposition (for judicial seating, no less…sigh), and there really wasn’t a lesser of two evils- career ‘I do what O-P-R tells me to,’ or ‘we have to destroy the economy to save the world.’ As those are essentially the same thing, I didn’t vote in those races, although any that had opposition or principled candidates I did. I suppose it might have been fun to vote to put a real nut in the state or federal legislatures, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
The lesson, perhaps for the author is that inaction through fear/doubt/disgust is giving up your rights and priviliges. It’s through inaction that we end up with a TSA that can willfully ignore the 4th Amendment in the name of security theater (the most current, and salient example). It’s inaction that elected Obama. Argue conditions at the time all you want, but a cursory reading of his record and associations said everything you’d want to know.
There are times when there isn’t a clear or meaningful vote to be made, but usually only on a fraction of a ballot. The rest of the ballot is just as important as the federal elections, and the fact you didn’t go to vote, at least for the other issues and offices on the ballot, means you didn’t care about your local community either, regardless of your feelings about the federal candidates. And for that, I say ‘Shame on you’
Robyn,
Yes, it was an error not to vote… however, you’re forgiven. Allow me to explain a bit… and then put on my fire-proof suit, because I am sure this is going to upset some of the hard-line ideological purists around here.
Voting is important, even if you have to hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils, if only because doing so is the only way to keep the greater evil from being elected. Many people forgot that in the 2010 cycle–especially in the primaries–and so instead of having a RINO in office who would at least vote with the conservatives a percentage of the time (be it 50% or 20%), in many of those offices we now have a hard-line lefty who will vote with the conservatives 0% of the time. Given that choice, I’ll take 20% over 0%… and then work to defeat the 20% RINO in his/her next re-election bid.
Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. Vote for the best candidate you can find with a serious chance of winning, and then in the next cycle, do it again. And again. And again. Rather than looking for a one-shot solution, work for a gradual improvement. Many of the best of our politicians (best being a relative term) were defeated early in their career… they learned from it, came back smarter and better candidates, and won. It also helps when the person that defeated them mis-reads the election results and makes a buffoon of themselves, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Okay, where’d I put that fire-proof suit?
To the author of this article:
You’re part of the problem and not willing to risk offering a solution.
First off, if you voted for The current President you are either okay with Marxist ideology or you didn’t do your homework.
Secondly, if you believe that not voting is any kind of a solution, then you are currently supporting Marxist ideology, like it or not. Why do I say that? Read on…
The Left is fine with someone not voting because it makes their job of taking control of every aspect of government away from We The People that much easier. If you don’t vote, you cede your right to self-government to the government itself.
I would not blame yourself for falling for Obama…. so many people did… It was because we didn’t have a clue they were in this Country! Only to find out they had been since the 60′s following and idology that has been active in this Country almost.. from conception…In fact …if this Country makes it …[Pray for Her and Her People]…. and she will!… We as a Country and a World! will be so so much better off… Because we have seen the insidious cancer that has been in this Country for so long now..weaving it’s paths of subversion and distruction all the way to our Highest Seat!. Raising its ugly head now when ‘some’ things were noticed ..you would hear..’It is a cancer! in this country’..And honestly?..I never realized how dangerous for this Country Hillary Clinton would have been untill here lately after some things I heard her say… and to understand how grateful a Nation we are that this Country did elect Obama… because she defended the Black Panther’s! …and still we had not her number…So you see?… And progressive Republican are the exact same thing as Progressive or liberal Democrats are…And John Mccain …it would take a lot for me to put him in that category even tho he is a progressive…I think some are nieve or think they can ride a fence…and they might could if they were dealing with blue dog or consevative Democrats and Republicans… But it is when you get into the …what is it ?…one ‘mild’ term is ‘mafia politics’ which is an insult to the ‘mafia’!..
And one last thing …because if I get started …I can write a book…but for me… I have learned…That as a Christian…?… You can always back up and punt again…Thanks for listening..JH
“I was also raised to be a free thinker — not something typically present in a liberal family, where the thinking is done for you already.” You think so? You were raised to be a free thinker, but always voted Democrat? You mean, like knee-jerk because “all Republicans are stupid”? Is that the example of your deep sentient critical analysis? Did you actually think about your words before you put them on the page? You assert to have been raised as a “free thinker” but then state you always voted for one party because in a blanket statement of dismissal the other was “stupid”? Does your “free thinking” now allow you to understand that even you commentary is more empty headed than free thinking? You just contradicted yourself without even completing a paragraph.
Not voting is a political right. It is a form of expression that should be respected. Anyone that tells you otherwise is attempting to control you, in some way. Ignore them.
‘Instill hope in them that government can improve and can faithfully represent the people.’
It is with profound regret that I inform you that governments are now, always have been, and always will be antithetical to the interests of those they govern. Your still living dream (the root cause of liberalism) that government works for the people is akin to the desire that gravity works except when falling from heights.
Government is a necessity, but it must be limited. If we cannot vote for those we wish to hold office, we must vote if only to sow confusion and disharmony. It is only in this way that tyranny can be avoided.
There must be something about the name “Robyn”. We have Robyn of Berkeley and now we have Robyn of Illinois. I sympathize with you on several points, Robyn. I know first hand how disconcerting it is to differentiate oneself from leftist certainties. It’s a process that takes time. And if I lived in Illinois, I’m sure I wouldn’t be thrilled about many of the Republican candidates. When the Dems run a state for years, R’s tend to become weak, and, frequently, corrupt. (See John Kass’s discussions of the Illinois Combine in the Chicago Tribune) But there were many good down ticket candidates for Congress etc. running in Illinois this past election. Don’t chastise yourself, but continue to educate yourself. This is a great place to pursue your education.
Welcome and good luck!
Robyn, I’ve got to veer off-topic and immediately ask: How did you get over the Reverend Wright thing and cast your vote for someone who regularly dipped his kids in that spiritual cesspool? (I have the feeling your answer will only provoke more questions.)
You are an ingrate and don’t deserve the vote. First, you voted for a moron, and then–using the fact that you were stupid enough to be duped by a moron into voting for him–you didn’t take the one action that could possibly have ameliorated the terrible policies that have resulted from your previous stupidity. Obama and his marxists have trashed our economy, our national defense, our republican form of government, our legal system, race relations and our stature in the world. Our kids will be less safe, have fewer prospects, less freedom, and be eating field grass before this is finished.
You don’t get off that easy.
Do us all a favor: never vote again.
@Robyn Elliot:
Hrm – see, the trouble with not voting though is that you aid in the election of the worst candidate…not the best candidate.
When you go to vote you have three choices:
1) Vote for the best possible candidate (whether their chances of winning are good or not).
2) Vote for the other candidate (because his speeches sound all ‘HopeyChangey’).
3) Don’t vote (and insure that your non-vote aids in the election or re-election of the ‘HopeyChangey’ candidate).
I absolutely hate having to vote for the lesser of two evils, but if that is your only choice (and by not voting you are essentially voting for the greater of two evils) then the choice seems clear.
By not voting you are aiding in the downfall of the Nation. Inform yourself on the issues…research the candidates and vote. To do otherwise is exactly the kind of apathetic activity among the people of this country that has allowed this cancer that we now have killing our nation to metastasize and grow unchecked.
If the voters routinely vote for the best possible candidate at all levels of Government that can only serve to ‘raise the bar’ and insure that we will start getting better candidates to choose from.
But you can not achieve that without having first voted in an informed manner.
As one who was raised to respect the vote, I’ll ask simply- wasn’t there one race or ballot issue that you felt was worth voting on? I often leave spots blank on my ballot but I always vote. Even if you cast a totally blank ballot you have participated. Not going to the polls is a choice and it carries the burden that you have allowed others to choose your government.
That doesn’t make you a bad person but it does take some of the weight from any criticism you have on that government.
I look at dragging myself to the polls as an exercise in self-discipline even if it’s to vote for a third-party.
OTOH, since you live in Illinois I certainly see your point this election.
The perfect is the enemy of the good. You will always be faced with the choice between two imperfect beings, and the winner is going to represent you.
If there literally is no difference between the candidates, you are still voting to empower or oppose the platform of the majority.
If you know the issues and the candidates, vote. If you know nothing, or don’t care, stay home and do not dilute the votes of your betters.
That last word stings a little, doesn’t it? It doesn’t sting nearly as much as somebody you love come home in a body bag, or trillions of dollars in debt your grandchildren will have to repay, or watching planes fly into buildings… Vote like your life depends on it. It does.
“How are we supposed to progress as a county, state, or country if we can’t even get decent people to govern us?”
Please consider the trashing of Sarah Palin (in particular) and some others — say, Angle in Nevada, O’Donnell in Delaware (remember the Gawker article on her “one-night stand”?) — and then ask yourself this question again.
And if you want to go further back, consider the entire “Bush Derangement Syndrome” (“Snipers wanted, the “Bushitler” meme, etc.); and before that, the Clinton War Room.
Before Clinton, there were higher standards of *public* decorum for Presidents — recall that one of the elements of the Impeachment of Nixon was that he had “lied to the American people.”
And on the other side, why is the “watchdog” role of the press exclusively used against Republicans? For example, why is there no hue-and-cry against Rangel for corruption? Why no hordes of reporters investigating Blagojevich / Rezko / etc. If one party is trashed unfairly, and the other party given a pass instead of even a cursory examination, what do you *expect* the results to be?
robyn,
thinking for yourself is always a good thing, though not always comfortable. now that you’ve set foot on the path keep going. look for information from as many sources as you can find and rely on your own common sense to filter it. i’ll warn you that as you develop your own independent mind you’ll lose some friends, but you’ll find new ones who will respect your independence. keep that skepticism you’ve learned from observing “chicago politics”, it will serve you well. when some starry eyed liberal dreamer comes to you with his utopian vision of a perfect world always ask as your first question “who will pay the bills, which peter will be robbed to pay what paul?” and “what happens when we run out of other people’s money to spend?” good luck on your new journey, it won’t be easy, but it will be worth the effort.
first it is not “un-american” to vote. many issues on the ballot these days (especially in ca) are put there purposely to entice unknowledgeable and easily mislead people to vote for them. we finally took a bullet right between the eyes when prop 25 was passed here. now our working people are in the cross hairs of the hun democrats.
the founders initially gave “adult” men the right to vote but not without long debates about whether sufferage should be restricted to propertied persons. thus you see at the heart of the federalist debate the danger of letting the uninformed vote. this is why we are a republic with checks on the electorate. if you are uninformed, of course you shouldn’t vote.
and those here who say you can’t whine about the choices you are given, well, they do so unconsciously trumpeting their problems with the 1st amendment. they are most likely trolls or statists.
so no, if you are uninformed, it is rational to skip a vote or write in a vote if possible. i’ll add that even if you choose not to vote, you should still go to the poll on election day and cast a blank ballot. that way you will help prevent the election fraud being perpetrated by the democrat machine (union thugs, etc.).
Better option: Vote on those races you are informed about, leave the rest blank.
Best option: Get informed before election day. First Tuesday following a Monday of November, every even-numbered year.
There have been times in this country when voting didn’t much matter. 1945 through 1965 was one of them.
But today, communists have taken over an entire party and put a marxist in the white house. Throwing a dart at an open phone book would be a better choice.
Yes, if any of the races in your district are the least bit competitive, you are undermining the country if you don’t vote against the marxists. You don’t need to know anything about the candidates. Just mark your ballot against the guys with “D” by their names. Then you are automatically a patriot. The choice is that stark.
Robyn,
Not voting is not an exercise in acting unAmerican.
However, it IS an exercise in abdicating responsibility for governance. As others have said, if there isn’t a candidate you truly wish to vote for, there is always a candidate you decidedly want to vote against. Even a protest vote for the Libertarian or Green candidate sends a message to the two major Parties that they are not filling the bill.
Further the habit of voting, especially in the primaries and runoffs, give you a vested interest in following through in the general. And most importantly, always voting with clear headed interest in the local elections will keep you grounded in reality.
Good luck going forward, but be sure to vote against the bad guys every bit as often as you vote for the good ones!
“How are we supposed to progress as a county, state, or country if we can’t even get decent people to govern us?”
By leaving the people free to govern their own lives.
The mistaken premise here is that it’s up to government to create or manage progress, and that the solution is to find and elect good people to do it.
The sole proper function of the government – local, state, or Federal – is to protect individuals rights, such as those outlined in the Constitution. That’s a purely defensive function. Making progress – whether individual, cultural or material – should be left to individuals who cooperate voluntarily.
voting is a civic duty and it is the only mechanism we have to rid ourselves of the politicians we do not agree with
remember the politicians are our servants and if we ignore them and dont hold them accountable then they will strive to become our masters
voting is not easy— you must do your research, you must get involved
the internet has made it infinitely easier (and harder) to access the information but you still need to sift through it all and make an educated vote
i will suggest, however, that you should never rely on the t.v. ads for your “research” material..
Hey Rob, just pay attention to what’ s going on and become a Conservative. You’ll be alright.
and dont let libs dictate what a conservative is…
i’ll add— if we were to get rid of every single law in the united states and replace it with the ten commandments where all americans tried their best to live their lives by this contract would we be better or worse?
do you believe that you make better decisions about your life and your money than the government can?
do you believe that by our very nature human beings are not perfect and trying to implement a utopian world order is inherently flawed?
what do you think about the constitution?
is it a living and breathing document that can be manhandled (like a tsa screening) on the whims of one generation’s fancies?
or is it a bedrock document(in the vein of the ten commandments) that has its own amendment process to change it?
Because you voted for one bad apple seems a strange reason not to vote in future. I would want to do it right the next time.
I voted the first time at 21 for LBJ. That was such a mistake, I never voted again until Ronald Regan’s 2nd term. Figured I had such bad judgment, the country was better off without my voting, so I understand why you didn’t vote in this past election.
my first was for ross perot
Why am I not surprised?
Not voting un-American? No, it’s not un-American.
But griping and whining about how bad the government is without having voted is a big steaming pile of hypocrisy with a laziness cherry on top. Though it’s exactly what I would expect from someone clueless enough to have voted for the Marxist-flavored dictator wannabe currently residing in the White House. Thanks ever so much for coming out of your slumber long enough to have helped visit that disaster on the rest of us.
Please, just stay comatose and spend all your time worrying about the cool new app for your iPad and whatever other superficial nonsense that usually keeps your brain cells tied up.
What is needed is what some have whose governments follow the Westminster model: Room to decline one’s ballot. This has the equivalent of voting “None of the Above”, and it is counted as a vote, so there is no fear that the ballot, though unmarked, is a nonentity.
Robyn – You are not un-American for not voting.
When you vote, cast your vote as if your life depended on it and it would be decided by the person you voted for.
You went through 2008: you know this is the truth.
Now ask yourself what happens when you don’t vote… other people will now be deciding what will be done to you.
And if you can find no one you trust, vote for yourself. When you vote, and it doesn’t matter who you vote for, you make the right decision, even if you are writing in the name of someone not running but who you do trust and would be eligible for the position. Taking part is far more important than voting for the ‘winner’ and voting for someone you believe is right for the job is paramount in all cases.
Not voting is an option. Don’t complain about what happens afterwards for it was your choice not to be part of the civil input to our governance.
We Get The Government We Deserve. A kid is told he can’t ride his bike to school with the American Flag on it. Other kids are told to take down their neighborhood stand selling treats. Illegal Aliens will be getting In State Tuition in CA and MA. Judges are striking down citizen voted propositions against the will of the people. A city bans toys in Happy Meals. The Feds sue one of their own States that want to enforce the law. Salad bars will be pushed onto our kids in school. Veterans overseas are not sent their ballots ontime. And politicians say that we have to get serious about reducing the deficit when they are the ones who spent us into this position in the first place.
Meanwhile, stupid voters take turns returning ‘establishment’ DEMS and REPUBS back into office. And responsible people are too lazy to get involved in any meaningful way. Maybe people who want the USA to come back, should turn off American Idol or Jersey Shore and start paying attention to what’s going on out there and get involved. Search and You Shall Find.
Good
The author of this screed is at least as big a useless narcissist asshole as the Manchurian Candidate he willingly voted for in 2008
Frankly, our nation would be much better off if youngsters DID NOT vote.
They don’t have the wisdom to do it correctly. If we had any sense we would raise the voting age to at least 30 years old.
My first vote was for Reagan. Are you saying I wasn’t wise enough to know that he was a better choice than Mondale?
Be very careful with generalizations. They can easily turn and bite you where you sit.
Not to vote is to turn it over to “them.”
Robyn: The reason I have no respect for you is that having helped to get us into trouble, you feel no responsibility whatever to help get us out. How shallow can you get?
Even if all the candidates on the ballot are scum, you can still write in a candidate. Not voting sends a message of apathy. Voting 3rd party or write in is the only way to send a message of “you are *all* scum”.
When the scum is really dangerous, sometimes you have to hold your nose and vote for the less putrid scum. My boss, a life long pro-life Democrat (his dad led the Democratic opposition to legalizing aborting in Virginia before Roe v. Wade), has even held his nose and voted against the rabid death-mongering candidates the Democrats are putting out these days. (And he can tell some hair raising stories about Republican corruption.)
Thanks for not voting, and you may also wish to help better people run in the future by working in the primaries like the tea parties did.
Yes, you are – if being an egotistical and arrogant prick makes you un-American.
What choice do you want asshat? The Dems are evil in principle; the R’s are good in principle.
If you are disgusted with both, you are probably the disgusting person and not the ones who disgust you. I bet both candidates would be disgusted by you!
Vote R. That’s a vote for America.
Dweeb.
Robyn, you write, “How are we supposed to progress as a county, state, or country if we can’t even get decent people to govern us?”
SUPPOSED TO? Who is doing the supposing here? And what are we supposed to be progressing towards?
I question your premise of progress as life’s purpose. While looking ahead and planning for the future is healthy, progressing for the sake of progress is idealistic, delusional, and, more often than not, dangerous.
Government is ours to provide us, citizens, with services, such as defense of our borders and enforcement of laws. One of its main purpose is to protect private property lest we descend into savage chaos.
Government must REact to changing circumstances in the society. When people begin to view government as the primary ACTing force, they are setting themselves up for trouble. Because ACTing is subject to the universal LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. Once the ball starts rolling on consequences, the government that ACTs tends to keep ACTing, i.e. making the hole deeper for all of us. God help us all.
The greatest crime of being or becoming “un-American” is to be asleep for decades and uninformed of what is going on in the country and the government….while still voting come every election. That is exactly what has brought this once great nation to the current times and circumstances.
While most were asleep for decades the socialists and their evolutions of names and temporary ideologies swept the nation indocrinating everybody from the church pulpits to the school systems and taking over the old traditional Democrat Party. More recently, the Anrchist/Libertarians began doing the same thing only making the GOP its new home of preference. The Traditional Democrats and Republicans are nearly all gone, sitting on the sidelines and irrelevant…..VOTED OUT by the voting citizens and replaced by the radicals!
Today you are voting for two radical political and social ideologies competing to replace TRADITIONAL AMERICA with one or the other of their ideologies for America’s future. One side calls themselves Liberals and Progressives, both being one and the same…Democratic Socialist, a sister affilation to Socialist International headquartered in the UK and the most radical socialist party of Europe. The other side, still calling themselves Republican but, they are rapidly being overtaken in majority by the Anarchist who have evolutionized their name and ideology to Libertarian.
The battle is no longer for what is best for solving Traditional America’s problems, but rather, which new party’s ideology will replace the Traditional American system.
But, if you ask all the sleeping bears who claim they have awakend and become so informed what they are really voting for…they have no “real” clue. The platforms of the GOP uprising movements fall right into the hands of the Anrachist/Libertarians while the majority of democrats have long been in the camp with the Socialist, though through ignorace, they will deny it.
This past election just took out the few remaining moderate, mostly traditional democrats in the House and come 2012 the same may well happen in the Senate. Then we will have exactly what I spoke to above. The Socialisrt are no dummies and not without a long standing and very slick strategy for each opportunity that comes along to advance themselves. Pelosi’s strong-armed vote strategy for the moderates worked perfectly for them this past November.
It will take decades of very informed and “real” Traditional American citizens who have not been indoctrinated already by the two party’s radical majorities to turn this mess around…..and [restore] the Traditional America.
You don’t know what you’re missing.
You should take credit in voting for this travesty and his Party now open in their destructive aims for America.Take credit for your mistake in helping to make it obvious that Obama and his/”Democrat’s /Liberals” programs for America are statist totalitarians (socialist/ communist/ progressive if your prefer).
Okay you feel angry at yourself for your vote. All the more reason to stay in the game, and begin to fight for what you wanted. Anger is a strong motivator to energetic action: To learn all you can about the United States, ethos, law, history, and people. Find your own mentors, avoid like the plague those superior types now berating people like you who accept their mistake, who have put themselves forward to this present state of the US in contrast to the proud examples of true Americans who value their specialness/ exceptionalism enough to fight for it, each and individually.
That is one of the glories of America. It really is a country of and for its citizens IF those citizens respect that enough to keep people like the preaent criminals from power. Remember they are NOT in law leaders, but Representative. It is the American People who decide whether they want people like these, e.g All the Kennedys, the Clintons, Kerry, Obama, and their ilk among RINOS to be our identification to ourselves and the world.
Stay in the game, it’s great fun and definitely rewarding to do everything you can to keep these people from power. Just learn .
I too did not vote in this election, although I faced the ‘other accusation’ that it was my christian duty to vote.
Here’s why I opted out. The politicians in our government can be likened to abusive husbands who abuse their wives, the US population. I for one am sick of being abused. So I decided to dis-engage and instead of voting for the lesser of two evils I decided that I should be able to vote for a good candidate. Not a morally perfect candidate, but one who has a basic grasp of mathematics, can read above a 12th grade level and who works well with others.
The desire for elected office is to stroke the manic ego, not serve. Once elected, these people climb on the gravy train and their only thought is to be re-elected, not serve the ones who put them there. Every few years they trot out some more or less newsworthy success and scream that we should vote for them again.
We voted for change in 2008 and all we got was the same old stuff.
Now to all of you out there who will be posting the nasty and denigrating comments following this….all I can say is now you may understand my reason for disengaging, for all the abuses by government, our fellow man runs a strong if not first place.
There’s only one flaw with your argument. Unfortunately for you, it’s a fatal flaw.
If you don’t vote, you let others decide what sort of “abusive husband” you’ll be stuck with.
And if you’re outvoted (or the election is stolen) by the other guy, then you’ll still be abused.
Not voting is as valid a statement as voting. I practice it for various races in nearly every election. Voting third party is just as valid. Positively, you’re voting for someone who more closely shares your values than either of the other guys. OTOH, you’re telling either of the main parties that their candidates are unacceptable. This can work on either side of the political spectrum.
It is clearly to the beefit of people likely to vote third party for the lazy and incompetent to sit out an election, as the numbers we can poll is often just enough to punish the offending party. The same numbers in a large turnout are comparatively meaningless.
“benefit” “are” Yeesh.
So, Robyn, you were raised to be “free-thinking?” I beg to differ.
You were raised with a bunch of closed-minded “liberal” prejudices which scream from your every line. If you fell for the Obama hype—as you admit you did—you are now waking up to the fact that you were sold a bill of goods. But it doesn’t seem to have translated into an awareness that you still need to vote to get the less-poor candidate into office; there is always a difference, even if both are dogs.
You need to work on realizing that what you were sold as “free-thinking” and condemning the other side as “stupid” was actually an indoctrination into a very narrow mindset.
Anybody who voted for Obama needs a refresher course, not taught by a 60′ leftover or wannabe with his mind rotted out by Marxist theory, in history, government, political science and economics. Until then, DO NOT VOTE. If you voted for Obama you are unqualified to vote for ten years.
Not so fast. A lot of those Obama voters are now experiencing buyer’s remorse. We need them to vote for the GOP in 2012 to get him out of office.
There were plenty of clear thinking individuals who called this moron perfectly. How did they do it? I would suggest rather than hiding in your bedroom being afraid to vote, that you should figure out how THEY knew this was going to be such a disaster. I was one, but you have no idea who I am. I have no public voice, but my clients knew. So what about Andy McCarthy, Sean Hannity, Rich Lowry, and Tom Sowell, just to name a few. Please get your head out of the pillow and start reading what they had to say. And learn to recognize the “lump of leaven” before it wrecks the whole lump of dough.
“We generally voted for the Democrat in an election because “the Republican candidate is just so stupid.”
I was also raised to be a free thinker.”
What an oxymoronic juxtaposition of liberal assumptions. “Republican’s are stupid and closed minded. I’m smart and open minded.” I’m glad you are on the road to recovery.