If an election happens and...

from JoeUser Forums

If an election happens and I don't care, is that a bad thing?

Honestly, I do want to vote in most elections, but it's primary election day in my home state and I could go off and vote in the primary but... well, I probably won't and I don't really feel bad about it.  Actually, I feel rather good about it but that is probably just because I want the robo-calls and junk mailings to stop.  I feel bad about the number of trees that have been sacrificed in the name of these political mailings, with the mailings telling me about the lies "the other" candidates have been telling about them as they fling mud and lies of their own back at the other candidate(s).

Realistically I want change.  I'll vote for change in the general election, but for the primary election I'm apathetic.  The choices just don't impress me and even if they did, after being beaten by the deluge of mail and phone calls I just don't care any more.  Not to mention the radio spots and space wasted in newspapers and on TV.  Enough already.

I still desperately wish for term limits.  I know, just as discussed here before, and just as a co-worker and I discussed this a.m., that the ultimate term limits come at the voting booths and thanks to the Tea party movement and a general anti-incumbent pulse running through the country that we are seeing change.  I think that is (mostly) a good thing.  I'm tired of the incumbents and want as many as possible to be sent packing.  Most have been there far too long and they've had the opportunity to do something good and mostly failed.  Now, for many, it's all about how to remain in power and in office, not about doing the right thing for the citizens of the country.  Flushing the whole thing would probably not be bad, and I'd love the opportunity to do it, but the primaries for me, with just a few exceptions, really revolve around picking sacrificial lambs to send to the slaughter thanks to an over-whelming majority of head-in-the-sand Democrats that don't see any problem at all with their party and their politicians.  As someone on the minority side, my voice is drowned out no matter how much I scream at the other side to WAKE UP and see the damage they are doing.

So, again, I'm left feeling a lot of "I don't care" about the primaries.  Wake me when it's time for the real elections so I can register my "NO" vote against the incumbents only to have it smothered out by the people that keep sending back the same politicians they are complaining about.  Yeah, that'll be a great day too. NOT!

politics
6,056 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

I have voted in only one primary in my life - 08 presidential one.  Like you, I just do not care (but at least in my state, I do not have to register with a party to vote in one).

You got a senator to vote for in November, but we do not.  So my vote is really wasted then as well (the rep is running unopposed, so I will do a write in).

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

I have been this route with DG and I do not think I will make any more headway with you than I did with him … but I am inclined to try anyway. I can symphonize with your feelings over not voting in the primaries as I experience misgivings there too, BUT for the fact that we are stuck with whomsoever wins the primary.

 

I am convinced that many independents and other non-committed voters feel this indifference and the results are not usually good. You might ask yourself who does vote in the primaries when you decide to skip this triviality. As a rule, the diehard supporters, the ones that benefit from the stupidity that we call Congress are the ones that vote. And then the general election comes along … what have we got to work with … not my idea of a tactful vote under anyone’s definition.

 

As a parting example: I did not vote for McCain during his primary bid for President … did you? I know DG did not vote and I suspect you did not either, so how in the world did that old RiNO warhorse get the nomination …? Because not enough people who oppose the established lunacy that is our Government voted in the primary. So when the general came around our hands were tied.

 

No matter how I try and look at this, I cannot figure out how your inattention in the primaries can be seen as a choice you are actually making when the general arrives? I learned my lesson chatting with DG so I am not trying to sway you to reconsider; I am just expressing my own frustrations over a problem that is robbing all of us of the best candidates possible BEFORE the general.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting BoobzTwo, reply 2
I have been this route with DG and I do not think I will make any more headway with you than I did with him … but I am inclined to try anyway. I can symphonize with your feelings over not voting in the primaries as I experience misgivings there too, BUT for the fact that we are stuck with whomsoever wins the primary.
End of BoobzTwo's quote

Do not be so sure.  At least in the primary case, you may not know me that well.  I have only voted in one, but this year I have seen several that I am very happy with and wish I could have!  Not the least of which was the Delaware one yesterday.

Give me a REAL choice and I will consider doing it.  Give me mutt and jeff and I will not waste my time.

Edit: As an after thought, my dog in 08 was Thompson.  By the time my state rolled around he was out of it.  If he had still been in it, I may have very well voted for him.  I was not impressed with the rest of the field, but McCain sure was at or near the bottom of it.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Understandable.

I've been generally reluctant to vote in general. With time I've become rather jaded with politics in general. Both parties suck, and I really don't see them changing any time soon. Lately, I've found that my belief that it is naive to think that any change (real or otherwise) will come and that ultimately we have to be the change, has only grown.

 

~L

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Edit: As an after thought, my dog in 08 was Thompson. By the time my state rolled around he was out of it. If he had still been in it, I may have very well voted for him. I was not impressed with the rest of the field, but McCain sure was at or near the bottom of it.
End of quote

Good point.  I firmly believe all state primaries should be held the same day. Why should 2 or 3 states define our choices? There is no reason the candidates couldn't make their case to ALL the people prior to primary voting.

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

As a parting example: I did not vote for McCain during his primary bid for President … did you? I know DG did not vote and I suspect you did not either, so how in the world did that old RiNO warhorse get the nomination …? Because not enough people who oppose the established lunacy that is our Government voted in the primary. So when the general came around our hands were tied.
End of quote

Actually I believe I did vote in that primary -- against McCain as I saw him as too much of a RINO.

I will say I didn't vote for McCain in the general election, as much as it hurts to think of the idea that I might be supporting someone else with my vote, I used my vote in that election as a protest against the stupidity of giving the nomination to someone that, like Bob Dole before him, was apparently "owed" the nomination no matter how much he had tried to give a big middle finger to the ideals of the party he claims/ed to be a member of.  In my mind he was too old, too cranky, and too unpredictable to consider giving the nomination to, much less giving the job to.  I'm not a fan of Obama, nor Clinton (H.R.C.) and didn't want either of them to win, but in some ways considered either of them a lesser evil over McCain -- at least with them you knew going in what they were likely to do.  They had said it before, promised it was coming, etc.  With McCain he had said it before, promised it, tried to deliver it with help from liberal buddies or in helping liberal buddies, and then later he pulled a John Kerry and flip-flopped on issues so he could try to placate the party.

Personally, I'm more of a moderate than a hardcore conservative, but I can't stand people that flop around on issues and pander to the voting public.  Take a stand, stand by it, and have principles.  Don't sell them out for anything or anyone.  If you have truly reconsidered a position and changed over time that's fine, but don't just adopt a new position temporarily so you can get the job (which is pretty much what McCain seemed to be doing all along).

I'd love to think that fringe element of the GOP would split off and go form a third party and leave behind some of the more moderate elements, or that perhaps the moderates would split off and form their own party and leave behind the rest.  I doubt it will happen, but the Tea Party movement seems to be making some waves.  Sadly, in the end it may cost the GOP control in the Senate and possibly the House :(  It may not be a bad thing as there is quite a bit of unknown with the Tea Party movement favorites, and they may or may not help the situation.  Certainly I like the idea of cleaning out the lifers in Congress, but at the same time I don't at all like the idea that the GOP would lose because the nominees that were chosen by Tea Party sentiment got clobbered in the general election while some more moderate candidates might have won and ended the Democrat dynasty that currently exists in Congress.

Oh well, in a few months it will all be over but the crying on either side.

Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

Good point. I firmly believe all state primaries should be held the same day. Why should 2 or 3 states define our choices? There is no reason the candidates couldn't make their case to ALL the people prior to primary voting.
End of quote

Agree completely and I wish this was the case.  I'm tired of small pockets of voters deciding for everyone.  If a candidate has no national appeal they don't deserve the job in my book.  At a minimum they should be able to carry a large majority of the voting public and not just majorities in several key states that get them the nomination.

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Nitro, reply 5
Good point.  I firmly believe all state primaries should be held the same day. Why should 2 or 3 states define our choices? There is no reason the candidates couldn't make their case to ALL the people prior to primary voting.
End of Nitro's quote

I think that is an excellent idea!  The downside is that the front runner at the start will win it.  But at least for the rest of us, we get to pick from ALL the candidates.

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top

I will say I didn't vote for McCain in the general election, as much as it hurts to think of the idea that I might be supporting someone else with my vote, I used my vote in that election as a protest against the stupidity of giving the nomination to someone that, like Bob Dole before him, was apparently "owed" the nomination no matter how much he had tried to give a big middle finger to the ideals of the party he claims/ed to be a member of.
End of quote

I did not vote for McCain either, but I do not see it as a protest.  I liked the guy I voted for a lot more than any of the others, but yes, some would say that I helped Obama win.  I say I did not, but as I did vote, I sure as hell can criticize him for his policies.

I doubt it will happen, but the Tea Party movement seems to be making some waves. Sadly, in the end it may cost the GOP control in the Senate and possibly the House It may not be a bad thing as there is quite a bit of unknown with the Tea Party movement favorites, and they may or may not help the situation.
End of quote

Short term - it will help the liberals.  Long term?  Oz is not being run by a very small minority green party!  how?  the big 2 split the vote and had to get them to form a majority.  So long term, the Tea Party will be making a lot of rules.  And I see them just getting stronger since the democrats will take the wrong message from their 3 way victory and just pissing off the people even more.

Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top

The downside is that the front runner at the start will win it.
End of quote

Quite possibly true, but then the candidates will have to work harder to make their case before the primaries. If all primaries were held on the same day in the 2008 election, I seriously doubt Obama or McCain would have been their respective parties choices for president. In hindsight that probably would have been best for the country.