This made me laugh out loud.
It’s been quite some time since we had some controversy, too…I think that, regardless of political ideology, we can all agree that the political process must be put back into the hands of the people, and taken away from wealthy individuals and corporations. My greatest hope is that the Enron collapse, and the subsequent investigations (if ever something was screaming for an independent counsel, I’d say this is on the list), will get some real campaign finance reform passed, and maybe people will be so outraged that they’ll actually register to vote, and participate in our government.
You are registered to vote, and informed about your choices, aren’t you?
71 thoughts on “RTFM”
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RE: “The second Bush and Gore took the election into court, they demonstrated that neither of them appreciates the most basic principles behind the concept of a republic”
Actually its more correct to say that when Gore took it into the courts.
Gore and his people wanted re-counts in specific heavily democratic counties where they thought they would have an advatage.
Bush and his people fought this saying that it basically wasnt fair. They had the option to request a re-count of the entire state but declined to do so. All thier efforts were more responses.
Gores poeple, were also behind an effort to get some of the overseas military vote thrown out.
However, to say that going to the Judicial Branch of Govnernment is somehow not adhering to the Priciples of the Republic is wrong in itself. The Framers of the Constitution set it up so that the Judicial Branch should in some cases settle these kinds of disputes.
In a civlized country thats how we do it, we take em to court.
Independent counsel….Unfortunately that statute expired and was not renewed by Bill Clinton at the end of his term. So Bush (or the Democrats in congress) can’t appoint an independent counsel even if he wanted to. At the time various people said that it should be renewed “just in case” but everyone was so sick of Ken Starr that they let it go. So now we have Enron and its going to be just like the Iran Contra deal. I’m just waiting for Bush to pardon himself (again).
Hey Wil,
Ya’ know, when I was a kid I was such a geek. I actually registered to vote before my 18th birthday (you can sign up early, you just can’t vote). Yeah. Well, 18 years later I am pretty cynical and disillusioned. Fortunately living in Canada (I don’t get the Ontario voting comments though, if what Mandy said is true why the hell do they keep putting in French guys? I’ll have to do some research on that one.)exempts me from having to vote in any local elections and since I am an American citizen I can’t vote for anything in Canada.
I’ll probably take some heat for this but I don’t bother with the national elections any more either. Who do we choose? Dumb or dumber? I hate both the republican & democratic parties. I was tempted to vote for Ralph Nader (my mom just loves him), but in the end I didn’t vote at all. Of course a little voice in my head keeps repeating this quote I came across, it goes something like this: “Those who refuse to get involved in politics are doomed to be governed by their inferiors”. I’d have to agree, give me a candidate I can believe in.
I was just browsing through the comments and saw someone mentioned voter turn out of less that 50%. I read somewhere that it was about 20% of registered voters and that only about 20% of the population was registered. That’s frightening, eh? I hope my info is wrong…..
fenaray said:
>> give me a candidate I can believe in.
Go find your own.
Listen.
The religious right is a minority.
Was.
And is.
But they didn’t sit on their hands and lament the dearth of like-minded candidates.
They built them.
Or entered the races themselves.
Locally.
And then gradually marched up the ladder.
History is replete with small groups who through focus and zeal overwhelm the jaded and listless majority.
Happens every goddamned day.
I keep hearing this “I’ll vote when the perfect candidate is delivered to my door with oven-warm chewy chocolate chip cookies and dairy-fresh whole milk and roses and some fuzzy slippers.”
Hey.
I showed up for my first day of work and they didn’t make me CEO, so I quit.
Is that how it works?
For no reason at all, I remember the first words I wrote that ended up on this website…
http://www.wilwheaton.net/greymatter/archives/00000023.php
Spudnuts-you are right on.
Keep in mind that while you whine about your vote being meaningless in the national politics, there are a number of local issues close to you that you vote on in the same election. These ARE things you can make a difference in. Maybe it’s a school millage. Maybe it’s funding for your local police and fire departments. These are things that affect you head on.
And while you’re at it, maybe you can throw a vote in there for a congressman. It couldn’t hurt. Who knows, the one you want for might actually win because of your vote.
If enough of the non-voters had gotten off their duffs and turned out in November 2000, maybe we wouldn’t have had this whole Florida issue in the first place.
And while you’re mulling over an election, why not get informed (like using that link Wil provided-it’s a great place to start). maybe if you take the time to do a little research, you might actually find the candidate you believe in, instead of them finding you.
You got me.
There are, in fact, two things I will accept from non-voters:
1) Blowjobs
2) $1,000,000 (no less)
Aw shit…
Here we go with the weird-ass posting time thing again.
You know…I don’t want to sound like a drag here…but reguarding the RTFM…a friend sent me that the other day…it wiped everything in my outlook express (yes, i know…shitty program, but it beats logging onto 3 different websites to check my mail)…
Oh…and did anyone notice the IP of the “person” who is featured in the RTFM page? ([email protected]) teehee!
“”I think that, regardless of political ideology, we can all agree that the political process must be put back into the hands of the people, and taken away from wealthy individuals and corporations. ”
I wholly disagree. Those with the money and the power have the natural (and completely legal) right to influence the government. Wil’s statement here is typical of those who actually want to see the government influenced by the mere common person.
How anyone can claim their vote does not count not one year removed from the 2000 election is beyond belief.
Don’t these people have a television, radio, or that Internet thing?
And do they use it only to Tivo episodes of Buffy or make moon eyes at Tiger Beat ex-Trek stars?
Have you any idea what kinds of issues are going to turn on the votes of maybe as few as FIFTEEN people in Florida?
Global warming.
Missile defense.
Privacy/civil rights issues.
There is a gaping chasm of difference between a Bush administration and a Gore administration.
Why don’t you ask the populations of Asia, Europe, Africa if they think Dubya is any different from Gore.
Pick your side and stick to it.
Left or right.
That’s fine.
But don’t EVER fucking try to tell me there is no difference between the two.
I am rapidly losing patience here.
Seems to me that more effective than voting yourself is to get other people to vote for what you believe in. Of course, that means… you know… getting involved and knowing the issues and inform other people of what they should believe. Sheep, you know.
You know, it’s a commonly held belief that complaining about something is much easier than doing anything about it. When you vote you’re not issued a license to complain. “Oh, everyone else is stupid and I’ve done my part” well, if you feel so strongly about it… DO something about it. Clearly people aren’t being properly informed about the issues or the candidates. “Oh, but it’s not my JOB to do that”. Hmm, well it’s not my job to clean the toilet either, but if I don’t do it… amazingly it doesn’t get done and I have no room to complain. I have the tools and the time. So do you.
Lastly, Mr. I-have-nothing-to-say-to-non-voters… I believe you’re a liar. I’m totally sure the first (or even 20th for that matter) thing you ask people is “did you vote”? I’m sure if someone said “Hey, I didn’t vote but if you spend two hours talking to me I’ll give you a million dollars” you’d shoot them a glare and walk away. What’s that called? Oh, yeah, trolling. Nevermind.
Sounds like a nice idealistic world… Power in the hands of the hard working people… Unfortunately, the majority of people on planet earth are morons. It would be a disaster.
Troy,
According to your statatistics, chances are that You are a Moron.
Should you be allowed to vote?
http://www.moron.com/
You’re hoping in vain if you think Enron is going to make anyone wake up. Republican administrations are inherently corrupt, IMO (I’m a registered independent), and Congress doesn’t have the cajones to take Bush on. The media will obsess over this like they did Lewinski, and after awhile people will get so tired of hearing about Enron that they’ll block the whole fiasco out of their minds. The only thing that can tittilate this warped society is yet another pointless sex scandal. As Condit and Clinton know, sex is the only thing that can get you into real trouble in Washington. Everything else is fair game.
Yes, let’s blame the big corporations and the corrupt government because we can never expect people to use their brains and take care of themselves, right?
Ever hear the old saying: “Never put all of your eggs in one basket”?
I’ve turned down JOBS from companies that are ESOP or provide stock as a retirement benefit. What great political force forced all of these people to invest everything they made into one company?
eww
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