Gather has recently been full of politicking on the topic of the 2008 Presidential race. Yet it is ironic that here in Virginia, we have an election coming on Tuesday, and nobody much cares.
The off-year election coming two days from now will involve local and state government representatives. In some ways, these elected officials have more to do with our daily lives than the federal government. They decide complex issues involving development, transportation, and taxation. In Virginia we have around 6 million adults over the age of 18. Out of that number we have around 4.4 million registered voters. Out of those registered voters, we have around 1.5 million people who are expected to vote on Tuesday. That is roughly half the number who are expected to show up 1n 2008 to elect our next President.
This is the greatest democracy on our planet, and we are going to get 25% of the eligible citizenry to the polls? This in a nation where women were jailed in the 1910s for campaigning for voting rights, and African American activists were murdered for campaigning for voting rights in the 1960s. Maybe I should move to Myanmar, where people actually care about participating in the process of building their future, despite the guns pointed at them.
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Comments: 29
I plan to vote, in part because the deceptive campaign adverstizing from one particular incumbant has reminded me that truth and honesty are more critical than partisanship.
The victory of those who would undermine real Democracy has been in linking terrorism to the left, and the left instead of realizing that globalism could be in their best interests takes the counter position and appears to support terrorism.
So you will never see me miss the voting booth.
Try an alternative like PBS, NPR, or the many alterative TV stations available on the Internet for free. You'll hear about things you didn't even know were going on. Then you'll have some reason to get out and vote. Or you could read your local newspaper or listen to a local radio station that puts out live local news. For state level news, try receiving the newspaper from your state capital on Sundays.
It takes work and perserverence to be an informed voter. And forget voting for the cutest guy or the one with the big promises. Look at their past record. Get info from the local League of Women Voters on your local and state referendums. There's a whole life going on out there that you don't know about if you watch Fox News and CNN.
thanks! Yes I think not voting is partly just a bad habit. Which can be rectified by a better habit, voting. Lyndon, we are too used to being spectators, which costs us nothing but is not nearly as much fun as getting in the game.
Yes, local news is really critical for providing neeeded basic information. It is a sad thing that newspapers are struggling for readership. The 'net gives more timely national and international news, but it just really does not have the needed info on state and county government issues. Going to the voting booth without any knowledge of what's going on would be just going through the motions.
Citizens are the ones who do not care, or rather, they do not have the time and expertise to compute their best interests. After all when this country was born a common man could know just about all there was to know, and understand everything pretty well if he had the intelligence.
Now there is almost nothing a man by himself can do. One must fit into the economy, an economy that cares nothing about anything but our economic worth to someone paying for labor, or how much money we already have.
How to reconcile this change is extremely complex, and I think it will never get done democratically. This is our problem, the owners and builders of the world order built it for those already plugged in, who do care enough to vote and know what they are voting for.
The problem is that this disenfranchises and alienates people who are spit out when asked for work or capital. To contribute either to a society that does not respect people, and it is not just the elite that buy into this either, we cannot just blame the rich or Bush, we all support this system because it is what we have. It is not so bad, and with a little effort and compromise we could move it forward a little bit.
I have heard some interesting things about making election day a holiday so that people aren't at work then. In other countries elections are generally held on weekends, which has also helped with turnout. I would like to see the U.S. consider something like that.
I do not like the idea of voting by mail, or absentee. A few years back in this area they found boxes of ballots floating in the bay after an election.
I had an idea about how to verifiy an election so everyone could see everyone else's votes, and verify their own votes as well by Internet. I think it would work and be a good idea.
Here is the link to my article - An Idea for Election Integrity Assurance
I vote every chance I get. However, I also have to respect people who choose not to vote. Asking why? Maybe not, but I will tell you why anyways.
Voting is a huge right as we have been taught, its a way to give our opinion. However, a forced vote is not the same and the freedom to choose to vote and not..is still sending a message.
Bruce-Secret Ballot is very important as it gives us privacy in an election. Consider you own a business and you vote against a popular family in town in a local election, or even say Bill Gates in a national one..no thanks- I want who I voted for a mystery.
Absebentee ballots are REQUIRED- Say hard to vote for President if you on a secret mission in Afganistan in a cave... Doing an operation taking 14 hours to perform... Truck Driver, Airline Pilot, Merchant Marine...ect...all away from home.
200-2004 elections were close, so what, they also were decided by electoral college which has done the job for decades and honestly I am in favor of it
I have an off topic question if you can answer it? I understand Virginia is a Commonwealth as opposed to a State. Can you say what major differences are? So far no one's been able to explain it? Thanks.
PAY IT FORWARD
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are also commonwealths, and I believe Rhode Island is a Plantation. I think the terms are just holdovers from colonial days. They are are still states.
We still have state taxes just like the rest of you, and still pull our pants up the same as the rest of you. I am embarrassed if there actually is a difference, but I do not see one.
Carol- thank you very much for working the polls! It should be noted that we would have no system of self government without public spirited volunteers.
Sorry if that sounds confrontational, but it is what I believe.
I have another take on the apathy issue -- one that will probably get me in trouble. But, what the heck; here it is anyway.
I look at voter apathy as a self-correcting condition within the electorate. If there are people so self-absorbed and ... downright stupid (I'm ducking now) ... to not exercise their franchise, that's fine with me. If they don't care enough to take their civic responsibility seriously, they certainly wouldn't have done the work necessary to make an informed vote. With that being the case, it's probably better for everyone involved that they don't cast a ballot and muck it up with a stupid vote the rest of us may have to live with.
So sad .......................
> If there are people so self-absorbed and ... downright
> stupid (I'm ducking now) ... to not exercise their
> franchise, that's fine with me.
While I understand the feeling it should not be fine with
any of us, it means that there is a big problem that is
not being dealth with by democracy that will lead to
democracy not working. While for selfish reasons it
may empower one group for another not to vote, it is
like a body with a tumor or lots of fat, it is extra weight
and possibly sickness in the body politic for this condition
to prevail. I do agree it is better if people who know
what the issues are vote, but if they do not what kind
of society do we have?