I am retired...from voting

[dixonge]

George Carlin figured all this out *years* ago:

Why I Don't Vote

Ownership and Election

 

[BOBOT]

You don't have to worry, many dead people that are voting will make up for you. Also, the voters with fake ID and illegals that cast ballots won't disappoint you either.

Then we have the fake mail in ballots to relieve your concerns and also the folks that mess with the counting of ballots.

You are covered.

Please cite the sources you think support your statements.

 

[candrew]

A person should get as many votes as the amount they pay in taxes. Like a company board election.

The flaw in allocating this type of proportional voting power is that it leads to systems of government that have already been tried and rejected by most civilized countries.

Societies tend to function well when they have the consent of the people. That consent is damaged when voting is disproportionately controlled by a small elite. Not a good basis for a stable society, either. Revolutions have happened for less.

 

[RAE]

That old saying, "democracy requires an educated electorate" comes to mind. That doesn't mean an elite, ivy-league education. It means you've taken the time to learn how the questions on the ballot may affect you and your community, and genuinely want to contribute to a better society.

If you can't do that, I'd rather you just stay home.

And don't even get me started about those who just vote a straight party line, and support every member of their party, no matter what they do or how damaging their policies are to their constituents.

Totally agree, but unfortunately we are stuck with a system where a whole lot of uneducated voters (and I don't mean those lacking intelligence, but those who are simply too lazy to educate themselves about the candidates and the issues) vote, just because they can (whether they know what they are voting for or not). And you can see what we can end up with, when that happens. There is no easy way to remedy that situation, either.

 

[RAE]

Spot on! How come they managed to hoodwink the rest of the not so rich folk to vote for them also?

It's not all that hard to hoodwink a lot of people. Just come up with a few catchy slogans, make some (unrealistic but great-sounding) promises to people (even if you have no intent to actually follow through), and a lot of people will believe you, especially if they like the way you look and talk on TV. That's the way democracy works these days in the USA, like it or not.


Oh, it also helps if you gerrymander most of the country first, to insure that your candidate will get elected most of the time, whether they actually win the popular vote or not.

 

[brewer12345]

.

 

[brewer12345]

My dad hit the beaches on D-Day, was willing to die for his country. I will always honor his sacrifice to our nation by voting in our free country.



I will vote to the day I die. It is one of the greatest privileges I have.

I regard voting as a duty, not a privilege. Mail in ballots make it easy.

 

[ERD50]

Hope to get in before Porky...

I can't find the exact episode, but I recall the Freaknomics economist, Stephen Dubner saying that we would be far better off doing something more productive with our time (volunteer, etc) than vote, that economists recognize that their single vote is extremely unlikely to ever have any real value.

While some fought for our right to vote, I'd say it goes no further. So that includes the right to not vote, if we decide not to. Now, if someone tried to take away that right, I'd fight for it. But that doesn't mean I need to use the option if I don't care to.

I think most of it is emotional and platitudes, but that's OK, you have the right.

As far as national elections, I'm not in a swing state, so it really seems like a waste of time (regardless which party you support). I always check my local ballot, to see if there is anything I consider worth my effort. Even if a referendum goes the other way, I guess I feel it is important to get some % there, so people can see how much support it gets. That might influence future referendums.

Support for expanding the Forest Preserve district around here always gets a lot of support (they do a good job explaining the small per household cost, and the benefits), so I still go and vote yes to show that support.

I don't want to try to persuade the unmotivated or uneducated (on the issues/candidates) to vote. That just waters down the votes of those who invested some time/effort to learn about things.

-ERD50

 

[Senator]

I am retiring from paying taxes. A single tax payer doesn't count much.

As a Disabled Vet, having already given the Government a signed blank check to be filled out for any amount, up to and including my life, I should be exempt from taxes.

Although I still pay too much.

 

[Gumby]

In 2018, I read a NY Magazine article about young people who explained all the rather pathetic reasons they weren't planning to vote in the upcoming election. I wrote this open letter in response and posted it on Facebook. While the majority of you are not young, and hence the message may resonate differently for you, I still believe what I wrote then. Please vote.

AN OPEN LETTER TO YOUNG PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT VOTE

I recently read this article in New York Magazine, 12 Young People on Why They Probably Won’t Vote, in which twenty-somethings listed the reasons they probably won't vote in the 2018 midterms. To put it mildly, I was disappointed. I'm sure that they are not universally representative of people their age, but it concerns me enough that I feel it necessary to write this letter to those of you who may think to join them.

When I was in my twenties, I was serving in the U.S. Navy aboard ballistic missile submarines. Periodically, along with about 119 other young men, I would cram myself into a dark, dank and smelly metal coffin and go deep underwater for literally months at a time. Yes, that's literally months without sunlight, fresh air, fresh food or any contact with the outside world. No calls, no texts, no emails, no internet. No way to know anything about whether our families were okay or not. With grim regularity, we practiced shooting our 16 ballistic missiles, knowing that if a real launch order ever came, we would be complicit in killing tens of millions of people. It was physically, mentally and morally grueling - and dangerous even in the best of circumstances.

Why did I do it? Maybe it sounds corny to you, but I loved this country and wanted to defend it against nuclear annihilation, so that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, "government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth." I know it has become trendy to say "thank you for your service," and I appreciate the sentiment. But I really don't need any accolades. If you truly wanted to thank me, you would just go vote. I don’t care who you choose, just vote. It surely would help an old man feel that the sacrifice of the best years of his young adult life was worthwhile.

But even if you don't vote to indulge Abraham Lincoln and me, you should still do it for yourselves. The future belongs to those who show up and participate. If you don't vote, you are letting the people who do – like me – make all the choices for your future. I'd like to think that I'm a reasonable guy and would make wise choices for the benefit of all Americans, but we need to face the fact that I may not. You and I are likely to have very different needs and interests. I am a financially stable old white guy. I no longer need to figure out how to get a job with decent pay and benefits, pay off student loans, get a mortgage, find a loving partner, raise children, save for their college or save for retirement. The currently rotting bridges and highways will probably stand up long enough to get me to the end of my stay here. Neither will I be here when the seas rise and the land burns. If our society should devolve into a Hobbesian war of all against all, I won't have to fight in it. But you will. And if you'd like to have a say in how that all turns out, you really need to vote.

Sincerely,

(Gumby)

 

[RobbieB]

I vote every election, don't try to dodge jury duty and don't think my taxes are too high.

Geeze.

 

[Senator]

In 2018, I read a NY Magazine article about young people who explained all the rather pathetic reasons they weren't planning to vote in the upcoming election. I wrote this open letter in response and posted it on Facebook. While the majority of you are not young, and hence the message may resonate differently for you, I still believe what I wrote then. Please vote.

Great letter, however I think most of the younger generation would rather surrender than defend freedom.

Thank you for your service, fellow Vet.

 

[Mulligan]

You don't have to worry, many dead people that are voting will make up for you. Also, the voters with fake ID and illegals that cast ballots won't disappoint you either.



Then we have the fake mail in ballots to relieve your concerns and also the folks that mess with the counting of ballots.



You are covered.

Aja, I vote and will continue...But in reality for presidential elections only about a half dozen states or so need bother to pull out the ballot boxes. And your state (Texas) and mine (MO) need not bother, lol.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I understand that your motivation is to stir up a reaction from the board, and you are well within your rights with your position, but your post makes me sad.

+ 1

 

[Lewis Clark]

In 2018, I read a NY Magazine article about young people who explained all the rather pathetic reasons they weren't planning to vote in the upcoming election. I wrote this open letter in response and posted it on Facebook. While the majority of you are not young, and hence the message may resonate differently for you, I still believe what I wrote then. Please vote.

Very well said, Gumby. Thanks from a fellow SSBN sailor.

 

[zesty]

I keep voting even though it feels more pointless every year.


Never know if I'm making the right choice but I'll be dead in a few decades anyway.

 

[Car-Guy]

I vote every election, don't try to dodge jury duty and don't think my taxes are too high.

I vote every election, don't try to dodge jury duty but I do think my taxes are too high. (Due to wasteful spending)

 

[Just_Steve]

Don't vote = Don't complain.

 

[unclemick]

I vote, protest, sign petitions and have been known to raise hell with the City Council. Not to mention people who do not pick up their dog poop in the neighborhood.

Good clean fun. Plus they know I am opinionated and 'will not select me' when called for jury duty. Rats!

heh heh heh - going to a memorial service this week for a 95 year old Nun who protested everything AND her fellow sisters held a mock election to elect a female Pope each time a new one is/was elected.

 

[bushpilot]

I quit voting a little over a decade ago, and have no regrets. They can have their games, I don't play.

 

[Calico]

"We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands: we have a check upon two branches of the legislature, as each branch has upon the other two; the power I mean of electing at stated periods, one branch, which branch has the power of electing another. It becomes necessary to every subject then, to be in some degree a statesman: and to examine and judge for himself of the tendencies of political principles and measures."
-- John Adams

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."
-- Samuel Adams

"Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption."
-- James Garfield

"The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live."
-- John Jay

I consider voting to be both a privilege and my duty. People in this country have risked (and in some cases lost) their lives to earn or defend the right to vote.

 

[nancyfrank232]

I retired from voting as well

I consider voting to be a right, not a duty

Many good people died to give me the right to vote. They died to keep it from being a duty

Mandatory voting takes society down a bad path

I’m rational so I fully exercise my right not to vote since voting is irrational

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_voting

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_paradox

Most people vote out of pride, which is why they advertise their act of voting and claim it to be a something more than a right

 

[Koolau]

I still vote. Once in a great while, there's actually a choice or two on a ballot - not often. Realistically, this is a one party town. If you are for that party, you don't need to vote. If you are not of that party, there's no point.

Still, I vote. I absolutely am against mandatory voting, but I'm almost as passionate that I should vote, even though my vote rarely could even conceivably make a difference.

If we all give up and don't vote, NOTHING can change. If we DO vote, it's still a theoretical that something might change. YMMV

 

[Scuba]

I still vote. Once in a great while, there's actually a choice or two on a ballot - not often. Realistically, this is a one party town. If you are for that party, you don't need to vote. If you are not of that party, there's no point.



Still, I vote. I absolutely am against mandatory voting, but I'm almost as passionate that I should vote, even though my vote rarely could even conceivably make a difference.



If we all give up and don't vote, NOTHING can change. If we DO vote, it's still a theoretical that something might change. YMMV

Well said, Koolau. Exactly how I feel.

 

[Amethyst]

I'm even more hawkish than this. When the old ladies send around their memes about "Members of Congress make $175,000 a year for doing nothing, while Our Seniors get by on $12,000 after a lifetime of work," I think, "If it's so easy, then why don't you run for Congress?"

Don't vote = Don't complain.