The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Let's all pat ourselves on the back and feel good about participatory government.

I voted.

I voted! Woo.

I didn't.

I voted two weeks ago.

Even though I feel voting essentially legitimizes criminal behavior and that even the "best" politician is still a politician (read p.o.s.) I did vote today. I consider it self defense. (There was a medical marijuana ballot measure.. actually three of them... and I had to at least try to get the best version to win, right?)

I voted. I'm a bit of a political junkie myself which is why I'm very drunk right now. woo hoo, democracy!

I have an extensive "I voted" sticker collection and I am a completionist. Though, I have to say, the most American thing ever is being able to vote and then not voting -- just like kneeling during the national anthem or remaining quiet during the pledge of allegiance. There's nothing more American than buying a Big Mac and tossing it in the trash because you're bored. (This is not an endorsement of disenfranchisement. If you want to vote you should be able to vote.)

Why do you people vote on Tuesdays? That is insane.

And compulsory voting. You should have it

I have said my piece.

In the U.S. compulsory voting would just get the person who promises the most (often unattainable) shit more votes. If you don't care enough to vote you shouldn't vote. If you don't have a person running that you support you shouldn't (have to) vote. That being said, I'd be more open to it if we outlawed political parties. (Or stopped the two existing political parties from excluding any other party from participating in the process including debates.) Instituted term limits (like, one term per level of government ever. So, once you served, in any capacity, at the federal level, you can never serve at that level again) might change how I feel about this. Plus, in the U.S. the house of representatives started out as one rep per 57,000 citizens... it's now in the hundreds of thousands. We would need to nearly quadruple the number of representatives in order to have anything close to real representation.

In other words, I feel that the voting day and the freedom to vote or not as your conscience dictates are the least of our problems.

Caravan Ray wrote:Why do you people vote on Tuesdays? That is insane.

Historical. According to wikipedia:
In 1845, the United States was largely an agrarian society. Farmers often needed a full day to travel by horse-drawn vehicles to the county seat/parish seat to vote. Tuesday was established as election day because it did not interfere with the Biblical Sabbath or with market day, which was on Wednesday in many towns.

Now those guys went out of their way to vote. A full day! I voted early because I was traveling on Election Day.
-bill