This post always gets your attention. The truth is, voting does work - but you have to actually vote in order for it to work. If voting were as ineffective as the right wing nut jobs have led us to believe, then Congress would not have wasted so much of its time (when it wasnt doing anything else anyway) pushing through legislation to stop voter fraud - something that at this point, does not seem to exist. If voting were ineffective, then Congress certainly would never have entertained the thought of getting rid of the Senate elections and having the Senators appointed - by the House. But they did entertain it to the point of writing a bill for it. As far as the two party system goes, yeah, it kind of sucks but thats all we got right now and I have yet to see Occupy, the Green Party or any other party come up with the funding or even a viable candidate to run against the billionaires on both sides. However, as bad as both may seem the GOP have made it their duty to undermine everything the middle class stands on, including refusing to overturn Citizens United; refusing to hold the banks accountable by enacting CU and other damaging legislation that led to the crash in 2009. They want to abolish the minimum wage; unions; womens reproductive rights; they repeatedly vote against equal pay; and they have systematically dismantled VAWA so that it barely functions, They have also dismantled virtually every other government agency meant to protect the public so badly that they are barely functional. This leads to fertilizer plants exploding in Texas and poisonous water in West Virginia. They have slashed education and now they want to go after Medicare/Medicaid - which always comes up but never goes anywhere. They have passed the largest military budget in American history while stripping the veterans services to nothing and refusing to fund the cost of repairing our infrastructure. These are but a few things they have done. That leads me to believe that maybe the Dems have some problems but they dont seem as out to get me as the GOP does. Besides, if we can get enough Dems elected, then maybe we can work our asses off to turn this country back to its progressive norm. But aside from all of that, I see occupiers all over the place who want to tell me that I should discourage people from voting. Why? First, minorities are the ones who usually vote Democrat when they vote but they are also the first ones who wont vote because FOX Noise and people who mean well tell them their vote doesnt count. But I can assure you that the GOP and the Tea Party will be out in full force this election and they will be voting. And if you dont vote, then you have just helped them to win. And whats more is the GOP knows this. Thats why FOX and other media continually bash the idea of voting - because they know that we will listen. I saw a post on a pretty progressive page recently that basically said the two parties are identical and therefore voting was a bad idea. The post originated from the Heartland Institute, a Koch-funded organization bent on making renewable energy resources a dirty word. That told me all I needed to know right there and if the Koch brothers dont want me to vote, then I know for certain that I need to vote and vote my ass off. And heres why. Americans have gotten lazy. We believe that we dont have to do a damn thing but yet still believe that the senators and reps work for us. And we even say if the vote doesnt go our way then we just wont vote at all. Thats childish and only helps the other side win. But heres the thing. Voting is not the only thing we can do. We should be writing petitions, signing petitions, calling and writing our legislators, attending city council meetings; attending candidates speeches and asking tough questions and insist on being heard; sending emails; reposting things we read on FB and Twitter; getting involved with the ACLU, AFL-CIO, or whatever civil rights or union or womans group, you can find. And because you still arent happy with the way things are going, you should be protesting your asses off. But telling people not to vote only helps the GOP win and the GOP have proven time and again that they do not care about the 1%. Besides, why would you tell someone not to vote when you wont even get off your ass and protest? If you dont want to vote then fine, dont. But your ass better be out in the streets, everyday, protesting your ass off. Besides, how dare you or anyone else tell someone not to exercise their right to vote? At least they are willing to do more than you are to change things.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 00:22:16 +0000
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