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Much controversy erupted earlier this week around a blog proposing that people don’t vote as a form of protest. Since it received prominent placement on FDL and generated over 200 comments, I assume that most firedogs are already aware of it.
The comment thread included some really excellent discussion on censorship and suggestions about comment moderation. I feel that those issues were thoroughly vetted in the comment thread, so I’ll skip them. I want to concentrate here on issues that received a lot less attention in the comment thread.
First, to not vote as a form of progressive protest is a terrible idea. It will advance someone else’s agenda.
Second, using a progressive web site to advocate not voting can be a voter suppression tool. Progressives staying away from the polls in large numbers is a Republican’s wet dream. If you really believe that low voter turnout threatens right-wingers (that they fear the electoral process will lose legitimacy if turnout drops below a certain threshold), then ask yourself these questions: Why did Republicans work so relentlessly to destroy ACORN? And why are Republicans enacting voter ID laws?
The author of the article claimed that by casting a vote for any candidate, you are lending an air of legitimacy to a corrupt and broken electoral process. I vehemently disagree. If I vote for Jill Stein, that means I am voting for Jill Stein– not for Wall Street or the corporation that owns the voting machines or the military-industrial complex.
Third, I think some fuzzy thinking entered into the comment thread. Things that are not the same were being equated. An excellent comment was made about the near success of a protest write-in campaign for a Senate seat in Colorado. As the comment thread progressed, I felt that this write-in protest was being treated as if it were synonymous with a don’t vote protest. It is not the same! A write-in campaign is an excellent way of lodging a protest against a corrupted political process and autocratic actions of the DNC. It sends a clear message. What message does not voting send?
Fourth, in politics or protest, make sure the message you send is crystal clear. Discerning the wishes of nonvoters is like reading tea leaves. If you fail to vote, you are leaving your wishes open to interpretation. The Democratic party has been thoroughly corrupted by corporate money. If large numbers of Democrats stay away from the polls, will the DNC read low turnout as disgruntled progressives or disgruntled blue dogs? The DNC will follow the money. They will lean even further to the right to increase their corporate contributions.
Fifth, more on the issue of equating dissimilar things. A boycott works when some type of monetary exchange has been taking place. Think of United Farm Workers and the boycott of grapes and Gallo, or the boycott of South African products before the fall of apartheid. More recently, threatened boycotts of Glenn Beck’s sponsors were also effective. An economic boycott is not the same as not voting. No payment is made to get into the voting booth. A failure to vote deprives no one of money. Let’s say, for example, the fictitious Acme Corporation sells candy bars and advertises (or I should say advertised, past tense, since the threatened boycott was successful) on Glenn Beck. The Acme Corp. also donates huge sums of money to ALEC and right wing House and Senate campaigns. If you are a progressive and you email the Acme Corp. that you will no longer buy their candy bars, they feel threatened. If you are a progressive and you announce your intention to not vote as some form of progressive protest, the CEO of Acme is giddy.
Sixth, sometimes when we are at a low point, feeling betrayed by Obama, and tired, frustrated, and discouraged–it’s easy to fall prey to manipulation. To convince ourselves that we are lodging some form of protest when we are really just giving up. Let’s face it, voting and getting out the vote is a lot of hard work. I’ll bet everyone here has volunteered on at least one campaign. It’s not easy coming face to face with a stranger’s hostility, because you’re interrupting dinner. And wouldn’t it be nice if there was some other way, like just boycotting elections? But you know the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
And finally, back to my first point– as we move closer to election day, don’t be surprised if you see more and more blogs and comments encouraging you to not vote as some form of progressive protest. Be wary, troll alert here. (I need to clarify; I no longer think that the posters of this week’s piece were trolls. But if a flood of don’t vote pieces hits FDL and other progressive web sites as we approach election, most of it will probably be from trolls.) Ask yourself, if you stay away from the polls, who benefits? Probably not you or any of the causes you believe in. You may think there’s not much difference between Obama and Romney. But if large numbers of progressives fail to vote, then what about races for folks like Alan Grayson, and local and state initiatives affecting progressive causes?
And if you feel that elections are rigged to favor the two-party system, then why not cast your vote for Jill Stein? It would have a twofold affect. First, it would send a message to the DNC that their base will continue to erode unless they become more bold and progressive. Second, it would help to build support for a third party.
But what is the most likely outcome of not voting? Some may see themselves as participating in a nonviolent revolution when they stay away from the polls and envision a seismic shift in American society. As for me, I see the Koch bothers’ mansions on election night. I picture them opening champagne.
60 Comments
I will not stay home for one thing because I am a woman. There are down ticket races that my rights are fully depending upon. I agree that not voting is not an option.
Nice piece.
(More so with your disclaimer that those who choose, yes a choice, to not vote are not automatically trolls, as was mentioned numerous times in the 200+ comment piece. Thank you for that addition.)
Your position certainly deserves much thoughtful and productive conversation. I can only hope this piece, like others about voting, gets 200+ comments with thoughtful and engaging discourse.
Rec’d
Thanks tambershall
Good piece, I pretty much agree. Right wing trolls at progressive discussion sites seem to be more a talking point than a reality. They generally drop in, have their asses handed to them by the regulars and disappear forever. The paranoia about it is silly based on what I’ve seen and accusations of poster being such are more often than not just used as a lazy ad hominem in lieu of actual argument on policy or fact.
I think in many cases less than 50% of the people vote statewide. When 50% don’t vote, that’s the majority voting for none of the above. That should have negated the election. But it didn’t. Didn’t even get noticed. So, there’s been an enormous boycott of US elections going on for a long time. The politicians I’m afraid might see the non-voting electorate as sheep who are so satisfied that they aren’t even complaining.
But as for me, to paraphrase what the poet said about Kansas City:
‘I might take a train, and I might take a plane, but if I have to walk I am going to complain.’
I heard once that there was a small town in California (I really don’t know if this is true or not!) that had “None of the Above” as a choice on the ballot for all the local elective offices. If that selection ‘won’, none of the candidates for that office could ever run for that office again.
Oh how I wish that it were true for every office in the land….
I know, I know, dream on!
But not voting? That is not an option. I have voted for third party candidates more often than not. I have never considered those as wasted votes. Never ever. They were my considered votes, my belief that this person was the one I most wanted for the job. But not voting? That was not an option.
In fact, I felt that if I didn’t vote, then I didn’t have a right to complain for the next term about anything. If I didn’t vote I had no right to gripe, rant and rave, curse and whine, criticize or cry. No matter whether my candidates won or lost.
So I had to vote – to retain my right to do all of the above!!
Ha Ha!
Thanks for the post!
I’m glad to see that Janet has reintroduced this topic since tamnershalls post was about censorship here and the original post is still censored.
This call to boycott this election doesn’t mean that people should give up their right to vote forever. It is about confronting a corrupt system by denying its mandate to govern.
I understand that this is a frightening idea that we could actually stop the government from functioning or cause it to show its true nature when the mandate is revoked. Some think they would just stuff the ballot boxes/diebold machines to cover this up, i believe they would declare a national emergency and call out the troops.
Janet and others are frightened that some might support the boycott and help the repugs win, that may be true but we are screwed no matter who wins.
Janet also is using precognition to brand some who might posts about this idea in the future as a right wing troll, that’s a little frightening.
Just consider this when you vote, no matter who for, you are supporting a corrupt system and bear some responsibility for the evil things done in your name.
Definitive.
Thank you.
Since that original Anarchism/Election Boycott post, I’ve seen so many people here at FDL say that they weren’t voting, I felt almost sorry that I had been a somewhat defender of hearing out the Boycott proponent terridi, and talking out the idea.
So I’m glad you brought it up. Because it really needs discussing. I have a stack of voter registration forms. It’s hard to get a lot at a time, so it’s good to get as many as you can as often as you can. There are probably eighty million unregistered voters out there who don’t realize that this time maybe there is somebody worth voting for.
It’s a good practice to register people to vote at any kind of political or social event, anywhere there’s tabling, and one can do that all year round, but especially during election season.
Of course. One quadrennial event, and choice, defines evil. /s
Just because you say something doesn’t make it true.
Please show us what you are doing, and what you propose to do aside from this non-voting thing to restore democracy and sanity to government policy.
Nice diary, and I fully agree, to not-vote as a form of “progressive protest” is a terrible idea.
I will be voting Green (Jill Stein).
Normanb, I am so glad you’re doing voter registration. Thanks for doing it. It’s one more thing, like volunteering on campaigns, that involves a lot of hard work and tenacity, and can feel like drudgery, but it’s well worth doing.
Also, re the number of people at FDL who said they weren’t voting– i was shocked and concerned. And that’s why I decided to follow up with this post.
Also, re your defense of terridi, the boycott proponent, and your sense that she had a right to be heard–i wouldn’t feel bad about that at all. I think when these really thorny issues come up, the best thing to do is to have an open discussion. My hope is that this post and others can get boycott proponents to pause and think about what they’re promoting. I understand their frustration at a rigged system. I hope that I can encourage a few people to re-examine their decision to not vote and realize that there are other options such as third party candidates and write-in campaigns.
Also, one more thought on your decision to support the discussion of the election boycott–i revisited the post and saw that terridi posted several comments just recently that this election boycott is a growing movement and she is a spokesperson for it. Learning that makes me feel even more strongly that we need to have open discussion so that we can reach out to the people in this boycott movement and get them to re-examine what they are promoting.
If this is a rebuttal Kelly it’s not much of one. Please tell me how voting in this election is going to stop Hellfire missiles from raining down on Arab children never mind the petty conserns of Amerikans.
What i am doing besides withholding my cherished vote is none of your business.
I see.
So voting is somehow meaningless, but I am responsible for voting, and what you do is private, but somehow does…something to prevent Hellfire missiles from raining down on Arab children.
OK.
Great point normanb.
The tactic has been tried, has failed, and will continue to fail. Further, the GOP is steadily trying to increase this percentage; there must be a reason why.
Well, you should explain how not voting will accomplish this. You remind me of a person who wants to play chess, but says the game is pointless because they haven’t gotten checkmate on their 3rd move. Or an anti-war protester who expects the wars to end as soon as they step on the White House lawn.
Further, if you were to ask those Arab children (many of whom live in dictatorships where the right to vote has been stripped from their parents) how best to act in this election, do you really think they would tell you that a boycott is prudent? US elections have a huge impact on the lives of foreigners; they need a voice too. Denying them that voice, as we kill them, is simply unconscionable to me.
Honestly, I used to think like you for years, and have come to realize that I was wrong.
Not voting perpetuates the corrupt system and you are respnisble for that corruption.
Voting a write in candidate, and/or finding out who is a worthy candidate 9maybe in a down ticket race), or better yet, recruiting and running a worthy candidate (perhaps in a down ticket race, so they can begin to build toward higher office) is a way to make the system work.
The SYSTEM, ie voting, is not corrupt, it’s how the system is being manipulated that is corrupt. Lazy people who would rather not bother educating themselves or working for worthy candidates or even voting a write in are the reason that corruption is able to flourish.
Me, I do election monitorig so that every person who is entitile to vote and whishes to vote is able to vote and have that vote counted accurately.
I have been doing that fo rover 10 years. I spent hundreds of hours every year on it. I also work for individual candidates (sometimes outside my own districts) that I believe in.
I spend my time to educate myself about this.
Everyone should vote, if only to write in their own name. THAT would be a protest!
Not voting is just lazy lazy lazy nihlism.
Are you just tryig to be rude and oboxious? Would it kill you to keep a civil tone to your fonts?
I agree. NormanB has pointed ou the epic FAIL of this idea. But of course, folk who do the same thing over and over and expect a different result are…..oh, yeah, I remember.
I attribute my past abstentions to voting to immaturity.
There is no end to the amount of rationalizing that can be done to justify a predetermined position that is without merit, or is based on counterfactuals.
I will vote for Jill Stein as well. I have been told by blue dog lizard brained math wizzes that it is the same as a vote for Romney. I see it as positive vote for Jill Stein.
It has other meanings as well… a protest against the corruption of the democratic party, the lack of the prosecution of torturers, war criminals and environmental polluters, and a spit in the face of the war mongers, the whistle-blower persecutors, and a bought and paid for media that spouts simple minded politics for the idiocracy.
It is also a big fuck you to Obama for being an all around corporate tool, and a dangerously murderous and immoral human being.
In other words, I want my vote to count this time.
John
Janet, I wonder if you might go into your edit function and add some spaces between your paragraphs. (I’d hate to think, though, that I’m the only one with eyes so crap that this is too hard to read, lol.)
So far only 21 comments, i guess support for voting doesn’t have that much support.
This was a brilliant move by Janet to resurrect a dangerous idea that had been suppressed and probably would have died quietly. Three or four people say they are not voting and the Democrat operatives begin to squirm and shout paranoid accusations about trolls and hidden agendas.
While few comment on these posts thousands lurk and listen so the Boycott The Election virus is spreading thanks to the Democrat minions that fear it the most, again brilliant tactical move folks.
I didn’t think this dangerous idea would attract much support but now thanks to Janet and others it might at least help destroy the Democrat party which as Martha says, is a good thing. Leave it to the Democrats to resurrect the near dead Republicans and then assist in their own destruction this is just priceless.
I would never vote for someone like Willard but as far as i know he has never killed any women, children or unindicted citizens like our present psychopathic Leader. It is possible that he has soul and might resist the temptation to weild his power in such a bloody inhumane way.
Again thank you Janet for your help in spreading the Boycott Movement.
As Mr Burns would say “Excellent”
Wendy, thanks for your suggestion. I hope the reformatting makes it easier to read.
You appear to be far more delusional that I initially thought.
Wow.
Janet Rhodes–
Thank you for your balanced, and well-thought out diary. I don’t know that I’m obliged to say this, but I do intend to vote.
However, I do find it somewhat troubling to see diarists who have made the very personal decision not to vote, verbally maligned. I think that this is both unnecessary and counterproductive. (IMO, this is a very personal decision, much like one’s own religious or spiritual convictions and practices.)
Thanks again, Janet. I was not distressed about the first diary, and thought that it presented an interesting perspective. By the same token, I appreciate that you “followed your heart and mind,” and answered with this excellent diary.
Blue
And do you even see the disconnect in your own comment?
First you say:
Then you say:
Yes, the commenters at FDL make up only about 1 or 2 percent of the actual readers but none of us can say for certain whether they support boycotting an election or voting.
But I would wager that those folks elected to office, even with only a plurality of eligible voters, will respond as if they have gotten a landslide mandate to do as they wish and will laugh at those who think a ‘boycott’ of the election this year has or had any meaning whatsoever.
My guess is they would ignore the boycotters just as they most likely ignore 5 year olds having a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store
Keep digging loyal voters China is only a few feet away.
I don’t know if I’ll vote in November. If Jill Stein is on the NC ballot, I very well might vote. I vote in the primaries and in the ‘off-year’ elections, and on special local voter-determined issues. I didn’t vote in the 2008 presidential election or in the 2004 one. Sometimes I wish I had voted, only when I want to complain and blame. It’s okay to think that voting in the US is the opiate of the masses like Emma Goldman thought.
I would even watch teevee again if the (*cough* *hack* *spit*) debates included all ballot candidates.
To get Jill Stein on the ballot in North Carolina is an uphill battle: 80,000 signatures are needed, I don’t know how many she has now, but 80,000 is the biggest ballot barrier in the world. We are still trying. If you would like to sign the petition, you can download it below. You may need to mail it in. That applies to anyone in North Carolina.
http://www.ncgreenparty.org/
There is also an online petition asking the NC State Board of Elections to allow Jill Stein. That applies to anyone in the world, but North Carolina voters will get more notice and carry more weight.
http://www.change.org/petitions/north-carolina-state-board-of-elections-add-jill-stein-representative-for-the-green-party
AitchD, i am puzzled by your comments. If you visit a political web site like FDL, there must be some causes that you care about– the environment, health care, income inequality… My question is, if you don’t vote, how do you plan to advance the causes you believe in? Also, re Jill Stein, during the primary in California, I wrote her name in. If she is not printed on the ballot in November, I will write her name in again. Also, nrmanb mentioned above that there are 80 million unregistered voters. Can you imagine the effect it would have if we could get these folks registered and writing in the names of candidates they truly believed in?
Here in Texas the 2010 gubernatorial race between Perry & White was decided by a 15% to 13% plurality based on the total number of eligible voters. Meaning something like 72% of them for whatever reason did not vote. Meaning ‘none of the above’ was the clear winner which of course gave us Perry once again. That 72% I find shocking but sadly not surprising… (numbers are from memory so forgive me if they’re off but I know my numbers are close)
The missus & I are definitely going to vote like we do every election but that’s not to say we’re casting ballots for Obama either. Doesn’t matter here anyway as the state will go for Rmoney thanks in no small part to our infinitely hackable (& un-recountable) E-Slate vote
stealingcounting machines.Let me see, Romney is more evil than Obama? Really? If Romney had been President during these last four years and had done exactly what Obama had done, don’t you think more people would have protested in the streets? Obama got slack for being perceived as a populist and a Democrat by many. Of the two candidates, he may be the more dangerous to us. He talks left and walks right and gets away with it.
Beware the subliminal message of voting for the lesser of two evils.
I visit FDL not for the politics as such but because it was founded as a “foul-mouthed feminist blog”, which is still its best feature. As a private citizen or consumer (I don’t know which) I contribute money to advance the causes you mention, among other important concerns (and also to the less-important USGA), and I’m a paying ‘Founding Member’ of firedoglake. I’d vote at FDL if FDL wanted or needed votes.
(I think I single-handedly killed a telecom proposal in NC that sought to block broadband extension, sponsored by Time-Warner/AT&T/Verizon, who wanted exclusive rights to it.)
Does it puzzle you that I don’t consider this election the most important election of my lifetime? I keep hoping the next one will be. ;o) Does it puzzle you that the most pro-labor presidential candidate of a major party in history, George McGovern (1972), got like zero votes from labor union members?
I enjoy being scolded by happy clappy liberal cheerleaders who, everyone acknowledges, know everything and have never been wrong.
Good post wayoutwest. I somewhat agree. I would never advocate not voting as ballot issues and local elections can have some merit in any particular election, but I would advocate not voting for a president. It’s completely meaningless. This year you have the democratic incumbent raining hell fire on countries all over the year based on his “kill lists” which he really puts lots of thought into and whines about not being given enough credit for being willing to destroy SS and medicare against Willard who has no positions on anything in particular, he just wants to be king because he deserves it. Already we have evolved quite quickly into full bore LOTE mode on most progressive sites as Paul Ryan is the monster of the day for progressives. For me I have no pressure. Because of the electoral college I live in a state where my vote absolutely has no meaning (Idaho). NO dem has won this state since FDR. It is an absolutely meaningless vote, my vote for president.
IT’s an interesting question for me. No chance Jill Stein is on the ballot in my state nor Rocky Anderson most likely. Perhaps Gary Johnson will be as some libertarians usually get on a ballot here. IN my particular individual case, not voting for president is a legitimate option, my vote truly doesn’t count simply because of where I live.
Janet, i think you mean unregistered citizens since the unregistered don’t vote and can’t be called voters.
As to getting them on your side that is a quaint dream, they are already the base for the Boycott Movement, and some call me delusional.
Idaho ballot access. It appears you will have an opportunity to register a protest against the two-party system as well as contribute to strengthening third party politics going forward. Or you can stay home with the other 100 million.
http://www.jillstein.org/ballot
http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/08/15/jill-stein-submits-petitions-in-idaho-and-montana/
Jill Stein is on the ballot in Idaho, and Idaho’s fledgling Medical Marijuana movement helped put her there. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/06/on-idaho-border-ore-marijuana-finds-its-way-out/
I didn’t mean my reply to you to sound as snarky as it did at the end. You raised a legitimate point about whether your vote “counts.” If you think that a third political party might be the way to approach our problems going forward, or at least part of the solution, then voting third party now can be a building block for the future, in terms of organizing, voter registration, and, depending on state laws, making ballot access less cumbersome the following year.
Come on folks this diary is still laging behind Pull Up Your Cat by Margaret.
If you are going to get out the vote you need to do better than that.
I worked on George McGovern’s campaign. Imagine if he had won in 1972 instead of Nixon. Would Powell have been nominated to the Supreme Court, allowing court decisions opening the floodgates to corporate money? There were ~138 lobbyists back then; now nearly 40,000.
The blog writer says not voting is a Republican wet dream. Well, perhaps then the DNC will start giving us candidates that are not corporatists?!
Margaret’s cat piece is well done, compelling.
We’ve also got good conversation here.
Voting and not voting may both be carried out habitually by people not thinking about what they are doing.
One friend of mine recently pursued having his name taken off the voter rolls, saddened by the harm that his well-meaning Obama vote brought.
This time, maybe, voting and not voting will both be carried out more strategically.
I will vote in November in the down ticket races and 3rd party, probably, for president. I can’t and I won’t vote for a candidate who bombs people for no good reason, who turns people over to torturers, who holds people in prison without charge or due process, who stands silent while the right to choose is taken away from women, who allows the financial sector to steal from the American people, and who intends intends to cut medicare and destroy social security.
That candidate is just not my kinda guy and I won’t say, with my vote, say that I condone and endorse what he has been up to.
No offense intended towards Margarets post Norm. If people are going to participate in an Election Boycott i believe they should be registered voters, the idea is not to give up on voting but to use your nonvote as a weapon to attack the system. If and when a truly democratic system can be restored we want those voters involved.
The Koch brothers are going to drink champagne regardless of who wins because they own both of them. Progressives run the risk of becoming the new blacks – voting for a party that does nothing for them bcz they know your not going anywhere. This election is an illusion of choice, we know this and yet we still cant get over our fear of those mean ole republicans. Instead of picturing the Koch’s drinking champagne picture Obama pouring it for them for the next four years. Obama in the white house and with no worries about reelection will be a progressive nightmare and you have no one but you and your fear to blame. If Obama is reelected he is going to go back to governing to the right, the economy will still suck, and 2016 the republicans win the White House anyway. If progressives want the democrats to take us seriously we have to be willing to let them lose elections and this upcoming election is the perfect opportunity for us to do that. If only we weren’t so scared.
I haven’t decided whether I will vote or not. And I probably won’t decide until the last day of voter registration (I have moved to a different city since I last voted). If I do vote, it sure as hell won’t be for one of the two representatives of the uniparty.
I find several of the statements in this diary to be patronizing. I fell “prey to manipulation” and “fuzzy thinking” when I allowed myself to get sucked into not just voting for Obama, but expecting him to do what he promised. Bwaaaaahahahahahaha. I knew better.
I find it offensive to be told that the hard work of getting out the vote has to be done when I know damn good and well that those who own the machines are the ones who “get out the vote,” and it’s not hard work at all. The hard work, IMHO, is trying to convince people to stop being delusional. I won’t argue with people who believe that there is some integrity left in voting for down-ticket candidates and initiatives, or that making a statement by voting for a third party candidate is a worthy endeavor, even though there is little if any evidence that those votes will all be counted either. But this business of holding voting to be sacroscant, in this day and age, makes me want to puke. Sorry.
This thread only has 50 comments and Pull Up Your Cats has 100comments so by a 2 to 1 margin cats are more popular than voting in this election.
I’ll leave you with this thought.
What if five people walked into their polling station signed in and then sang a couple of bars of Alices Restaurant and walked out without voting. The local news might report it as an interesting stunt.
What if five people walked into 100 different polling stations and did the same thing the news might call it a conspiracy.
What if five people walked into 1000 different polling stations and did the same thing the news might call it a Movement.
What if five people walked into 10,000 different polling stations and did the same thing the news would call it an Insurrection and then there wouldn’t be any more news.
Hotflashcarol, i am completely taken aback, and offended, by your tone of hostility. I’ve read several of your posts on Occupy Oakland. And I liked your posts, especially when you idenitified fuzzy thinking, and held first ammendment rights to be sacrosanct. I do hold voting to be sacrosanct. I also fell prey to manipulation. I was an Obama volunteer who thought he would at least make an attempt to do much of what he promised. I’ve been bitterly disappointed. When I say getting out the vote is hard work, I am not talking about party bosees. I’m talking about volunteers like you and me. Also, in the comment thread following the boycott article a couple days ago, the word, patronizing, was being hurled back and forth. It sounded to me as if any time someone made a good point and the commenter did not want to have to do the work torefute it, the word, patronzing, was hurled. And that’s what it seems like here. Also, I made it clear in my blog that I plan to vote for Jill Stein, and I am all in favor of writing in candidates and building third parties. Now if you find that patronizing, or it makes you want to puke, then I am terribly sorry. And in the future, if you decide to step into the comment thread following one of my diaries, please bring your manners with you.
Darms, i found your comments about Texas to be amazing. I just wanted to double-check and make sure I didn’t misread it. 72 % of eligible voters stayed away; only 28% voted, Perry became governor with only 15% of the eleigible vote? Wow! My husband and I were discussing your comment, and concurred that if we’re reading the numbers correctly, it an important factoid that udermines the boycott voting stance. The boycott seems to be based on the assumption that if turnout plummets to a really low percentage, then it will undermine the legitimacy of the election. As my husband said, there’s no connective tissue between those two things. Based on your comment, exceedingly low turnout has already occurred in a major election, and has not upset the status quo one bit. Also, thanks for your comment. It provides a lot of food for thought
Thank you for the update on ballot access. Wow!
that’s great. I’ll pull the trigger for her if she’s on the ballot. In the end, the country has trillions of miles to fall before a 3rd party has any meaning.
Ah, thank you, janet. Sorry I got waylaid by a bugger of a post I was putting together. But…I expressed myself already on tambershall’s repost. ;o)
Janet, the fascist system that we find ourselves in has made me extremely hostile, especially to ideas that I believe only serve to perpetuate it. I am glad that you choose to vote for Jill Stein, but dismayed that you seem to believe that the votes for Jill or anyone else will be counted accurately. My expectation is that whatever point the oligarchs think is most worth making is the one that will be made. Every third vote for Jill goes to Mitt or Obama or down the memory hole; she and Rocky serve to throw to [insert candidate here]. Who knows? What has to happen for everyone to realize that voting for national candidates in the era of electronic voting machines and Citizens United has become utterly futile? I stop short of suggesting that insurrection is the answer. But you’re right, my manners suck when it comes to being polite about this.
Also, I suppose “patronizing” might be in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure people find me scoldy and patronizing when I tell them that voting is futile. This is an ever more noxious conversation and I think I may have to go hide in a cave until the election is over, because I am unable to be very civil about it. Too much is at stake.
I think that many in the Democrat wing of the Republican party are breathing a sigh of relief that this diary is slipping away. I wonder if they will try again maybe if they included some connection to cats this voting meme might gain some traction.
Carol, don’t worry about Janet, she can dish it out with glee but can’t take it very well.
Hotflashcarol, thanks for coming back to the comment thread. It was good to hear from you. We all let our emotions get ahead of us sometimes. I do hope you don’t hide until after the election, because I enjoy your posts. And I do share your misgivings about whether or not votes were accurately counted. In ’04 when I volunteered for Kerry, I called voters in Ohio until I got laryngitis. And I think there were some shenanigans with the vote count, just like in Florida in 2000. I would not vote on one of those computers, myself. There has to be a paper trail. Have a good day, and I look forward to reading more of your posts.