Am I the only one that chooses not to vote?

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Okay, so say all politicians are assholes. Let's not think of voting as electing a new set of assholes into power, but kicking out the current set of assholes. Could be good, could be bad, or it could stay the same if you don't exert the minor effort of actually trying. But it's more comfortable to wallow in apathy to avoid disappointment, I guess.

And no, you're not a snowflake.
 
Cse said:
Why would it be?

I honestly feel like everyone that buys into this system and think politicians actually make a real difference are delusional.

These people are bought and paid for the moment they get into office.
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Are you me from highschool?
 
Cse said:
I think you have every right to complain if you didn't vote, as you're not responsible for hiring any of the moronic puppets that work in Washington.
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you didn't vote against them. Also you can run for office yourself.

if everyone thinks like you, nothing can ever change.

just imagine if every non-voter voted for the same third political party / candidate.
 
If you think there is no difference than you simply aren't paying attention. I mean, what about all of the fights over welfare, healthcare, gay marriage, abortion, the economy, etc.

Oh and as to the 'I'm the only one who can see what's going on'

sheeple.png
 
Cse said:
In terms of their political philosophy, of course, they're different.

But they're all politicians, and their strings are all being controlled by entities much more powerful than themselves. So yes, in that sense, they are very much the same.
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They're also all humans. All older than a particular age. All suspiciously alive rather than dead like the vast majority of humans.

So in those senses, too, they are very much the same.
 
Cse said:
I feel like I'm the only one that actually sees what's going on.

Red, blue, left, right, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative....it doesn't matter. They're all the same. Corporations own this country and they control everything that takes place in Washington. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to "influence" congressional opinions, and they have 3rd party organizations and lobbying groups that practically work alongside politicians to create legislation that fits their needs.

Politicians don't care about Americans...they just don't. Most of them are lavishly rich, and like most people, they care about themselves, their families, and their own self interests. I cringe every time I see one of them donning blue jeans and a buttoned down shirt while talking and shaking hands with Americans in rural areas. It's just a PR move. They're actors. They couldn't care less.

And yet, every year, Americans seem to get galvanized behind a given politician. People seem to think that once their guy gets elected, their lives will suddenly improve and everything will be wonderful. In the end, nothing changes.

It's why I just can't bring myself to vote. To go and vote is a vote of support for this entire, incredibly corrupt system. It's a vote for a person who doesn't know and doesn't care who I am. Worst of all, people are indoctrinated at a young age to go and vote because it's such a unique "right", as we have a "choice" about who we choose to put in office. Yeah, what an amazing "choice" we have. In reality, we get to choose the puppet that serves as the face for corporate America, because it's the rich corporations that are actually pulling the strings.
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sigh.... you do know you can shape your choices before the elections right? Primaries for example

and there are also local propositions and judges to vote for, which impact your life more immediately than... whatever.

so basically you're as useless as most Americans who don't vote. You're not a rebel, just another internet revolutionary.
 
Gray Matter said:
Nope. I can't vote because I'm not a citizen yet, but when I am able to vote, I won't. I feel like it really doesn't matter at all.
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My wife's a naturalized US citizen, from Japan. She has about the same outlook on it, i.e. it doesn't change anything that matters day to day. Pretty frustrating for me, since I always vote. But, she's got the right to abstain, just as much as I've got the right to go cast my meaningless drop in the bucket.
 
Timan said:
I think more people would vote if they didn't have to work that day.
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aren't businesses required to allow employees adequate time to go vote?

my boss always just has us volunteer to go vote in shifts during the day, he's pretty proactive about it. I've never heard of any employer outright refusing to let their workers go vote.

Astral said:
I just....don't care.
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see this is at least better than the whole "omg our government is just controlled by mysterious shadow figures and the whole system is broken so nothing I do matters" bullshit.
 
Your post is intellectually lazy in so many ways, it is almost funny.

The two parties most certainly aren't the same, though arguably the structure of congress/the senate/the fillibuster are somewhat broken. Though that isn't fixed with apathy.

Go out and vote: spoil your ballot if you don't approve. Apathy only benefits cynical political strategies.
 
MightyHedgehog said:
Exactly. Stop putting your head up your ass and look at how it actually affects people living at the bottom, you and everyone you know. Who is in office matters even if the political system has broken the process over and over again. It still works to provide and improve services and funding to those organizations which help people at street level regardless of corruption's reach. Stop thinking top-level only and actually pay attention to the influence that their decisions have on the normal citizen.
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Voting in primaries helps too.
If someone is running unopposed and you don't like the person "running", don't vote on that race. It's basically a vote of no-confidence.

Of course, if you don't vote at all, you are just saying "I don't care".
 
Cse said:
I honestly feel like everyone that buys into this system and think politicians actually make a real difference are delusional.
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Excuse me, but how many millions of people now have health insurance who didn't have it a year ago?

And how did that happen?
 
Timan said:
I think more people would vote if they didn't have to work that day.
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Absentee ballots. I'm starting to think people either forget about them or don't know about them. I didn't know dick about my candidates but that gave me time to at least google them to find out what they're about. To see people say they didn't have enough time to inform themselves of the candidates is fucking bizarre to me.
 
Timan said:
I think more people would vote if they didn't have to work that day.
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I totally agree.

I forget the party breakdown but I'm sure there's a political advantage to not making Election Day a holiday... seniors are obviously the most consistent voters vs. young voters the most fickle, etc.
 
No, you're not a special snowflake, OP.

Either out of laziness or because they've "seen through the system" like you have, plenty of people choose not to vote.
 
Cse said:
I feel like I'm the only one that actually sees what's going on.

Red, blue, left, right, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative....it doesn't matter. They're all the same. Corporations own this country and they control everything that takes place in Washington. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to "influence" congressional opinions, and they have 3rd party organizations and lobbying groups that practically work alongside politicians to create legislation that fits their needs.

Politicians don't care about Americans...they just don't. Most of them are lavishly rich, and like most people, they care about themselves, their families, and their own self interests. I cringe every time I see one of them donning blue jeans and a buttoned down shirt while talking and shaking hands with Americans in rural areas. It's just a PR move. They're actors. They couldn't care less.

And yet, every year, Americans seem to get galvanized behind a given politician. People seem to think that once their guy gets elected, their lives will suddenly improve and everything will be wonderful. In the end, nothing changes.

It's why I just can't bring myself to vote. To go and vote is a vote of support for this entire, incredibly corrupt system. It's a vote for a person who doesn't know and doesn't care who I am. Worst of all, people are indoctrinated at a young age to go and vote because it's such a unique "right", as we have a "choice" about who we choose to put in office. Yeah, what an amazing "choice" we have. In reality, we get to choose the puppet that serves as the face for corporate America, because it's the rich corporations that are actually pulling the strings.
Click to expand...

If you can tell me the three voting points of your particular state and district off the top of your head and still say that, fine.

But I bet you can't tell me what they are without looking them up. And that's a problem.
 
Timan said:
I think more people would vote if they didn't have to work that day.
Click to expand...

You're still entitled to time to do so or vote in advance with absentee ballots and early voting programs. There is no excuse, but I do agree that mandating a holiday to vote should have been the case so long ago. Low-income workers lose out by design.
 
The recent John Oliver show was interesting. A lot of state/local level politicians run unopposed in the USA.

However I can see where the OP is coming from in a cynical George Carlin kind of way. If you want change you need to do more than just vote, you have to convince others to do the same, and hope that something is done about conflicts of interest.
 
Camp Lo said:
Absentee ballots. I'm starting to think people either forget about them or don't know about them. I didn't know dick about my candidates but that gave me time to at least google them to find out what they're about. To see people say they didn't have enough time to inform themselves of the candidates is fucking bizarre to me.
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Yeah, I did this in Florida for the last election. I expect republicans to push to change to only those who are elderly or disabled though. Gotta restrict voting more.
 
speculawyer said:
You are just trying to rationalize your lazy ass.

You are just lazy . . . and sadly, many people are.
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people who vote and think it's important are really the ones trying to rationalize an irrational act. a vote is not even statistical noise.

doing something that might convince a lot of people to vote the way you want them to vote might be useful, but voting for yourself and then feeling like you've "done your duty" is just the lazy way out and really amounts to nothing more than updating your license to complain. there really is no good reason to vote, so it's not lazy not to do it, just logical.
 
Cse said:
In terms of their political philosophy, of course, they're different.

But they're all politicians, and their strings are all being controlled by entities much more powerful than themselves. So yes, in that sense, they are very much the same.
Click to expand...

Here's another though for you to consider, are the entities controlling both sides the same? Or are they different lobbies representing different industries? Do different industries want the same things or do they want different things?

Again, its ultra easy to demonstrate that the parties aren't exactly the same. It's just lazy, uninformed thinking.
 
Cse said:
I feel like I'm the only one that actually sees what's going on.

Red, blue, left, right, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative....it doesn't matter. They're all the same. Corporations own this country and they control everything that takes place in Washington. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to "influence" congressional opinions, and they have 3rd party organizations and lobbying groups that practically work alongside politicians to create legislation that fits their needs.

Politicians don't care about Americans...they just don't. Most of them are lavishly rich, and like most people, they care about themselves, their families, and their own self interests. I cringe every time I see one of them donning blue jeans and a buttoned down shirt while talking and shaking hands with Americans in rural areas. It's just a PR move. They're actors. They couldn't care less.

And yet, every year, Americans seem to get galvanized behind a given politician. People seem to think that once their guy gets elected, their lives will suddenly improve and everything will be wonderful. In the end, nothing changes.

It's why I just can't bring myself to vote. To go and vote is a vote of support for this entire, incredibly corrupt system. It's a vote for a person who doesn't know and doesn't care who I am. Worst of all, people are indoctrinated at a young age to go and vote because it's such a unique "right", as we have a "choice" about who we choose to put in office. Yeah, what an amazing "choice" we have. In reality, we get to choose the puppet that serves as the face for corporate America, because it's the rich corporations that are actually pulling the strings.
Click to expand...


Lol, there are plenty of other people who feel the same way about voting.

Never seen that Southpark vote or die episode?
 
The "I'm the only one who sees voting is a waste" mentality is just a way to assuage your ego by saying "I'm not being lazy, I'm just smarter than everyone else!" Because actually doing research is difficult.
 
I didn't vote.

I don't own a car, closest bus stop is 40 minutes away, I also am not registered (not sure if that matters).

Feels bad, man.
 
You're right nothing has changed in 238 years. Maybe once you graduate from junior high you won't be so impatient, but political change is supposed to be slow and gradual, it's designed that way.
 
If you think there's no difference between the two parties, you need to pay more attention, because there is a world of difference, and it DOES matter who you vote for.
 
BertramCooper said:
Excuse me, but how many millions of people now have health insurance who didn't have it a year ago?

And how did that happen?
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It was the corporations, man...

Like, they are doling out minor benefits to appease the masses or something but none of you sheeple can figure it out!

Open your eyes, dude!

Bread and circuses or something.
 
What if these powers that be have convinced you not to vote as a means of keeping their power. Less people voting means they are more capable of dictating who wins and how.

You ever think about that OP?
 
John Dunbar said:
people who vote and think it's important are really the ones trying to rationalize an irrational act. a vote is not even statistical noise.

doing something that might convince a lot of people to vote the way you want them to vote might be useful, but voting for yourself and then feeling like you've "done your duty" is just the lazy way out and really amounts to nothing more than updating your license to complain. there really is no good reason to vote, so it's not lazy not to do it, just logical.
Click to expand...

So local races and issues don't count, I guess?
 
OP, what do you care about? What do you want to see in politics? What issues concern you the most and what is your idea (however hypothetical) for addressing these issues?
 
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