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OFFICIAL ELECTION THREAD MEANS ALL ELECTION-RELATED STUFF GOES IN HERE, DUR
- Thread starter Mandark
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Alcibiades
Member
Bush has just set a popular vote record besting Reagan, and Daschle has lost his Senate seat...
I'm content, but not overly giddy or explosively happy cause I know there are a lot of problems facing this country...
I'm content, but not overly giddy or explosively happy cause I know there are a lot of problems facing this country...
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
Zap did you read what the I said, I posted several times if you dont want to vote just get your name crossed off and refuse the slips they give you or drop in a blank ballot.
norinrad21
Banned
Its only for more years, its not exactly that long.
Its sort of ironic to see Americans vote for more of their sons and daughters to be slaughtered in Iraq, not to mension a place like Florida which has more soldiers in Iraq than any other state
Its sort of ironic to see Americans vote for more of their sons and daughters to be slaughtered in Iraq, not to mension a place like Florida which has more soldiers in Iraq than any other state
First of all, that wouldn't happen. The money would just be wasted elsewhere. It's naive to think anything else.Do The Mario said:
Second, I don't believe much -- if any -- money would be saved. You'd just be slapping a whole bunch of people with $25 fines who didn't know any better. So, you'd end up spending money educating all these people on their right not to vote (which, to them, is gonna sound ass-backwards, anyway).
Third, a lot of money spent would be spent anyway, because it's campaign money. That money was going to be spent whether voting was mandatory or not. Most of the ads that you see trying to get people to vote in general (regardless of candidate) are not government-paid. That's usually private, whether from a candidate or even something like MTV. If you have a beef with their ads, then you need to take it up with them.
Finally, forced voting goes against the nature of the whole system. Voting is a right, not a duty.
Zaptruder said:
Voting blank isn't the same thing as not voting at all though. I voted blank in the previous election here in Sweden. My vote basically said that I wanted to vote and make a difference, and that I didn't like any of the options made available for me. Had I not voted, my opinion would never have been registered.
However, I can see, with a mandatory participation system, that a blank vote could mean "no vote" if you have no choice.
I find it funny that Fox and NBC are in quite a pickle as far as reporting states. Nevada looks clearly Bush (going by Yahoo's numbers), but NBC and Fox refuse to call it because it would claim Bush the winner, can't have that yet. And of course, they can't take Ohio back because that's 2000 all over again.
All right, I'm tapping out.
Smashing vitory all around for the Republicans, I thought the Dems were in trouble after 200, and this really proved it. They got destroyed in every respect now with firm control and strong majorities in the White House, House, Senate, and surely the Supreme Court by the time 2008 rolls around. And not only that but they defeated the Democrat's Presidential candidate convincingly in the popular vote, AND they ousted the Democratic leader in Congress. That's about as close as you can get to a clean sweep, and I don't think anybody expected such a dominant overall victory across the boards for the Republicans given the polarized nature of the country.
Oh well. Hopefully Bush doesn't do anything too wildly stupid during the next 4 years. :/
Night all.
Smashing vitory all around for the Republicans, I thought the Dems were in trouble after 200, and this really proved it. They got destroyed in every respect now with firm control and strong majorities in the White House, House, Senate, and surely the Supreme Court by the time 2008 rolls around. And not only that but they defeated the Democrat's Presidential candidate convincingly in the popular vote, AND they ousted the Democratic leader in Congress. That's about as close as you can get to a clean sweep, and I don't think anybody expected such a dominant overall victory across the boards for the Republicans given the polarized nature of the country.
Oh well. Hopefully Bush doesn't do anything too wildly stupid during the next 4 years. :/
Night all.
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
Great to see the system works.
Yes the campaigns are funded by the parties, but the money still could be used in a much more resourceful manner.
Yeah... I'm getting seriously pissed off about this. Don't just sit there at 269 for Bush because it's "good TV"... Nevada is obviously going for Bush. If you want to move Ohio back into the "too close to call" category, go ahead, but for crying out loud, don't fudge on calling states for the sake of drama.XMonkey said:
Well, nobody is counting Iowa because they have shut down for the night in Iowa. They had problems with the counting machines, their staff was tired and it was too much for the system, so they quit for the night before they finished the count.Society said:
EDIT: I'm really going to bed now.
Zaptruder said:
Yeah OK, but in a system where you have a choice, I think a blank vote represents an opinion that you choose to express. If you don't vote, noone will ever know your opinion. Maybe you liked party A, maybe party B, maybe you didn't like any of them? Or maybe you didn't spend enough time to even make a choice? If you choose to vote blank, taking your time to actually vote, I think there's a high possibility you've at least thought about the choices available. After all, actually taking time to vote seems to be a very demanding task for most people when you consider the high % of people not voting.
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen
Banned
I think the government should pay people to vote. Since the money would have to come out of everyone's taxes it would be substantially the same as mandatory voting with fines for those who don't comply, but with a nice positive spin.
In the UK the coverage of this election has probably been just as big as it would be for our own elections! My view is not worth much because I'm not American but it seems to me that the Democrats went with Kerry because they thought he could bring them the White House without really needing to challenge Bush with Policies and new Ideas. My politics are probably left of centre and that means that Kerry should have been my choice if I were American, problem is I would have found it difficult to vote for him, I just don't think he would have done anything better or differently from Bush. To earn the right to govern he really should have come up with a bold plan to move America forward in unison with countries which are willing to follow.
I've been to America on numerous occasions and have enjoyed myself every time and most Europeans feel the same way, we may not like your politics or some of your go alone policies but its still a great place with mostly very friendly people.
Politicians don't make a country the people do.
I've been to America on numerous occasions and have enjoyed myself every time and most Europeans feel the same way, we may not like your politics or some of your go alone policies but its still a great place with mostly very friendly people.
Politicians don't make a country the people do.
Fresh Prince
Banned
It's funny seeing Aussie's taking the high ground.
We may not have the 'problem' of the 'redneck religious right' vote but what we did have was a bunch of selfish assholes who put the shape our econmony above the needs of the environment, education, the 'war on terror' (none of our soldiers got killed so it's alright) and true class progress(welfare, saying sorry etc).
The sad fact is that they think that sole factor of our economy is government policy.
We may not have the 'problem' of the 'redneck religious right' vote but what we did have was a bunch of selfish assholes who put the shape our econmony above the needs of the environment, education, the 'war on terror' (none of our soldiers got killed so it's alright) and true class progress(welfare, saying sorry etc).
The sad fact is that they think that sole factor of our economy is government policy.
Aaaaaaaaaaaargh, screw you networks! There's no realistic way that Kerry will take Ohio, so CALL IT. Bush is obviously going to take Nevada; CALL IT. Say what everyone already knows! It's painfully obvious that nobody wants to be the first to call this election for fear of getting egg on their faces, but for crying out loud, that doesn't justify artificially delaying calls just so nobody reaches 270 electoral votes.
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
Fresh Prince said:
Im not saying our government is perfect, it would be virtually impossible for me to agree with every decision our government made.
However some issues from the last election
- The government Introduced Medicare plus a 80% rebate for out of hand medical expenses
- The government has an outstanding economic record, with strong fiscal policies.
- Employment has increased by over 1 million
Hecs as been increased but is now more finically viable.
I dont agree with the Australian Governments support of the war on terror however unlike the US government our government has performed well on domestic issues.
Kabuki Waq
Member
cybamerc said:
yea i guess fear mongering really works.
The issue is that as long as there is an outside chance, the Dems at least can't really concede defeat. Kerry needs roughly two thirds of the uncounted votes in Ohio to win. The chances of that happening are slim, but it's enough for them to insist on a final result before declaring it over. As for the networks..they may have a policy about probabilities etc. and perhaps this one is just within their realm of possibility to keep it "open".
norinrad21
Banned
ErasureAcer
Banned
www.nov3.us
I don't believe Bush won. How? How? values? We have a staggering economy, a guy who hates us, a stupid ass war and we're voting on stem cell research? I honestly don't believe the American people are THAT stupid.
Bush cheated. I have no specific data on how but they cheated. Diebold, challenges, registration...a combination of all of them...they have cheated. No way has this MORON gotten the most votes ever on VALUES! I don't believe it.
I don't believe Bush won. How? How? values? We have a staggering economy, a guy who hates us, a stupid ass war and we're voting on stem cell research? I honestly don't believe the American people are THAT stupid.
Bush cheated. I have no specific data on how but they cheated. Diebold, challenges, registration...a combination of all of them...they have cheated. No way has this MORON gotten the most votes ever on VALUES! I don't believe it.
MightyHedgehog
Member
Pug said:
Exactly. Unfortunately, we, as Americans, have little *real* choice in who we get to vote for...thanks to ridiculously constrictive partisan politics...lesser of the two evils sort of thing, IMO. I vote on issues and not by party-affiliation, but it's difficult to do so if the candidates available are generally never to my liking. The problem with being a republic, as we are, is that we are almost too detached from the so-called leaders that we put in office to govern things...our government needs some long-overdue fine-tuning. Ack...tired of watching the fucking election...I probably don't make much sense, but it always seems fucked-up somehow to me.
Late Stage Marxist
Member
Or fighting fire with fire.DeadStar said:
Fresh Prince
Banned
All very well and good however:Do The Mario said:
- The States and Federal Governemt continue to bicker over Hospital Funding-still. The private healthcare rebate seems to be getting worse not better.
- Economically the distinction differiating Labour and Liberal would not be that 'adverse' to Australia's econmy.
- We got ass raped by America in the FTA
- More than 1/2 of 'new' Employment created in the last 16 years is casual.
- The Government talks about the 'baby bonus' etc, but $3000 does not make ammends for the third largest hours of unpaid overtime of any country in the world, lack of job security etc.
- Some of the rhethoric concerning Tertiary Education is worrying. Apparently the Coalition wants to re-shape wages for Lecturers (not so bad) but want to dictate to Universities what to specialise in.
MightyHedgehog
Member
iapetus said:
Nothing... I seriously don't even know why the popular vote is even tracked anymore. It doesn't mean shit, thanks to the fucked-up, outmoded electoral college system.
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