The all-inclusive "Republicans hate everything America stands for" thread

[Osterbaum]

Not voting is generally a valid fort of protest against a broken system. The notion that if you do not vote, you don't get to complain is stupid.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Osterbaum

Not voting is generally a valid fort of protest against a broken system.

Okay, but it's a "valid form of protest" that accomplishes absolutely nothing other than making it easier for the most dogmatic and extreme politicians to advance their agendas. Even if you think your inaction is justifiable, you don't really get to pretend you aren't contributing to that. Even if you think you're in the right, that doesn't erase the negative effects of what you're doing.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by shiney

The patriotic decision to stay home and not vote because everyone sucks is what led to the 2010 GOP resurgence. Anyone who stays home because "it doesn't matter" can kiss my ass. The entire country has you to thank for being too lazy to keep the actual realistic fascists out of office, even if by voting for the only slightly less evil plutocrats.

Voting Democrat is at best a stop gap that treats the symptoms without touching the cause, and treats them poorly at that.

Originally Posted by Osterbaum

Not voting is generally a valid fort of protest against a broken system. The notion that if you do not vote, you don't get to complain is stupid.

It's not as good a form of protest as voting for a party that won't win, however.

I'd encourage all left-wing citizens to vote Green or some similar party in as many large scale elections as they can. Not voting comes off as voter apathy which no one really cares about very much, and voting democrat just tells them that they can keep doing what they're doing and keep their voter base.

Voting third party and splitting the democrat vote might end up with four years of assholes, but we've survived that before, and it does a few very important things.

Firstly: It tells the democratic party that they need to shape the fuck up. If the democrats don't shape the fuck up there's really no point electing them over republicans because they completely lack the back bone to do anything, and it's just having republican lite.

Secondly: It reminds the country why Obama won by a landslide. Reminding everyone how fucking horrible republicans really are can't be an entirely bad thing.

Thirdly: It send a message to all the other voters that hey, it didn't win this time but if we get a large enough chunk of people voting it makes third parties look like an option. And third parties looking like an option will do a lot to unshit our country in the long run.

I mean if you're just looking at the next 4 years as the end all be all of everything then, yeah, vote and vote democrat. If you'd rather make an attempt to actually unshit the country instead of watching it crash and burn in the long run, then vote third party and take the short term lumps for long term gains.

[shiney]

That's a way better strategy really. Ultimately I guess there's not TOO much the GOP can do to destroy everything in the short term. But hwen they get 8 years, that is a lot worse. We'll be feeling the effects of that clusterfuck for a long time to come.

[Jagos]

The Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. If we vote only Democrat, expect a resurgence of SOPA. Vote Republican and expect the US to show how much of a plutocratic empire we have become.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Jagos

The Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.

Nope. They are shit, but they aren't as shit, as many of the recent attempts by the right to limit the voting ability of the disenfranchised and the rights of women have shown.

[Osterbaum]

I just think you guys are beyond solving any of your problems as a country by voting withing the paramaters of the current system. Voting basically legitimizes the current system.

[Kim]

What does not voting accomplish? Voter turnout is absurdly low in the US. That the system is fucked and that people aren't voting hasn't made them change it so far. That's not going to change anytime soon.

[Osterbaum]

Voting wont really change anything either. All I'm saying is that not voting isn't automatically just the ignorant mans choice.

[Kim]

It's the easy way out, and it makes it easier for the worst options to come into power. On that basis, I think some criticism of choosing not to vote is fair.