^Man, I’m not trying to argue, and definitely NOT trying to shout you down. I appreciate that you care enough to vote. And I appreciate the fact that we can carry on this discussion.
I voted for the sole reason of cancelling out the votes of this annoying Obama disciple guy I know.
I see nothing wrong with voting against someone rather than for someone.
I actually have more respect for someone that disagrees with my views and votes than someone who agrees with everything I believe in but won’t cast a ballot.
i voted in the Phish halloween costume contest.
isn’t that good enough?
Fishman was supposed to call me because of the HeadCount deal… and I never got a call.
^ He called me, it was a pretty nice surprise. He introduced himself as Jonathan Fishman, and he said he’s calling to make sure I uphold my promise to vote. As he said goodbye, he called me “Whoever you are”. I signed my friend up to get a call from Bob Weir, but he said Bobby never called him either.
And yeah, I talked to the recording like I was actually speaking to Fish on the phone.
i’m writing in Bob Weir in the next election.
Word.
Or you could cast a write in vote for me to be your king.
MSNBC reminds me of a soap opera. I would have to totally disagree that they deliver quality “news”.
In a sense, isn’t that how our political system works for some people? We elect officials, all with private interests, whom we think will support policies we have an opinion about. But these changes can be superficial. How far has voting gotten us in the past eight years? One would observe that the state of affairs has not improved much in that time.
If we relied on politicians to make all important changes and improve society, the world would be in ruins. The most powerful changes occur when people living in a society alter themselves and reflect those changes in their everyday lives and actions. Although these changes happen on an individual scale, collective alterations of perspective and the reflection of those values impact the world around us.
This doesn’t need to occur with the presumption that politics is useless and irrelevant.
Some examples would be the change in social values during the 20th century. The beat generation and hippies had a lot to do with people becoming more open and conscious about things like sex, homosexuality, drug-use, ecology, alternative forms of spirituality, fighting censorship, and the like. The non-violent disobedience of the Civil Rights Movement was necessary, and although it occurred outside of the political realm, the growing change in perspective that de jure segregation was wrong provoked the government to change its policies. Without the active involvement of these groups, none of which were political, I don’t believe the results would have been the same.
My point is that, despite the evident notion we’ve been given about the importance of politics, we must realize that politics and legislation is all dependent on us. If we don’t change, neither will the world. The fourteenth amendment provided black citizenship, but to say that a radical change occurred in their opportunities and they way they were viewed in society is foolish. Only when people altered their values were things like the Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act, the Immigration and National Services Act, and the Fair Housing Act possible.
I’m not saying politics is irrelevant, but it’s dangerous to depend on for everything. If our daily lives and actions don’t reflect the policies we enact, then our policies are meaningless. As long as we antagonize on individual levels, our anti-war sentiments mean nothing. As long as we support environmental consciousness and continue wasting and polluting, of what use is our political stance?
Changes in people and their actions will reflect changes in politics. Politics do not change people, and thus can only go so deep in their own realm.
I don’t get the “falling for the Obama crap” thing. Obama did exactly what he said he would. What were you expecting?
^^Yes. Politics is much too often confused with governing. Too often politics distracts from governing.
Ha, nice, Jawbone. I was waiting for this clip to appear.
I’m a huge George Carlin fan. And I’m a big fan of the Libertarian spin on things. But, in reality, the idea of having nobody in charge is not just absurd, it’s impossible. Someone will always take charge. It’s only a matter of how and to what extent.
I’d love to live in a world where governments and politicians aren’t needed. But, the truth is, they are. And, if the government isn’t running things, some random person, company, organization, religion or club will simply take over instead.
George Carlin is a genius for a million reasons. But, on some things, he wouldn’t have been too happy if he had actually gotten his way.
I would have to strongly disagree with this. I have always been a big supporter of third party candidates and I believe voting for them is where your vote can be most effective. The third parties rely on how many votes they get so that they can be on the ballot in the next election without having to petition for it.
Here in NY, Cuomo was a shoe-in for governor against kooky Carl Paladino. There was no worry of taking votes from him if you voted for one of the very colorful third party candidates we had representing, so I threw my vote to Howie Hawkins of the Green Party. The Greenies got the amount of votes they needed for that race so that next time around they can automatically include a gubernatorial candidate and I feel good that I played a small role in that. Actually, all of the 3rd partiers got a surprisingly large number of votes in that specific election and I see it as a fantastic thing.
Even if the third parties don’t get much of anywhere, ignoring them or considering them a waste of time is doing a disservice to yourself and your fellow citizens, especially with the extreme stances the “big 2” take on all the issues now. We need a larger array of candidate choices to reflect the varied populations being represented and this is the way to do it.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever read on the Pa. 
I agree completely. He promised to do everything he’s done. It amazes me how little the voting public really listened to what he was actually saying before they just jumped onto the hype bandwagon.
Now he was lying when he promised a tax CUT. CUT CUT CUT.
Not sure where your confusion comes from, but the reality is that he followed through on the promise to cut taxes as well.
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/28/barack-obama/tax-cut-95-percent-stimulus-made-it-so/
Getting facts from something other than a “Truth-o-meter” is a good place to start. Show me where a CUT (key word “CUT”) for 95% of taxpayers actually happened. Playing with student loan stuff, unemployment benefits and/or blanket credits to the group of choice is not a cut. I can write an op-ed that shows anything, I want to see the language from a bill that passed that indicates a tax cut for 95% of taxpayers.
It didn’t happen.