[whatsstrength]

I'm not. Here's why.

I don't vote. Two reasons. First of all it's meaningless; this country was bought and sold a long time ago. The sh*t they shovel around every 4 years doesn't mean a f*cking thing. Secondly, I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around – they say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain', but where's the logic in that? If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people into office who screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem; you voted them in; you have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who will not vote, who will not even leave the house on election day, am in no way responsible for what these people will do and have every right to complain about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.

The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else.

[finn4life]

So you are saying that every single politician has been bought out and has absolutely no say in anything?...right.
I do believe the big companies with the big dollars do influence to a point, but not as much as you say.

By the way you contradict yourself.

QUOTE

First of all it's meaningless; this country was bought and sold a long time ago. The sh*t they shovel around every 4 years doesn't mean a f*cking thing

Right here you are saying that the government is meaningless and controlled by people with money

QUOTE

about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.

Then you go on and contradict yourself to say that people that vote can blame themselves for the sh*t government they chose.

QUOTE

Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy

Then here you correct your contradiction.

To be honest i am having trouble taking your opinion seriously, how is your somewhat muddled message that you convey supposed to make sense to us, if you can't even understand your own point?

This post has been edited by finn4life on Wednesday, Jun 20 2012, 07:44

[lil weasel]

The only valid reason to not vote is to stay off the Jury lists. (Don't get a drivers license or State I.D. either.)

A politician once told me that the amount of assistance he offers people that beg him for help is dependant on did they vote. He didn't know if the person voted for him, but if they didn't vote at all there was no need to bother with them.

We already know that politicians are corrupt for the most part. But it's nice to think the ones we vote for are the exceptions, unless they are already INS.

Vote but vote the guy listed at the bottom of the form. Shake up the establishment.

[sivispacem]

Do you have any actual evidence to support your assertion that the corporations control everything, or is it mere hyperbole?

A few points-

1) Small and medium enterprise accounts for the majority of employment and a sizable proportion of a nation's economic returns. That's very true in the UK and true at least in part in the US. I do not understand the assertion that big business has everyone in their pocket when such a huge proportion of financial movement occurring in the US is at the behest of small companies. It does not make logical sense. And whilst you are right to say that large organisations have the clout to engage in lobbying or other persuasive activity with the political administration, the actual effect of such policies is often referred to and seldom really explored. Sure, there have been some notable examples of lobbying bearing political fruit but these are few and far between; the purpose of lobbyists is not to make policy but to offer expertise and many who argue that lobbying is intrinsically bad fail to account for this.

2) If you are unwilling to contribute politically, then you have absolutely no recompense against any decisions made. Your perceptions, correct or incorrect, about the way politics is done in your country are entirely immaterial and worthless without their assertions being supported by political activity. The simple fact of the matter is that the system is how it is, and unless you have some revolutionary idea about how to instigate change you either participate, which gives you legitimate cause to complain if the results you want are not seen, or you abstain, in which case you are essentially giving up any right to complain about the political system. Such is the joy of representative democracy- its not like a dictatorship where the views of the individual are entirely irrelevant in the context of political decision making- politicians need popular support to enact policy.

3) Why would it be in the interests of corporations to push citizens out of an economic marketplace? They, after all, are reliant on consumers to operate effectively, so what incentive would they have for individual profiteering at the expense of the population? At the end of the day, corporations are answerable to shareholders, and many shareholders are not well-heeled trust fund babies or corporate leviathans, but normal citizens.

[El_Diablo]

well I'm certainly not not voting.

that's for sure.

[Icarus]

QUOTE (whatsstrength @ Wednesday, Jun 20 2012, 01:33)

Secondly, I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around – they say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain', but where's the logic in that? If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people into office who screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem; you voted them in; you have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who will not vote, who will not even leave the house on election day, am in no way responsible for what these people will do and have every right to complain about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.

That's the biggest load of crap.

I'm willing to bet that most people don't go in voting thinking, "Yes, I'm going to vote for this guy because he's dishonest and sleazy," but rather, they are optimistic about their candidate. Have candidates made a 180 and completely screwed over their voting base? Absolutely. Welcome to the world of politics. However, you can't blame someone for voting when they had the best of intentions for choosing their candidate. If their candidate turns on them, they have more than enough grounds to complain. If you didn't vote for them (e.g. you're a Democrat and a Republican won), you, in my opinion, have grounds to complain (if they're screwing you over, not complaining in the being a sore loser fashion).

If you don't vote and hence, don't even try to participate in the electoral process, sorry, but you really don't get to criticize if the government screws you over. At least the people who went out to vote tried to make a difference, even if it didn't succeed - the key is they tried. I've always told people that even if they don't like any of the candidates, go in and spoil the ballot - a protest/dissenting vote is still a vote in my opinion.

So yeah, you can make up all the excuses you want for not voting, but at the end of the day, if you don't feel like doing it and the government screws you over, tough sh*t.

Also, I'm not voting in November because I'm not a US citizen.

[EscoLehGo]

You sound like such a helpless man baby, if things are as bad as you say then why are you giving up and resigning to your doomed fate? How are you better than anyone else if you recognize a humongous evil doing yet you're doing nothing to stop it other than posting smug threads online about how you're too smart to vote because it's all a sham? Why don't you become the change you want to see and find some like minded people to start a movement with, that'd probably be too much work, you sound pretty comfortable as an armchair revolutionary rather than a real one. Also, how many of these big evil companies do you buy products from on a daily basis? Where are your clothes produced? Your food? What company is servicing your Internet access right now? Are you giving the big bad machine that you criticize your own money which will inevitably fund it's evil plan of.....what, one world government or something right?

[Jeeebuuus]

There is a reason he is not responding. Those are not his words. The man who wrote them did so tounge-in-cheek and used his platform or soapbox as a tool to force people to think critically. Something the education system is not designed to do. It doesn't mean that everything he says is absolute truth, it isn't, as he does contradict himself like we all do.

[whatsstrength]

Not gonna lie, I ripped that all off from George Carlin, but I agree with most of it.

[*MURDOC*]

HOLY SH*T, YOU'VE TOTALLY OPENED MY EYES!!!








To the fact that you're a total nutjob.

[PrivateFirstClass]

i live in germany but i do not vote and never will these zionist dickheads, nice to see that more and more peoples waking up

[goin-god]

It's hard to take someone who plagiarizes someone else's argument seriously.

[Chunkyman]

QUOTE (PrivateFirstClass @ Wednesday, Jun 20 2012, 13:46)

i live in germany but i do not vote and never will these zionist dickheads, nice to see that more and more peoples waking up

Hate to break it to you, but Alex Jones is not an authority on well... anything. There is no NWO plot to take over the globe for the zionists.

[Captain VXR]

I'm not voting in November as I'm not a US citizen (apart from elected police commissioners in the UK). However I intend to try and vote in every election I can here and in Poland (I've got dual citizenship). I think its very important to keep the worst bastard out of power, even if there's no good choices, so I will always vote as and when I can.

[Djdevin10]

QUOTE (Icarus @ Wednesday, Jun 20 2012, 09:44)

QUOTE (whatsstrength @ Wednesday, Jun 20 2012, 01:33) Secondly, I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around – they say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain', but where's the logic in that? If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people into office who screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem; you voted them in; you have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who will not vote, who will not even leave the house on election day, am in no way responsible for what these people will do and have every right to complain about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with. That's the biggest load of crap. I'm willing to bet that most people don't go in voting thinking, "Yes, I'm going to vote for this guy because he's dishonest and sleazy," but rather, they are optimistic about their candidate. Have candidates made a 180 and completely screwed over their voting base? Absolutely. Welcome to the world of politics. However, you can't blame someone for voting when they had the best of intentions for choosing their candidate. If their candidate turns on them, they have more than enough grounds to complain. If you didn't vote for them (e.g. you're a Democrat and a Republican won), you, in my opinion, have grounds to complain (if they're screwing you over, not complaining in the being a sore loser fashion). If you don't vote and hence, don't even try to participate in the electoral process, sorry, but you really don't get to criticize if the government screws you over. At least the people who went out to vote tried to make a difference, even if it didn't succeed - the key is they tried. I've always told people that even if they don't like any of the candidates, go in and spoil the ballot - a protest/dissenting vote is still a vote in my opinion. So yeah, you can make up all the excuses you want for not voting, but at the end of the day, if you don't feel like doing it and the government screws you over, tough sh*t. Also, I'm not voting in November because I'm not a US citizen.

Oh like voting actually matters. In the US, we have an electoral college, which pretty much decides who becomes president, not the people. Our votes practically don't matter. Just Ask Al Gore

I can't vote, but even if i could i wouldn't. sh*t doesn't matter at all.

[Typhus]

The last local election we had here was a difficult one for me. Whilst I enjoy voting and relish the opportunity to take part in the democratic process, I simply do not feel enamoured with any of the parties.
None of them seem capable of engendering any spirit of optimism, hope or progressiveness in the people. At the best, they're simply incompetent. At the worst, they're knowingly corrupt.

Who do I vote for? The Conservatives? Who seem to come up with new ways to screw us over with each passing day. Or Labour? Who are nothing more than the witless puppets of ruthless Union gangsters?
And don't even get me started on these far-right buffoons.

I'm passionate about democracy, I believe that we have rights and privileges that are truly wonderful things. But what do you do when the leadership is unworthy of the system they preside over? It's a genuine problem.

Basically, I'm being forced to pick between the 'big two' and decide who is less likely to create psuedo-fascistic legislation or give in to the short-sighted Eurosceptics lobbying for our national demise. It's a bleak choice, where's the fun?

[jackass2009]

No. I don't like either of the candidates. They're both f*cking crazy. Henceforth, I'm moving to England next year.

[Otter]

Vote for an independent you like. That's where your vote will really count.

[Rown]

You could look at it like a lottery. If you don't buy a ticket you aren't going to win the lottery.

Democracy. Scratch your ticket today!

Rown

[RadioIsotope]

Not voting? Yes, just sit back and let everything happen. That'll improve the situation. If more people had a VOICE instead of grouping together and saying "We're not voting!" you could actually change something. To bad most of society has taken this way as the easy way out. And yes I agree, the candidates are both literally crazy, but that comes once again from the public turning their cheeks on the voting system. You're basically letting the government run itself, how it wants to run itself. Which is bad.