Quote:
Originally Posted by noodles  This is why I hate the two party system. |
Technically, we don't have a two-party system. The Republicrats have stacked the laws in thier favor, the media and courts (often, but not always) play along and the vast majority of Americans are intellectually lazy.
Everybody that feels that we we never see any real improvement given the current system, should do something about it. Don't vote Republicrat. That's one of the biggest things you can do. When they see they're losing votes, they will change. When others see that non-Republicrat votes are increasing, they'll change. Supporting the status quo is not going to have produce any effects.
Don't tolerate shoddy news coverage. That's the second best thing you can do. When the media ignores the non-mainstream candidates (e.g. you liked Ron Paul or Mike Gravel during the primaries), complain. When the big two have been decided, and the 3rd Parties are getting the shaft with news coverage, write the editors, bitch on their forums, etc..
Regarding the "wasted vote" nonsense Republicrats will tell you, unless the decision in you state is decided by only a few votes, your vote was wasted. Heck, mathematically, if the decision in your state wasn't decided by one vote, your vote on the lesser of two evils was wasted. I can understand being relieved that you voted for your preferred lesser of two evils, if they won by only a few hundred, but when the difference is thousands to tens of thousands, your vote made no difference. I personally still feel that is a wasted vote (unless you actually like one of the Republicrats you voted for) because you will never change anything if you keep supporting the status quo.
Anytime you hear somebody say that they're not voting because both flavors of Republicrat turns them off, work on them to find a 3rd Party Candidate to vote for, or get them to just lodge a protest vote for any and all non-Republicrats on the ballot. Even better, know a bit about all the 3rd Party Candidates on your local ballot and offer suggestions. Every little bit helps. If we could get a decent percentage of these non-voters to vote 3rd Party, you'd see a huge difference.
Work to get the election laws in your state fixed so they're not stacked against the 3rd Parties. If you've got the time, etc., take any organization that is spending NONpartisan funds in a BIpartisan manner to court. If you can't do that, take it to the media, take it to family, fiends, anybody that will listen, etc..
Sure, we'll likely not see any major results in the national elections this time around, but you have to start. There has been a tremendous growth in 3rd Party elected officials at the local and state levels. If everybody that is fed-up with the Republicrats did something, the progress will continue and accelerate. If people just bitch and support the status quo, nothing will change. You have to do something and expect to be in this for the long haul.
This is one thing that will bug me about not being in country during the election season. I will not have the opportunity to do my usual "protesting" about the Republicrat-biased election system we have.
Ray
Quote:
Originally Posted by metalheadpunk but with how many idiots there are who refuse to see the true colors of the GOP that's how it will be. |
The same can be said about the Democrats too. With the GOP, you at least know what you're getting. To quote Utah Phillips, "Voting for a Republican is like voting for a refrigerator. The light goes on, the light goes off. It's not going to do anything it's not programmed to do."
There's just so much more hypocrisy, flip-flopping, ineffective saber rattling, endless committees, studies, etc. on the Democrats side. Again, to quote Utah Phillips, "Voting for a Democrat is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
The big advantage of voting Democrat (at the national level at least), is that they tend to be ineffective either way, so it's harder for them to really hurt or help.
Ray