The failing political system

So the results are in...Obamney gets 4 more years. What i wanted to highlight in this thread however, was an interesting statistic that came out shortly after i wish to throw out to you guys to rattle around in our craniums for a while.

Cnn just ran a report for the turnout of our past election. What some media mouthpieces are calling one of the most important elections in US history, a staggering 52% of the voting populous turned out to vote.

Let me clarify a little...this isnt 52% that voted for obama, this is 52% of registered voters that just turned up.

Meaning just under half of the US citizens that could vote chose not to support the political system what so ever!

How is this not a red flag? How is this not a warning sign to the American people that something is wrong here?

When half of your country feels the system is so corrupt that they dont even wish to participate, one would think that would show a major issue is occurring. Not just a major issue, but quite possibly the biggest issue facing our country right now!

Thats half of our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, family and friends that believe our political system is so
far gone that they would rather throw away their vote then participate!

Now i did not vote, as probably evident by this thread...but is not voting the solution?

Absolutely not, but i refuse to have on my conscious that i helped perpetrate the downfall of our once great country.

So what is the solution? Put our head back in the sand and continue going through the actions that brought us to this breaking point?

What do you think guys?

Not voting is not the solution. A general strike on working, buying anything but food gas and toilet paper, paying taxes, watching movies, no loan payments, etc... will work. Just stay home and refuse to participate. The 49% of actual voters who voted against bammy combined with the 48% of eligible voters who did not participate is a huge majority. It is time for a new "occupy" movement. Occupy your front porch. If we all just stayed home for 30 days, we would get their attention. If we stayed home for 60 days, the system would crash.

Not voting IS part of the solution. But not voting by itself isn't. Along with not voting, a statement must be issued by the American people explaining why no one is voting. That statement can be made by a sign in the front yard of every citizen that doesn't vote.

It could be a slogan, or a short statement. By not voting, we withdraw our participation and support from our governments evils.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Great suggestion! I agree completely, but getting the average citizen to opt into something like this would be a long hard road.

I have a few ideas myself, but the feasibility remains to be seen.

One idea was similar to yours, but rather than just sitting on our porches...occupy the media. Think of how many users we have just on this site alone. Every time the media hypes up their bogus illusion of a two party system, call them out on their websites.

Every major media site has an area for users to comment on the top stories. If enough of us commented on the sites and called their b.s. for what it was they would have to address our concerns...either that or the sheer magnitude of responses would literally shut their sites down.

Another idea ive toyed with is "vote no vote".

We go through the motions, still register to vote, but when it comes down to marking the ballot we write in "no vote".

This way we arent throwing away our voice. At the end of the election they would have to show how many votes came in for whom. If the majority wrote in no vote, it may not have immediate effects, but would wake the people up to just how big of a fraud the system is when they show half of America voting to get rid of them all.

At that point they would have no choice but to address the issue.


In the end, i doubt there will be the easy end all be all solution people are hoping for.

Originally posted by Klassified
Not voting IS part of the solution. But not voting by itself isn't. Along with not voting, a statement must be issued by the American people explaining why no one is voting. That statement can be made by a sign in the front yard of every citizen that doesn't vote.

It could be a slogan, or a short statement. By not voting, we withdraw our participation and support from our governments evils.

Absolutely...i couldnt agree more, though i am just as guilty for not voting as well.

Though i do think this statistic is a hint of whats to come, it will be a long hard road.

I know it's a terrible thing to say but 52% isn't that bad and running about average for 4 year races in recent times.

Presidential Turnouts 1960-2010

Apathy has killed our system as much or more than anything, IMO.

reply to post by Klassified

Great idea, but actual action is needed in conjunction with the "statement". By actually refusing to operate within the system, we do much more to harm it than by just making a statement inn opposition.

reply to post by mutatismutandis

Good idea on the media sites, though I suspect our voices would be muted as our posts were moderated out of existence.

A) We still have a lot of military deployed around the world, more than recent elections. Its tough to get a vote in due to the fact that we would have to register in our home of record which many of us keep the same because of tax advantages and programs from our home state. Many sailors and soldiers may even have to go to set themselves up for absentee ballots which tends to tough to do.

B) Many people in the dominant red or blue states will not vote because the electoral votes are basically guaranteed so everyone thinks that one vote won't matter anyway. I bet you voting in the swing states is up and in the not so swing states the voting is down.

C) This election was a tough one. I could have seen myself voting either way. Some may have not voted because it was too tough of a decision.

D) Remember the NE had a pretty bad hit and even though they probably would have been blue heavy votes, many pry did not vote because of more pressing matters.

Can't think much more reasons, the wife is too busy staring at me get ready for date night so I have to cut this post short.

Beezzer would have won if his name and avatar was on the ballot and people knew in advance that there was another option to vote for that showed our disgust with the system.

Those who didn’t vote sent a clear message to the establishment and it is read as follows.

I am fine with the status quo and I am fine with others choosing for me I no longer care.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
reply to post by mutatismutandis

 

Good idea on the media sites, though I suspect our voices would be muted as our posts were moderated out of existence.

Thats the beauty of the internet though...unlimited user accounts

reply to post by Grimpachi


Very true...what would you suggest to be the solution when you want your voice heard, but refuse to support the puppets we're given to choose from?

Originally posted by mutatismutandis

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
reply to post by mutatismutandis

 

Good idea on the media sites, though I suspect our voices would be muted as our posts were moderated out of existence.

Thats the beauty of the internet though...unlimited user accounts

Don't let me discourage you in anyway. Give it a shot. If your posts are not deleted, report back and I will also help you. I could be wrong, but I believe that the media site mods will erase you post as violating some T&C or something.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte

Originally posted by mutatismutandis

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
reply to post by mutatismutandis

 

Good idea on the media sites, though I suspect our voices would be muted as our posts were moderated out of existence.

Thats the beauty of the internet though...unlimited user accounts

Don't let me discourage you in anyway. Give it a shot. If your posts are not deleted, report back and I will also help you. I could be wrong, but I believe that the media site mods will erase you post as violating some T&C or something.

Oh, im sure they will but when theyre 100k plus posts in they'll have one heck of a workload on their hands.

For something like that to work, it would take a major response in participation. Never know though...

reply to post by mutatismutandis


I think you're jumping to conclusions on this one. I truthfully believe that people are not voting because they just don't care. Not because they're so fed up with 'the system' or believe it's completely corrupt...it's just that they don't care. Americans live in a bubble it's apparent everywhere you look.

It's not that Americans don't trust the system, it's that they don't care about the system.