Does anyone even know how to run for office?

I am wondering, does anyone even know how to run for president?

Do you know how to get your name on a ballot? Do you even know how impossible it is for a true candidate to run for office?

Is that ok? Should you not know this in a democracy?

Is the petition process for getting peoples names on a state ballot even free? Is it free in the sense that mafia type institutions on a state and federal level do not interfere?

Im working as a petitoner. I had no idea how impossible it is. Death threats, criminal enforcement through violence, lost petition forms, disqualifying nonsense when signing as a regular citizen, and so on.

How anyone thinks someone getting past this all is still a peoples choice is beyond me.

Does anyone even know how to run for office beyond some dinky local position?

Think about it. Who gets to run? Not you my fellow citizen of this democracy. Not a chance in hell.

You can get on a single ballot, maybe two, then you stop. The crazies are well shown so as to propose the idea that only lunatics are running if not for the rockstar politicians.

You really think out of the entire country of MILLIONS, that only the trumps and clintons of the world are there as a valid voice of reason?

So why dont we see more underdogs? Clean people with no political ties and debts....who are smart and loyal citizens????

Would you even consider someone like that? Or do you want to WIN WIN WIN?

You think you are participating. Because you check a box of predetermined candidates....really?

You think this is a democracy? Ok. Try running for office as a smart honest person using THE SYSTEM.

Maybe before we worry about fixing the system, we should ask if its even broken. I see it working as intended. Flawlessly.

Its not a democraric system. We dont live in a democracy. We have something less noble.

So try it out. Hypothetically, See how far you think you would get if you ran for president. Then pick a random person who you think could pull it off. Repeat the process in your mind, how much farther would they get.

You may see what I am getting at.

a reply to: tadaman

Well, look at Trump. He avoided all the legal red tape simply by having a well known name and money

a reply to: tadaman

Amen on this. It takes lots of money and a lot of that money is spent on getting your name on the ballots on each state and all the red tape. A huge part of that money goes to your "team" to get this stuff done. You have to have hundreds if not thousands of volunteers in each state, getting pettitions signed. It's definitely hard to do.

I've run for small office and won. That was easy, just paying to get registered and a few other things and then paying to get my name, bio and picture in the voter information pamphlet that gets mailed out. Then it was just getting my name out there. I didn't raise any money therefore I didn't need a treasurer or any of that stuff. It should always be that easy. Good post my man. Good post.

To run for President you have to get on the ballot in states. Hopefully all of them.

It's very hard. And each state has different rules.

But most require you to submit petitions with a certain number of signatures. The Board of Elections controls this in most states.

Good luck!

a reply to: Moresby

Yeah thats it.

Now who regulates those board of electors. Who would I cry foul to if my petitions were lost or disqualified unjustly? If a gun was put to my head or if my petitioners were jailed or worse....? That is what happens BTW. North korea style.

Why is there not a forum for the entire country to sign petitions for underdog candidates?

Would that not immediately fix the unjust nature of this wealthy candidate only system?

Would such a thing even make it to a vote?

Problem?

a reply to: tadaman
Post a sign in your front yard "Million dollar winnings Racehorse for Sale" $25 dollars; Owner is running for POTUS the horse is the Vice elect (you will get a lot of attention).

a reply to: vethumanbeing

I could just buy signatures like many do. I guess.

I hope I dont have to endebt myself to the usual players to get that level of wealth and access along the way.

This is pretty huge IMO. How is this a democratic way?

We do not have a chance in hell as rational loyal citizens.

Why is this not more of an issue? How can we lie to ourselves and say that we have representation and live in a free and democratic society?

We dont. This is nothing new, yet we think things are different here. That we are living in a progresive modern society....yet EVERYTHING says otherwise.

How can anyone with a brain even bring themselves to validate this sham.....vote for option A B or C. Yeah. Democracy.

a reply to: tadaman
The two likely candidates to be running against each other in a general election deserve each other as equally formidable (both lack moral continuity/character). Let the Jello, mud wrestling begin.

I ran for Supervisor, it sucked. Getting sigs to make it onto the ballot an filed w/o a challenge is a pain. I lost.

I made it onto the ballot for Homecoming King one year in high school.

I just walked around my gym class when people were writing in nominations and asked them to put my name down. No one cared about it anyway, so when I said "Hey, put me down...I mean, why not?" they all said "Um, yeah sure".

I didn't win, but it bugged some of the "popular kids" that they had to print my name on the ballot.

Federal office (especially president) is in a whole different, disturbing league of its own, but running for local or even state office on a third-party ticket is actually pretty easy, if the party has ballot access in your state. I ran for state office once when I believed in such nonsense. It took me two mornings of filing paperwork and an afternoon gathering signatures by going door-to-door to party members, a list for which was provided by the party.

And that's it (unless you actually want money for your campaign, but who needs that). I lost, but I beat the Greenie. And that's ok, because the whole experience left me feeling completely violated and I wanted nothing further to do with it anyway. Our political system is so f# corrupt and, dare I say, evil--the average joe really has no clue how bad it truly is.

And that was in a minor party. I can only imagine what goes on in the Big Two. Conjuring Satan backstage at the convention wouldn't surprise me at all.

a reply to: NthOther

Yeah, our guy was arrested. On a public sidewalk for handing out t shirts for his campaign.

Other states arested petitioners like wise. Others had enforcers pull guns on them to check for petitioner IDs.

My boss has had to put his family in protection, send them out of the country and so on in past elections. Gotten shot at, had hits placed on him.

This is a fancy north korea. Thats all.

I ran for Mayor of a small town. Filled out my application and paid my fee. Got a call the next day saying that I did not meet the age requirement. So I got my dollar back. Haven't ran for President yet.

Targeted advertising has changed the medium of the way advertising is priced. Television commercials are being sold by individual impressions now as opposed to open hourly slots.

It's actually more feasible than ever to be on TV for small businesses and individuals, at a national level.

Targeted Ads will hit local markets when TV station clock slot contracts fully expire in about 10 years, but they've completely stopped taking new contracts, in support of Targeted Ads.

sure. grease the right palms, say the right things, make like a ventriloquist's doll. it's fabulously expensive, and thus prohibitive to 99% of the population, but the remaining 1% can and do play at that table.

To run for office (president) costs money.

That makes it as currupt as can be. Does anyone think that MSNBC, FOX, New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, or any other media outlet cares about someone who's running for president, or any office, if the candidate doesn't make them money?

Running for president should cost nothing. All donations, all campaign funding, all commercial marketing( etc and etc should be banned. The average American should not have to raise millions to run for office against establishment favorites.

Is the delegates I don't understand.

If we're supposed to be voting, then why do we need delegates to also vote?

Shouldn't our vote matter as is?

How is it democratic to say hey this state had this many people vote for option A instead of the others, so this state get's a Option A delegate to represent them.... Wait what?

Please tell me I'm wrong in understanding this.

YouTube ftw!

Get viral.