Okay, I'm new here and all, but I thought I'd give my opinion on the upcoming vote for my beloved country's Commander-in-Chief, just to gauge your collective reaction and see if anyone agrees.

All things considered, I see no reason thus far to actually waste the half hour it would take for me to put in a vote. Why? Well call me uninformed or whatever adjective you would assign, but I honestly think that this election is more or less a "Lesser of two Evils" election that in no way could be helped by my waste of that half-hour. Thanks to the ruinous effects of party politics on our politcal system, Americans only have two legit options for Pres and neither of them are all that impressive.

Representing the left you have Mr. Flip Flop himself, John Kerry. I can't help but be amazed at how many times this guy changes his mind. Does he actually represent anything??? Or is he just attempting to ride the Anyone But Bush sentiment to the White House? C'mon Demos, you have a sitting duck in the White House and Kerry is the best you can do?

Representing the right is good 'ol Dubbya. His handling of 9/11 was good, but just about everything before and after that has been lackluster at best. No Child Left Behind? Hated by educators who now have to "teach the test" instead of actually designing interesting curriculums that involve learning. Iraq? A just war, but a massively botched and mislead one that has turned into a quagmire of political and military woes. The deficit? Larger than life. Economy? Growing, but only for the short term. Tax cuts? To the rich, yes. To everyone else, no.

Thus, my simple question is "Why bother?" Either way, the US exec. office isn't any better off, nor is this country. The "campaigning" has been little more than a mud-slinging contest over Kerry's 'Nam record and Bush's past actions. Unless one of these two guys provides some good, solid plans for the future of America you can count me out.

go smoke a bowl or something and chill, dont worry about it.

There is no real reason to vote anymore. You vote, you get screwed, you dont vote, you are still screwed. The only difference is that one can complain about and be blamed for certain screwups, and the other one cannot.

Originally posted by Travh20
go smoke a bowl or something and chill, dont worry about it.

:eek: Now there's an idea!

"Erase all logical thought from your mind, put on a blindfold and be led unawares by some rich bastard that not only has no business running a country, but was only elected because of the lack of options presented by the party-based political system!"

No thanks, I'll worry. At least by not voting I can save myself the half-hour.

Representing the left you have Mr. Flip Flop himself, John Kerry. I can't help but be amazed at how many times this guy changes his mind. Does he actually represent anything??? Or is he just attempting to ride the Anyone But Bush sentiment to the White House? C'mon Demos, you have a sitting duck in the White House and Kerry is the best you can do?

I really didn't know much about Howard Dean during the primary, but after hearing him talk with Bill Mahr the other night, he sounds like he would have been a better choice than Kerry. As Mahr put it "you (Dean) may have been a loose cannon, but at least you have a cannon"...in other words, at least he has opinions on issues, I'm not so sure about Kerry.

In my opinion....if you are old enough, and dont use your privelage of voting...you have absolutely NO RIGHT to complain about the job the winner does.

When you vote....you let your feelings be heard one way or the other....so to not vote....then turn around and diss the winner, is wrong in my book.

Originally posted by jerejerebinks
In my opinion....if you are old enough, and dont use your privelage of voting...

Voting isn't just a priviledge...it's a responsibility.

Originally posted by Vilepagan
Voting isn't just a priviledge...it's a responsibility.

I agree.

While normally I would agree that voting is a responsibility and a year ago I would've told you that I was definitely voting I just don't see the point anymore. Why?

Well for one, I live in Indiana. Yup, Republican Stronghold Indiana. Nader won't even make the ballot here- and he's the only one I would vote for - and if I went with my second choice (which I shouldn't have to do) I would vote Kerry. Thanks to the E. College my vote won't count because this state will go Republican regardless, thus eliminating my say in things.

Why should I live up to my "responsibility" when this nation's political system doesn't live up to its responsibility of providing strong candidates and allowing each citizen his/her say?

Originally posted by Medea
Thanks to the E. College my vote won't count because this state will go Republican regardless, thus eliminating my say in things.

Well...if you, and others who feel as you do, DON'T vote, the EC votes will certainly go to Bush. The only way your "say" will be eliminated is if you don't vote.

Why should I live up to my "responsibility" when this nation's political system doesn't live up to its responsibility of providing strong candidates and allowing each citizen his/her say?

See the Electoral College thread for a discussion about the EC.

As far as the political system not providing "strong candidates", we choose who the candidates will be by our votes in the primaries.

If push comes to shove, you could always write in Nader.:D

Didn't we just have this discussion like two months ago?

In actuality, the chance that your indivdual vote could make a difference is probably about the chance of you winning the lottery. Not bothering to vote could be argued as an intelligent move. Your vote has been watered down to where it is practically worthless.

Yea, but what if 100 people said that, or 1000, or 1,000,000? It all adds up. But then again, if you knew a million people that weren't voting, you would all go out and vote because you know you will not be alone.

Millions and millions don't vote as it is, and your vote is still basically meaningless. The problem is that there are millions and millions that can vote. So a single vote means...nothing.

Originally posted by Karankawa
Millions and millions don't vote as it is, and your vote is still basically meaningless. The problem is that there are millions and millions that can vote. So a single vote means...nothing.

That doesn't really change the fact that it is every citizen's civic duty to vote.

I have to agree.

I wish I was old enough to vote, I really do. I wouldnt care if Bush was up by 45 points, I'd still vote for Kerry just to show how much I disapprove of the job he has done sense 2000.