Comments on: What I actually think about voting http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/05/05/what-i-actually-think-about-voting/ Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat, plus whatever else we feel like talking about. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:29:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: RepubAnon http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/05/05/what-i-actually-think-about-voting/#comment-292152 RepubAnon Sun, 06 May 2007 19:59:26 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/05/05/what-i-actually-think-about-voting/#comment-292152 It is always important to vote - if for no other reason than that folks like George Bush thrive when they can convince people it isn't worth the effort. Yes, politicians are sold like soap these days, resulting in the advertising dollar competitions for political voices. The two best ways to fight these trends is to donate small sums to candidates, and more importantly, VOTE YOUR BELIEFS. Money is secondary to politicians, only important because they believe they need to buy ads in order to garner votes. De-link voting from money (admittedly almost impossible), and they'll ignore money in favor of ideas. The Religious Right is an excellent example of this. Who in the 1970s cared what the fundys thought? It wasn't until they hooked up with Reagan in the 80s and started voting as a block that their beliefs started getting put into law. Yes, we need to keep pushing for our beliefs, and yes, often the politicians will fail to enact what we want. However, if we fail to vote, we have only ourselves to blame when politicians say there isn't the political will to deal with global warming, AIDS, poverty, wiretapping private citizens, politicization of the justice system, stopping pre-emptive invasions... It is always important to vote - if for no other reason than that folks like George Bush thrive when they can convince people it isn’t worth the effort. Yes, politicians are sold like soap these days, resulting in the advertising dollar competitions for political voices. The two best ways to fight these trends is to donate small sums to candidates, and more importantly, VOTE YOUR BELIEFS.

Money is secondary to politicians, only important because they believe they need to buy ads in order to garner votes. De-link voting from money (admittedly almost impossible), and they’ll ignore money in favor of ideas.

The Religious Right is an excellent example of this. Who in the 1970s cared what the fundys thought? It wasn’t until they hooked up with Reagan in the 80s and started voting as a block that their beliefs started getting put into law.

Yes, we need to keep pushing for our beliefs, and yes, often the politicians will fail to enact what we want. However, if we fail to vote, we have only ourselves to blame when politicians say there isn’t the political will to deal with global warming, AIDS, poverty, wiretapping private citizens, politicization of the justice system, stopping pre-emptive invasions…

]]> By: parodie http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/05/05/what-i-actually-think-about-voting/#comment-292075 parodie Sat, 05 May 2007 20:30:55 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/05/05/what-i-actually-think-about-voting/#comment-292075 I think that the importance of voting will be greatly affected by the jurisdiction. Here in Canada, voting can be very important, even (or especially) if you vote for a marginal party, since each party gets funding based on the total percentage of votes that they earned. This funding model has allowed the Green party, for example, to increase its effectiveness immensely, because the 3% or so of votes that they got at a federal election allowed them to get a significant amount of money (something like 2$ per vote). The same model is in place on a provincial level here in Quebec. If this is the case in your jurisdiction, voting can be important - you can fund the people you want to help! Not voting is effectively refusing to fund people working to effect change. I think that the importance of voting will be greatly affected by the jurisdiction. Here in Canada, voting can be very important, even (or especially) if you vote for a marginal party, since each party gets funding based on the total percentage of votes that they earned. This funding model has allowed the Green party, for example, to increase its effectiveness immensely, because the 3% or so of votes that they got at a federal election allowed them to get a significant amount of money (something like 2$ per vote). The same model is in place on a provincial level here in Quebec.

If this is the case in your jurisdiction, voting can be important - you can fund the people you want to help! Not voting is effectively refusing to fund people working to effect change.

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