Mike Rowe on Voting, a right not a duty.

[CalicoPenn]

 

 

Now, I'd also argue there is a desire to get non-citizens to vote too.

 

 

You can argue that all you want - there has never been any facts to back that up.  But we're in a new era - facts really don't matter anymore.

[Eagledad]

You can argue that all you want - there has never been any facts to back that up.  But we're in a new era - facts really don't matter anymore.

I agree, being an Engineer, I like to be as factual as possible. Here is one of many sources to the generalization of perception. This is just one of many sources where the facts, in theory, point to a reasonable argument, and why the cloud will always hang low on the topic.

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/07/video-obama-encouraging-illegal-immigrants-vote/

 

Barry

[gumbymaster]

There seems to be some significant irony in the whole "get out the vote" movement for this election.

 

It has often been the common belief of both the right and left wings that

1. (Left wing) If we just get people (who may not usually vote) to the polls, they will vote for left wing candidates

2. (Right wing) We need to discourage just anyone from voting, because they will vote for left wing candidates.

 

All over the media, you have messages from pop stars urging people to go out and vote because they think that if they do, that those new voters will vote for the candidate that the pop star has made no secrets about whom they support.

 

I loved the line in Mike Rowe's statement where when your friend wants you to get your vote out, see if they will give you a ride to the polls if they think you are voting for the opposite candidate.

 

The analysis of this election clearly turned all these assumptions on their head.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/11/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-voters-dislike/

 

If the voters who hated everyone had stayed home, we would likely have a different president elect.

 

I am no fan of the Jim Crow laws, but I think an educated (on the issues) voter is important.  I have never, by design, voted a party line, and sometimes it takes a lot of effort for me to decide on a candidate or issue, because (other than for president) the media does not make it easy to make side by side comparisons on their policies or stands (on issues that are actually relevant for the position they are running for).

 

I really don't care what my state senator (as in state house, not Washington DC) believes relative to the selection to United States Supreme Court justices - they will not have any authority over that decision.

 

Even our voter guides out here, only state the issue itself - they no longer offer a paragraph or statement from a supporting and opposing sides.  The local paper used to do a nice piece where they would ask each of the candidates the same questions (relative to the position they were running for), and I could review their answers and select the candidate whose overall position most matched mine.  Sadly the paper has since folded, and no one else has taken up the mantle.

 

My point here is, it is hard to be a voter actually educated on the issues or candidate's relevant positions, but it is important.  Simply voting for whom a Hollywood star says you should, or party lines, or the "apple ballot" is your choice - but may not lead to the results you actually want.

[qwazse]

@@gumbymaster, aside from your narrow characterization of partisan "get out the vote" strategies, I agree with you about the paucity of voter guides.  I ultimately chose my candidates after clicking through to platforms buried deep in their campaign websites. (Really, how hard is it to just have a plain-text file with the issue in caps, carriage return, line feed, paragraph of opinion and strategy, date accepted, carriage return, line feed, next issue, etc ...?)

 

I would also suggest that merely voting against a candidate is the rough equivalent of stealing your neighbor's vote. My general philosophy: consider the citizen (currently alive) who you admire the most, go down the long list of people running, find the person who most closely hews to that persons character, select him/her. Your neighbors candidate may win, for now. But in the long run, the minority party will begin to pay close attention to such candidates if they are chosen in large numbers.

 

Or, resign yourself to "the way the world works", vote only to block, and be content with your perpetual dissatisfaction.