Disfranchisement

welcome to 2004

and 2000...





maybe 1996 and many before then too, but i was too young to vote in those.

 

This election will have a huge impact on anyone that will pay taxes over the next 8 years. If you prefer lower taxes, don't vote Obama. He would raise taxes on over 100 million Americans just with the capital gains tax hike he has planned. That's not even talking about all the other taxes he would raise. Oh, he'll tell you he won't raise taxes on certain segments of voters, but don't believe that for one minute. The guy is a fraud.

 

This country has no backbone is Obama is elected. Bottom line.

 

Whiners.

If you don't like your choices, get involved and do something about it.

I have no sympathy for people who quit or drop out. This country belongs to all of us and it's your responsibility to try and make it the best place you can. The way we do this is through politics, which isn't a TV that you can turn off if there's nothing on you want to watch. It's everyday all-the-time stuff that demands your attention and involvement. It is what drives this country and it affects all of us.

Go write a letter. Find an advocacy group. Start an advocacy group. Work at the local level. Give money. Give time. Teach kids. Do something, anything, besides whining.

 

At least he's not like McCain, who by his rhetoric doesn't even seem to have his footing in reality on tax policy. He keeps saying that lower taxes lead to higher revenues, which is completely ridiculous in the current situation.

 

The raging libpig speaks truth. It's amazing to me how much influence you can have in politics just by showing up. Ron Paul motivated me to get more involved with politics, and in 1 year, I have become a delegate to the State GOP convention, precinct chairman, helped write the county platform (first version, before the whole convention had their way with it), am in the process of starting a chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus, talk to my Congressman about once a month, and have had local candidates come to me asking for endorsement and work.

By the way, on the RLC aspect. If you really believe in smaller government, and not the statism painted as conservatism that has been sold by the GOP for the past 20 years, you should get involved. The organization had grown stagnant with many defecting to the Libertarian Party (or as I call it, Small Government Republicans with Martyrdom Syndrome Party). The national and state organizations have been flooded with requests, but the organization isn't really there. One of the places with no active RLC chapter is Houston. There's PAC money out there right now with little organization to spend it.

 

There are several issues where I differ from my chosen candidate, but on balance, not enough to change.

The damage a wrong presidential choice can lead to goes much deeper than those issues that seem to drive single issue voters.

A president's control over political appointment's to government agencies can mean sweeping changes to existing regulations and how they are enforced, or not.

 

Fixed.

 

BS. And keep your whiner, loser attitude away from my moniker.

Things can and will change and individuals can make a difference. Just ask MLK or Lech Walesa or countless others who may not have made it into the history books but worked to make the world a better place.

If you really believe the first part of what you said, then the owners you mention have to be ecstatic that you think there's nothing to be done. You just gave them the sweetest victory.

Quit with the resigned cynicism and go to work. I don't care if you work against me, just get involved.

 

As someone sitting at the bottom rungs of the ladder, there is very little you can do. This is reality. And this is because the groups of persons hammocking on the rungs up above you whilst holding nominal power, are just as ambitious and greed-laden as those at the very top. I am speaking of the knick-knack corporate board members, new-money billionaires, high-level politicians, and year-in year-out regulars at the Davos WEC for instance. People like Lech Walesa, for instance.

Whether knowingly or unwittingly, they all drink from the same trough - serving as a support buffer to ensure you cannot attack from any angle whatsoever. On the contrary, they (very skillfully) have you posturing and debating the merits of their puppet candidates for POTUS everyday on this board in fact. They have you embedded in a whirlwind of your own tail-chasing without you even realizing. And this is the essence of what I'm talking about...

The Powers that Be are smart as ****. Every possibility and contingency is accounted for frontwards and backwards and pre-emptively struck down before there is even a chance in hell of it ever becoming a threat (I seem to recall MLK having been assassinated). The idea that you think up in your dreams tonight to change the world, they already made a Standard Operating Procedure file for 10 years ago. Their power will not be relinqueshed in your lifetime no matter what you do. So trying to effect some sort of change as you suggest is like sticking your finger in a dyke. And personally, I'd rather just save my time, energy, and fingers for playing bball instead.

 

Tory.

Go read some Paine.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

 

The problem is that as long as who has the most money decides who the candidates are and what policies they wish to implement, regular guys have no way to effect what happens in any meaningful way.

I wish it were not so, but it is.

 

But it is. It may not be as immediate as you' like, but it is possible.

Look at the cash Obama's raising and who it's from... I'm not saying he's the chosen one or anything, but the model he's building is effective.

 

CaseyH, weslinder, pippendagimp, Refman

you all seem to have convictions based on a desire for truth, I am encouraged.

thanks, a confused voter

 

You'd be surprised. To be honest, a few hours knocking doors is worth more to a politician than thousands of dollars, because direct contact is so much more effective than a TV or radio ad. And if you get involved enough, you'll be able to direct money that others have contributed.

 

One of our failures as a society in recent years is the perception that political involvement is exclusive and/or not enjoyable. (Part of this is due to the ratio of represented to representatives, but that's another topic.) During the days of the founders, while political involvement was restricted to free male landowners, they did their dead-level best to get every free male landowner involved. The Constitution was pitched not only in the Federalist Papers, but also in big conventions with kegs and roasted pig. The representatives came back to the states, and before the vote, they'd have a convention, fill their stomachs with barbecue and beer or wine, and give a pitch for the Constitution. They'd hand out propaganda making the same points. There really was a desire to push political involvement.

I am doing my part to do the same thing. A block party is a great way to pitch political ideas, and get "your guy" elected.

Please understand that people that have pitched their guys in their ways are entrenched in politics above you. They will not be removed in a day or a year. The great candidate that you get elected for city council or Justice of the Peace won't be President next. But with enough effort and determination, you can really make a difference.