Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Week One - Politikat's View
The Biggest Threat to America Today – the American People
I don't mean everyone in America. I'm talking about the eligible citizens who don't vote. The apathetic citizens who simply don't care enough to have a say in what happens with our country. The past few presidential elections have hovered around 50% voter turnout, this year's election was at about 56% turnout. What's wrong with this picture?
The excuses for not voting are many and varied, including (but certainly not limited to):
• "I don't have time." Vote absentee, it's easy and you can do it whenever you want, as long as your ballot gets in before Election Day.
• "My vote doesn't count." Every vote counts towards the electorate, and if everyone who said that had voted, the results may have been different.
• "I can't get off work." The law allows up to 3 hours off to go vote. If you are out of town, vote absentee.
• "I don't want to vote for this office/ on this proposition/ etc." You don't have to, vote for what you want to vote for, leave the others blank if you don't want to vote on it.
• "If I vote, they will get my name and call me for Jury Duty." Guess what, most states use lists of driver's licenses, not voter rolls. I have a family friend who is a legal resident, but a Canadian citizen. She's been called for Jury Duty several times.
Then after not voting, they bitch about what is wrong with this country. If you don't vote, you can't bitch, simple as that.
Voting is not just the right and privilege that most people think of it as; it is also a DUTY.
I don't mean everyone in America. I'm talking about the eligible citizens who don't vote. The apathetic citizens who simply don't care enough to have a say in what happens with our country. The past few presidential elections have hovered around 50% voter turnout, this year's election was at about 56% turnout. What's wrong with this picture?
The excuses for not voting are many and varied, including (but certainly not limited to):
• "I don't have time." Vote absentee, it's easy and you can do it whenever you want, as long as your ballot gets in before Election Day.
• "My vote doesn't count." Every vote counts towards the electorate, and if everyone who said that had voted, the results may have been different.
• "I can't get off work." The law allows up to 3 hours off to go vote. If you are out of town, vote absentee.
• "I don't want to vote for this office/ on this proposition/ etc." You don't have to, vote for what you want to vote for, leave the others blank if you don't want to vote on it.
• "If I vote, they will get my name and call me for Jury Duty." Guess what, most states use lists of driver's licenses, not voter rolls. I have a family friend who is a legal resident, but a Canadian citizen. She's been called for Jury Duty several times.
Then after not voting, they bitch about what is wrong with this country. If you don't vote, you can't bitch, simple as that.
Voting is not just the right and privilege that most people think of it as; it is also a DUTY.
Comments:
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TLC said:
5) I got called to jury duty before I even had a chance to vote. I got called in (and subsequently dismissed) about 5 weeks before I voted for my first time. I believe they get your name from Selective Service when you turn 18.Well, I've been called to jury duty several times, and I know they didn't get my name from the Selective Service (since females don't register for the draft). But the driver's license rolls, now *that's* a prime target. Actually, here in California, I'm pretty sure they use more then one source for names... why limit the jury pool by only using one source? Not everyone registers to vote, not everyone has a driver's license, only males register for the draft, etc.
5) I got called to jury duty before I even had a chance to vote. I got called in (and subsequently dismissed) about 5 weeks before I voted for my first time. I believe they get your name from Selective Service when you turn 18.Well, I've been called to jury duty several times, and I know they didn't get my name from the Selective Service (since females don't register for the draft). But the driver's license rolls, now *that's* a prime target. Actually, here in California, I'm pretty sure they use more then one source for names... why limit the jury pool by only using one source? Not everyone registers to vote, not everyone has a driver's license, only males register for the draft, etc.
Loving the Blog Spectrum! Total, utter agreement. The non-voter that bitches pisses me off more than anyone.
Well, not anyone, uninformed party line voters are right up there. You know the ones. The guys who vote for this party or that because thier Daddy did. Arrgh! They make me furious.
How can Americans be so cavaleer about the very thing that keeps us a free society? We are fighting (supposedly) in Iraq to free that nation. To have a democratic process. Everyone in this country has some opinion on Iraq, yet most of them don't go to the polls themselves.
What is wrong with this country?
I have a better question, we know the things that are wrong. How do we fix it?
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Well, not anyone, uninformed party line voters are right up there. You know the ones. The guys who vote for this party or that because thier Daddy did. Arrgh! They make me furious.
How can Americans be so cavaleer about the very thing that keeps us a free society? We are fighting (supposedly) in Iraq to free that nation. To have a democratic process. Everyone in this country has some opinion on Iraq, yet most of them don't go to the polls themselves.
What is wrong with this country?
I have a better question, we know the things that are wrong. How do we fix it?
<< Home
