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Why I Don’t Vote

February 5th, 2008 · 23 Comments

Many bloggers are excited about the Super Tuesday. Me - not so much. I have been eligible to vote for the past 10 years, I haven’t done it once. I don’t belong to any party and I am not registered to vote. I always keep up with politics, I can hold my own in any political discussion, I know all about democracy, Constitution, government, right to vote, etc., I just  never have seen a candidate that I  liked.  Throughout  my years in this country I have grown disappointed with candidates American people have to chose from. Why are the most disingenuous, unqualified, slimy, dishonest people are being elected President? The short answer is that the voters have certain issues that will attract their vote no matter what. If Hitler was running for President today on a pro-life platform he would be guaranteed evangelical vote, if he was for gay marriage -gay vote would be his for taking, if he was to cut taxes -he would get republicans, raise taxes - democrats, if, if if… People vote with these issue blinders on, failing to notice that this country is bigger than abortion, gay marriage and war on Christmas. It needs a leader who is intelligent and honest. That’s it. All the other qualifications are insignificant. Foreign policy experience, military experience, lawmaking experience - irrelevant. What made all the previous presidents such experts in any of these disciplines? Every president since Roosevelt left us with some never ending international screw-up: Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, China, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Bosnia, Central America. Military is littered with billions of dollars of worthless initiatives and restructuring. And lawmaking is a whole another disaster area : who can forget Terry Schiavo emergency legislation? Obviously lack of qualifications did not stop anyone from being a president.
Another election year leaves me without a candidate that would represent me or make this country better. Yes, I’ve seen Obama and he is great but I don’t see much good coming out of the democratic presidency and democratic congress. McCain, Huckabee, Clinton -more of what we already have. Why bother. There are plenty of idealists in this country to elect the next president. Idealists and idiots.  There are, for example, 246 morons in the state of Missouri who voted for Chris Dodd and he is not even in the race. Democracy is in the safe hands. Relax.

Tags: Pet Peeve

23 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Donna W // Feb 6, 2008 at 3:44 am

    You are so right. I do vote, simply because I can. Do I feel I make a difference? Nope. Most election years, I choose what I hope to be the lesser evil. And my idea on what that might be has changed considerably. It usually turns out my choice was not the lesser evil anyhow.

    The husband and I discussed this yesterday on the way to the polls, and agreed that probably nothing will change, no matter who gets into office (as long as it isn’t the preacher; I’m a Christian, but I don’t want a preacher as my president).

  • 2 Shane // Feb 6, 2008 at 7:32 am

    Your complacency is unfortunately the feeling of millions of Americans, but if those millions of Americans woke up and realized that their vote DOES make a difference (the Missouri primary was decided by 4600 votes), you’d find a massive area of the country who expects more from their government.

  • 3 meesha.v // Feb 6, 2008 at 7:42 am

    So I should vote for a candidate I don’t like just because there are no other choices? I don’t think so. My vote means I want this person to be a president and I honestly don’t want any of the current candidates to be elected. It takes more to get my vote than just putting your name on the ballot.

  • 4 AF // Feb 6, 2008 at 8:49 am

    If I absolutely don’t approve of any candidates I will not vote. So I understand your position on this. I was actually wondering what your thoughts on this matter were.

    What don’t you like about Obama though? I think he smells like a breath of fresh air.

  • 5 Shane // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:30 am

    If that’s really the way you feel, then at least exercise your right and go write in who you feel is an appropriate choice for President.

  • 6 meesha.v // Feb 6, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    what would that accomplish? I am pragmatist, why would I waste my time voting XO for president if he is not getting elected.

  • 7 Xavier Onassis // Feb 6, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    Whoa, there comrade! Huh uh. No way. Being a candidate for president invites WAYYY too much scrutiny. I get nervous if I get so much as a spike in visits to my blog. All my skeletons are buried in shallow graves and I prefer not to kick up too much dust.

    To quote LBJ, “If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve.”

    But thanks anyway.

  • 8 KC Sponge // Feb 6, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    Hey Meesha -
    Why would anybody waste their time? It definitely matters who is at the helm of my country - the last 7 years being a prime example. I have a country that asks my opinion about who should lead - how great is that? Don’t be turned off because you feel you don’t make a difference - that’s why the slimeballs and scumbags are there - but it’s going to be a fight, and people making concessions to put good,honest people in office - regardless of their political stance, even. You say that Obama seems fine, but just dont see the good of a democratic presidency - but wouldn’t having a good guy in there at least be a start . . . and when we find a good, honest Republican (I’m sure they exist, eh? JOKING =), we can take a chance on him.
    Your vote does count and your opinion matters - but only when they’re given.

  • 9 meesha.v // Feb 6, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    I don’t think that my vote doesn’t matter, I just don’t see a candidate who I agree with, so why should I help a candidate that I don’t agree with. You are lucky that this year you have a candidate that you really like, but I would venture to say that you will vote for Hillary if she is a nominee. If Obama had all the same qualities - looks, skin color, honesty,great speaking abilities but was a republican, would you just as happily vote for him?

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  • 11 KC Sponge // Feb 7, 2008 at 9:23 am

    Yes, without a doubt, if his message was the same - I would vote for him in a day. I don’t care what party you’re with - it doesn’t matter to me - if you have the ability to bring people together, change the corrupt systems that run our country today, unite people from the right to the left, inspire a nation - you’re my man.
    He is challenging the country to look past race, look past a name, look past party affiliation. Some people aren’t ready to do that yet. Hopefully, for our future, enough of us are.

  • 12 meesha.v // Feb 7, 2008 at 10:55 am

    If he was a republican his message wouldn’t obviously be the same. I looked up Obama’s views on the subject that’s important to me -school vouchers. He is against them. If I voted for Obama this issue will not advance for the next 8 years. By that time my daughter will be 19 and I won’t care. Same thing on other issues that I care about. I am not saying that a republican president will move on the school vouchers, most likely he will not. That’s why I said that there is no candidate for me. Setting aside their platforms, Obama is likable and McCain is not. But I am not electing a beer buddy. Obama’s platform is still unacceptable to me. So is McCain’s.

  • 13 Faith // Feb 7, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    Here here, meesha!

    I’ve been so conflicted about this year’s election because I simply do NOT want to vote for any of these people. I still don’t know what to do, actually, but your argument makes a ton of sense, and helped put into words how I felt about it all.

    “It needs a leader who is intelligent and honest.” Indeed. Too bad that kind of politician simply doesn’t seem to exist…

  • 14 KC Sponge // Feb 8, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    My number one issue is gay marriage - and the only candidate I had to choose that aligned with me on this was Dennis Kucinich. I would love it if the people of the United States would embrace the kind of open thinking and unending tolerance that Kucinich has to offer, but not everyone does. I know this, and that’s why my vote goes to Obama. The president of the United States should be someone that leads the country and not just his party. That is one thing that bugs me beyond anything about Bush is that he is above compromise.
    My perfect ticket would be Obama/McCain. I would fear every day that my right to choose would be compromised and that the war may last a little longer than under a completely democratic administration - but it would be a real message to the American people. That we’re willing to look past party lines, look past the every other year election cycle and look to repair this country and bring us closer together to fix the things that separate us. That is why Obama is my man. That is his ultimate goal - to repair years of disdain and bitterness and bring this country together to do good things. Not force policy on half the citizens, but to come up with a way to find peace on both sides. If a Republican wanted to do the same, and made it a point in every one of his speeches, every faction of his campaign, every answer to questions, then yes - no matter his platform, no matter his policy - I would vote for him or her. Because it would not matter where his beliefs lie. Because that’s what I need. That’s what would make people like you feel they have a say in this democracy.

  • 15 meesha.v // Feb 8, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    I think I will try to expand on this in a separate post. I do have an opinion on gay marriage and will write about that too. You can’t have two more opposite people than Obama in McCain on the same ticket. I think McCain will stab Obama, I heard he has bad temper.

  • 16 Burrowowl // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    Those people who voted for Dodd probably sent in their absentee ballots before he dropped out. Chris Dodd would have made a fine president, but he just couldn’t get any traction in the media.

  • 17 meesha.v // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    Dodd dropped out on January 4. These absentee ballots must have been sent before that by pigeon mail.

  • 18 Burrowowl // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:46 pm

    They would have been sent in by USPS and aren’t counted till the rest of the ballots, so yeah. Dodd only got a couple thousand votes here in California. He came in behind all the other non-candidates.

    Of course, here in the Golden State, there’s a reason to show up at the polls even if you don’t like the candidates: ballot propositions. We get tons of those (seven this Tuesday alone).

  • 19 KC Sponge // Feb 9, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    Meesha - I look forward to reading your post on gay marriage.
    They talked about McCain being on the ticket with Kerry 4 years ago, and it didn’t seem like such a far stretch then, see what 4 years and an election spin campaign can do . . .

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