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October 27, 2014

A New Low

I think I have just seen a new low in the thinking of my fellow conservatives.

The people who refuse to vote are going to give this election to the liberals for no other reason than their refusal to vote in a "corrupt system" (most likely), thereby corrupting the system they are against. I use to think people who said they wouldn't vote if there wasn't a perfect conservative candidate running for office were grandstanding. Now I know that they really aren't voting, and thereby allowing the liberals to take over their vote by default. In my book, if you don't vote for or against a candidate, you allowed another person to vote in your stead. It makes me sick to think that zero won because those who apposed him decided that their best course of action was to sit out the vote for no other reason that they were throwing a hissy fit over their choice of candidates.
Mike comment at [Bumped] Bill Whittle -- Make Him Own It: Why You Must Vote in the Midterms

Posted by gerardvanderleun at October 27, 2014 11:50 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Voter turnout in the last two presidential elections was the highest its been ever in terms of total votes and in decades in terms of percentage of voters. The highest in my lifetime.

So this myth of the conservatives that stayed home and gave Obama victory has got to stop. I doubt anyone here knows a single person who didn't vote in 2012. Not "a friend of a friend" or "I read about it online" but actually know. Not one.

There is less and less reason for anyone who cares about the country to vote, I'll grant you, except maybe locally. But this myth has got to stop.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2014 9:33 PM

Christopher Taylor,

The real argument which has been going on here, and by extension in the conservative community at large, is with precisely what you have claimed in your last paragraph - "There is less and less reason for anyone who cares about the country to vote, I'll grant you, except maybe locally."

That is the "libertarian" argument in a nutshell: Don't vote, it just encourages the bastards. The truth is that staying home, voting for Ron Paul, sending a "message" in some way with your stubborn refusal to acknowledge the facts - all of those things have one inevitable outcome, which is the ceding of power to the monied elite (and look how well that's worked out.) I've been at some pains to point out that refusing to vote for (ugh) Republicans has the unfortunate outcome of effectively voting for Democrats, who are at this point not even pretending not to be criminals.

Listening to people whine for the last almost 15 years about the inadequacies of George Bush the younger has set my teeth on edge. Don't you all realize that if George W. hadn't been elected the president would have been Al Gore? Is your temper tantrum worth that? Would the world have been improved by President John Kerry?

You gotta start somewhere. When you're in a leaky boat, ranting that somebody shoulda known better than to ignore the necessary maintenance for the last several years is not only useless, it's fatal. What "libertarians" subsist on is "It's not my fault, they shoulda listened to me. I've got mine, Jack (stored food, ammunition, a well,) and fuck the rest of you."

And therefore Barack Obama.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether (our) nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can (long) endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

If you don't vote, then kindly shut the fuck up. Nothing personal.

Posted by: Rob De Witt [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2014 10:49 PM

I don't think of it as voting for someone or some party. Progress doesn't come from politics or the government. So vote to keep those who would most interfere with progress out of it. That means voting for a Romney to keep out an Obama. And it means being glad to do so.

Posted by: Brett_McS [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2014 11:43 PM

Never let it be said that some Americans didn't do the very smallest thing they could possibly do to save their country. No, let it be shouted from the mountain top.

Don't whine the GOP won't fight back when some on our side won't press a button, punch a chad, make a mark for change. What gets me the most are the people that opt-out and also claim we need to engage in violence, NOW. That's like avoiding aspirin, because of stomach upset, but deciding to use a corkscrew to the brain to fix your headache. Only a small portion of the Party votes in Primaries, that's where the most important votes happen, and those people never fail to whine about the poor choices in November.

Posted by: tscottme [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 12:00 AM

Calling people you wish to persuade to vote for your candidate “whiners,” “small,” childish, churlish, stupid, etc. is indeed a certain way of persuading them to follow your advice. By all means, continue shouting your contempt as loudly as possible. No doubt your candidates will sweep the election with wide support.

As best I can tell, people who carp and complain about others’ voting or not voting are Obamunist stooges seeking to sully and pollute democracy with their hatred and contempt. By making vote ugly and hateful, only the motivated ideologues vote: Paulists, Obamunists,...

I usually vote in the interests of my people: La Raza.

Posted by: Eris Guy [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 3:39 AM

I agree with Rob. We're all in the lifeboat and we better put our hands on the oars.

"... people that opt-out and also claim we need to engage in violence, NOW ..."

tscottme: A bit strong and somewhat wrong. I am voting and opting in. Any references I have made concerning violent resolutions, putsches, armed rebellion were offered in the context of if we don't fix this thing now within the system available, we will eventually resort to armed revolt.

Eight years of Romney would have put us in a better position globally and domestically. There's no denying that. Might say eight years of any conservative would have been better than where we are now.The only way to get the better options, the "lesser of two evils" if you must is to vote.

Ask the Czechs and Vietnamese and any other country with no voting rights how it feels.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 3:50 AM

I'm more apt to believe that there were enough votes even without the dubious 4 million. However, vote corruption is real, vote theft is real, vote fraud is real.

In little increments, just like in education, the collectivists have nudged enough people to dally in the data, go along with the plan, turn the blind eye. Just here, and there. Not enough to arouse the unwilling media, just... enough. Multiply across the country and, you've got Socialism, baby!

Regardless, the givers/takers are all voting in their own interest. Every person does. I don't like it, but the vote at the top represents the vital interest at the bottom that has bubbled up from nurture or neglect.

The voters are never the GOP's problem, they just think we are.

Hold one's nose and vote? Yes I did. In my own interest. And every single person has the right to do with their vote as they please. If the GOP can't manage that reality, how is that the fault of the voter, who in every other way is deprived of any other voice but his middle finger?

We have to stand by the principle of freedom of conscience, even in the vote. I will not belittle, bitch or moan about a person's choice. I will persuade if possible, nudge when necessary, and leave 'em to it.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 4:35 AM

My view on voting -- every two years, I'm given three to five rounds to fire at the ranks of an alien movement that wants to overturn everything I cherish and love. If I don't go to the polls, I can't negate the three to five rounds that are being fired at my ranks.

It's that simple.

Posted by: Call me Lennie [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 7:47 AM

"That is the "libertarian" argument in a nutshell: Don't vote, it just encourages the bastards."

I'm not libertarian, and that's not what the argument is by anyone.

The reason I say there's less and less reason to vote has nothing to do with encouraging anyone. My reason for saying there's less reason to vote is because its too late to fix anything. We've gone over the waterfall, you can't put anyone in office that will repair the damage and reverse this course. No matter who, no matter how many.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 8:06 AM

Secret correspondence has been unearthed from Republican National Leaders to the Leaders of the Libertarian Movement to gain their support at the polls. This is extremely rare as the Libertarian Party has no leaders.

Conservatives have drafted a document that will do away with all stop signs, stop lights, and the lines in mall parking lots all across the nation. Drivers will no longer be forced to submit to license qualification to operate motor vehicles or possess firearms.

A second level of freedom granting has been drafted that would eliminate licensing and qualification of physicians and other health care workers.

The third level will do away with judges and law enforcement, often seen as tools of the ruling class to further restrict our freedoms. The ruling class itself will be eliminated when all elected offices are stricken down as invalid. No man can stand above another man and steal his money and force him to do anything at all.

The reasoning behind these revisions is clear and simple:

we are all freeborn and of lawful age. no one shall be set above us to tell us what to do in any circumstance or situation. Thanks to the Libertarian Party in advance for making these much-needed changes in the way we all live.

All are created equal and it will be every man for himself across this great land.

The honor system will be all the laws anyone should ever need.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 8:46 AM

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

George Carlin said something to the effect of, If you don't like the fool in office, don't blame me. I didn't vote.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 10:25 AM

A republic which allows voting by any but property owners is insane, including all government employees of any kind and anyone who receives a check from government.

I believe that the majority of folks making their issues with voting clear are going to vote in a higher percentage than the actual turnout. People like me. But I'd rather slap a Republican than a Democrat, because he is the duplicitous twist I'm left to cast a ballot for. There's an idea to increase Republican turnout to 100%.

As for the actual people who are not voting out of principle, it may be more principled to vote for the worst possible candidate at every level. Now if we had done that since, say, 1980, we might at least have hit bottom already and be sorting out the future instead of yelling stop! Not voting is half a vote. Go all the way. I'd do that but lack the fortitude.

Posted by: james wilson [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 11:15 AM

I've made my point repeatedly about the need to vote, and not sitting it out.

I fully understand how the process has been corrupted, and that elections are less and less influential in deciding how we are governed. But we must grab at every foothold we can, like a rock climber who doesn't give up until he reaches the summit. A GOP-controlled Senate replete with RINOS is STILL better than a Harry Reid-run Democrat Senate. I have no use for moral equivalence bullshit that argues otherwise.

Posted by: DonRodrigo [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 2:46 PM

Electing Republicans and having them in complete control during the early 2000s really fixed things, didn't it?

Medicare Part D.
No child left behind.
Adding $5 trillion to the deficit.
Attempted "dream act" amnesty in 2005/2006.
Appointing John Roberts as Chief Justice -- the vote that failed to declare the clearly unconstitutional Obamacare individual mandates unconstitutional.
"Nation-building" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paving the way for the election of Obama.

I would never vote for a Democrat. I have voted Republican all my life, but the GOP has become nearly as much a statist, big-government party as the Jackasses.

It's not RINOs, either. I'm the one who is a Republican In Name Only. What do I have in common with Lindsay Graham, John McCain, Mitt Romney, any of the fucking Bushes, Mitch McConnell, Mike Huckabee, Peter King, John Cornyn, Thad Cochran, et al? Not that some of them aren't nice guys, but they all believe in the power of government.

Government is the problem!

Trying to fix government by electing Republicans is like trying to cure cancer by giving the patient diabetes.

Posted by: browncoat [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 2:51 PM

These days voting is an odious, distasteful duty. Most are grifters, mountebanks, scalawags. Th rest are mousy and venal little men and women with delusions of godhood. They are convinced they are your betters. Peruse all their mailings that arrive at your doorstep. If they didn't tell you by colors and markings, you wouldn't be able to tell parties apart. When the other guys say the same things as the scoundrels you know, and it's all a whole lot of nothingness, well there's the proof. They're pretty sure you all are a bunch of stupid marks easily conned by pretty words.

How do you defeat them? Vote for them once, and then never again. You must do this over and over and over until even the stupidest grifter gets it that the marks are on to the con. It's not like the guy you voted for last time is the one indispensable man.

If the pollies do not quake in fear, pee their pants, and drop a load in their shorts every time they are criticized by a citizen, nothing will change.

Remember what goverment is for, and only good for. They're some profoundly unexceptional guys we hire to do some dirty but essential jobs for us. Not a single one of them are suitable for leading anything more complicated and important than a cleanup crew. And all we want them to do is do their d*** jobs, and then go home at the end of the day and leave us alone.

No incumbents! Over and over again. Don't be a sap! They will not come to heel until they know the con is busted, and they fear you.

Posted by: John A. Fleming [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 5:09 PM

Welp, ya'll gwan and do what ya think ya gotta do and I'll do the same and that is to get a whole buncha stuff done around the compound before the snow flies.

Food to rotate, supplies to restock, guns to zero and/or clean, animals fed, engines serviced, nature quelling, etc.

Life out here in the real world is way too serious for silly little goings on in that fantasy land on the Potomac.

When they git here I'll welcome them as they deserve. Could be a 2 inch slice of homemade sourdough slathered with hot apple butter, or a hail of shrapnel, no tellin.....we're ready either way.

Onward

Posted by: ghostsniper [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 28, 2014 7:13 PM

Google: Jody Hice and then try and convince me why I should vote for this idiot.

I can't come up with a single reason why his Democrat opponent isn't a better man.

The Republicans need to get there shit together, "We aren't Democrats" isn't a valid platform, even if "We aren't Republicans" works for the Democrats.

Posted by: B Moe [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 29, 2014 3:15 PM

Now we're getting somewhere!
A. Term limits -- One term for all. Make it a lot harder to put together a corruptive conspiracy.
B. Limit campaign contributions of all sorts to $1.00[?] per person. No contributions permitted from other than registered, legal voters [citizens].
This will force candidates to travel throughout their constituency's geography to garner votes by making their cases. How's some poor but competent person to get funding for this travel? work early locally then more expansively as the $1.00 contributions come in and your supporters demand local radio, TV, and other public facilities make debate time available.
This will also preclude businesses or individuals with big bucks from bribing their way to power.
C. Get your states to establish recall vote standards, with teeth, for non-feasance and malfeasance of office holders.
D. Given the one-term limit, other than medical insurance for the term in office, no other post-term benefits at all. This will rid us of the careerists and permit more devotees of constitutional democracy to get in the game.
A bonus of some reasonable sort should be available to the office-holder at end of term by approving vote of 80% of the voters. Why 80%? Because ~20% of the voters have probably been fooled into thinking the office-holder did not do a good job.
D. Former office-holders and their staff [I know, tough to define adequately] should be banned from doing any lobbying [I know, tough to define] for at least 10 years following the office-holders' term ends.
Staff members who become office-holders are banned from hiring staff members who've served as such for any office-holder in the past 10 years.
The new blood will most always be inexperienced but will be most likely to be patriotic/honest/hardworking.
E. Sanity and IQ tests should be required of all final candidates selected by their parties -- full results and details of these tests to be made public at least three months before election date.
F. I'd say more, but I need time to complete planning for my assumption of complete national power tomorrow, after breakfast.

A thru E hard to accomplish, to have regs passed to permit them? So what's an American patriot to do that's more worthwhile?

Posted by: Stug Guts [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 29, 2014 4:17 PM

B Moe -- I looked up Jody Hice and I see what you mean. It also validates my decision to never vote for a preacher.

Posted by: OldFert [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 30, 2014 11:23 AM

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