Monday, May 30, 2011
Not voting and in Afghanistan for 9 Years ... by gimleteye
It is inconceivable to me that American soldiers, our children, have been fighting wars on three fronts -- Afghanistan for 9 years-- and that only 16 percent of Miami-Dade citizens voted in the recent mayoral election. Honestly: participating in our democratic process is the least we can offer those putting their lives on the line for the United States and our security. This Memorial Day, there is a lot I don't like about our current setup in South Florida and elsewhere. I don't like the traffic, the bad planning of communities to reward insiders, lobbyists and developers, I don't like the fact that Sarah Palin has an ounce of credibility within the continental United States, I don't like the national debt, and I don't like health insurance companies denying Americans an honest debate about how to protect our economy, I don't like Congress bought by political contributions, I don't like activist federal courts filled with appointees qualified by Karl Rove, and the entire set of circumstances that makes us the world's police. You may or may not agree with me on some or all of the above but think about this: your apathy about elections and their consequences profoundly disrespects Americans who sacrificed their lives in combat so that we could do, what? Not vote?
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10 comments:
Could not agree with you more on all points.
You are so right. But I have been trying for years to convince people that they must vote to protect themselves without any success. You are very brilliant as I can tell from your writings, so do you have any idea how we get people to do what is right and what will protect them in the future?
But they definitely time enough for American Idol and Heat games and, well, everything else.
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How about we start using computers. Each election, everyone gets a password and pin number. The voter then goes on-line and votes. When the voting is done, the pin is canceled.
I had a sun-damage chemical peel before the election and never thought I would not be able to go out in public, but on election day my face was so red and swollen, I could not go out in public. I wanted so much the ease and convenience of voting from my computer! We can pay bills, order stuff, bank, take classes, gamble, watch t.v.,just about anything we want we can do on the computer. Why not vote???
They gave their lives for what? College Tuition, Free Health care for the rest of their lives, to become lab rats for Bionic human research, to Fatten the Portfolios for the Super Mega Rich, the Multinational Corporations/Private Contractors, Halliburton, government of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, CHINA, Carlyle Group with the Bush and Bin Laden family, FCAT... 911 Terrorist were from Saudi Arabia....
When have we ever had our freedom, our right to Vote threatened on our own soil by an opposing army??? Please do not say the anything before we became Independent of Britain. Hell if you were not white, a woman, you could not even Vote in the Land of the Free, Home of The Brave, where all men are created equal. Haven't all of Our Wars been over seas??
For Propaganda Purposes?
which as you see in the Iraq War still exists today....We fought the Germans and Germany still remained communist long after that WAR, Korea still remains communist, Cuba still remains Communist, Iran was linked to al-qaeda. Afghanistan, along with Pakistan is still home for Al-Qaeda.... Maybe people want to Vote for, None Of The Above printed on the Ballots, then maybe there would be a greater voter Turnout......??? No Elections should be valid unless 51% registered voters cast ballots??
Some may say. Who do you vote for when you feel none are proper for the job. And you trust none! Should their be a box called none? And if enough nones, could that cause a proper one to run? This tally seemed to prove that! More tally at recall , what would that make you think!
So I think the apathy stems from an illiterate electorate. they are not familiar with the issues , or that the impact of those decisions will in fact touch their lives. People need to have a map drawn from the commission dais to their home, their neighborhod, their park or their garbage pick up or the way the airport functions when they fly out of town. I believe there is a huge disconnect among the electorate between decisions made by the county commission, or the state legislature and that which touches their lives. So it seems irrelevant to them. Civic education and political dialogue is necessary to re engage people. asking them to determine what the process should be for decision making is irrelevant. the focus on process and charter reform is misplaced. yes we need reform, but only the nerds among us care about that level of detail. the voting public wants to know about jobs, environment, public safety and transportation, not about term limits!
Sadly, its actually worse than that. Remember thats 16% of "registered voters". Only about half of Miami-Dade's population is even registered to vote so its more like 8% of Miami-Dade Citizens.
CLL, I think you are right. People don't know who to vote for and so they stay away. I think you have to attack this in pieces:
You make it fashionable to vote in some way (not in a superficial way, mind you, but in a meaningful way). In the 60's, college professors engaged students and those students became passionate and informed. Which thing came first? It doesn't matter. What matters is that they engaged, ultimately. Is there an app for this? Maybe we need our own little version of a Miami Dade Web portal.
Voting, our right to use it or not. More people might vote if the candidates were more exciting.
How about recruiting exciting candidates to run for office?
How about using each election season as a barometer for what kind of job the incumbents did?
How about recruiting good and decent people to RUN?
Where are the exciting people? They are on American Idol, not in politics.
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