Thanks, Allen, Karyn, and *C*. Your support is invaluable and even the briefest of comments can sound the loudest of alarm bells in someone else’s head so keep them coming!

It is an awkward situation. Who knows if your vote will ever be counted? Who knows if that one vote you refused to give could have been a turning point? Who knows how many elections have been won by underhand methods?

As Kent says, if you don’t participate, what right do you have to complain? I’d add a caveat - if you don’t vote AND you don’t air your views for not doing so at every opportunity then what right to do you have to complain.

British politics is in almost as much turmoil as yours in the U.S.. There’ll probably be a change of power in the next election. And if there’s only one certainty you can bet it’s this one - the common man will come out of it worse off while those at the top will laugh all the way to the bank. To steal an American expression - same old same old!

But in 2000 and 2004 people DID vote. The Supreme Court wouldn’t let the votes be counted in 2000, and Kerry didn’t bother to ensure that the votes were counted in 2004.

The act of voting alone isn’t a voice in government, only if your vote is actually counted does it have the possibility of being a voice in government.

And when we have computers that count the votes and a Supreme Court that can stop the vote count if it doesn’t like the person who is winning, we have no way to know if our votes will be counted or not.

In the United States, voting is a form of gambling. Election integrity activists call what we have “faith-based elections” because you cast your vote and then you pray that it might be counted.

The fact is that they can ignore a write-in vote as easily as any other vote.

Good article, Steve.

I, for one, have little patience with people who will not take action without seeing where it will benefit them personally.

When a Supreme Court ‘Justice’ (what an oxymoron) comes out and ADMITS they gave the presidency to the looser and then tells the population..smugly…to just ‘GET OVER IT”. What does that tell you? What SHOULD it tell everyone with at least one brain cell left???!!!!

Do not, for one second, think that they will not do it again. Or even more nightmarish speculation….what if…the Twig REMAINED in office…because no one voted for his ‘replacement’. That would be his icing on the cake. That is what he would like to do.

I am so tired of voting for the lesser of evils too, BUT, I will not go into the long dark night without having what little say I can….I will not go silently. I rage against the dying of the light. Cliche’ I know but it fits how I feel.

Everyone needs to rage. Everyone needs to DO SOMETHING! Vote, don’t vote….at least do it, or not, as each individuals conscience dictates. But do it with your eyes wide open and KNOW the WHY of it. Pick your poison carefully, you will have to drink it eventually.

A post thought….write in the candidate of your choice who is NOT on the ballot……that gives me hope.

Yes, I am so very tired of voting for the lesser of two evils in Presidential elections. And, yes, people have the right not to vote. But, as I see it, if you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain about the results. Neither this country, nor any other, was ever founded and grown, screwed up and fixed, by spectators. Get involved, even minimally, or shut-up.

Clinton can’t be trusted to give you the right time of day. Her asinine “gas tax holiday” is simply pandering to the ignorant and would likely increase demand for gasoline. How incredibly stupid.

If Obama wasn’t smart enough to drop his racist, hate-mongering “spiritual advisor” immediately, how would he handle a national crisis? (We seem to have several…)

McCain wants to stay in Iraq indefinitely while increasing the number of illegals in this country. Not for me, thanks.

Who will I vote for? Damned if I know - Can we get Harry Truman back?

I’d be interested in a link to the website you mention, Michael. I wasn’t aware anyone else had talked about this.

Yes, Alfiluvu, you’re spot on - too many people simply don’t question. Probably the root cause of most of the world’s ills.

Kathy, I’ve got a ‘what if’ for you - what if Man had never evolved? Think of what a wonderfully peaceful, harmonious, flourishing planet it would be!

Lynn, thanks for the compliment. Glad you liked the post. It’s a little different to my usual ones in that it simply asks one question and leaves the reader to consider everything else. I know just what you mean.

Personally, I exercised my right NOT to vote in the last election. There were so many smug jerks all out to grab what they could for themselves by lying to us about eveything they’d do for us that I just couldn’t face voting for a single one of them. At the moment, British politics is going through quite a grey area - there’s little difference between the parties. For example, Labour has just abolished the lowest band of tax leaving many of the countries poorest people even poorer. Yep, that’s the party of the working man, right there!

I wasn’t aware you could get fined for not voting. That’s interesting, Glenda. But where does the freedom that we in the developed world love to rail on about come into that? Shouldn’t you be free not to vote?

You’re right, Robyn. A smile, a ‘thank you’, a wag of a tail should suffice. A pity it rarely does.

Of course the whole idea, in practice, of this post is ridiculous - it would never work as people would panic and vote for fear of who might get into power if they didn’t. But if by some fluke of mass consciousness we could orchestrate a boycoit of a major election… think of the message that would send. Think of the power that would give back to the people. If only…

Steve

I hope I would never have that party scenario, I don’t think my ego could take it. But seriously, I have great friends that I have known for 20 years and a couple for 30 years. We only get to see each other 2 or 3 times a year but Wow when we get together it’s so much fun and we really can share anything with one another. I would hope those special people would come to my party. :) Of course the internet is such a wonderful way of making and keeping in touch with friends.

Here in Australia we have to vote or we get fined. I know alot of people who don’t vote ( never heard of anyone actually being fined ) but I sort of feel it’s something I should do, to make a change. I feel that you can’t moan and groan about the government unless you try to make a change. If you don’t vote you are not having a say about who is going to represent you and your country for the next x amount of years.

I really like our new Prime Minister and for the first time I actually manned the polling booth handing out pamphlets for ” Getup” a no party organisation that featured issues that sort of swayed towards the Green Party and Labor. I felt very comfortable doing this hoping it would make people THINK about very important issues.