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Topic: Anybody but Obamney, PROTEST VOTE (thrid party) (Read 6012 times)

sr. member
Activity: 354
Merit: 250
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
Be thankful you dont live in Australia where they fine you for not voting.

btw I have a large stack of fines sitting in a drawer collecting dust  Cheesy

How can they even enforce something like this?  Is it next time you vote they wont let you until you pay your fines?  Do the restrict your attempts to get a driver's license or something of the sort?  If they do nothing why even bother with the fines, its just posturing.  The government wastes 100's of australian dollars trying to collect 10's of dollars in fines...
I've been fined twice, The first time for not voting, the next time for not replying to the fine, The next letter I got informed me that I had been unenrolled because of false information (I didn't update it to my new address) - Haven't heard from them since

But yes, they stop you from getting a license.
hero member
Activity: 950
Merit: 1001
Be thankful you dont live in Australia where they fine you for not voting.

btw I have a large stack of fines sitting in a drawer collecting dust  Cheesy

How can they even enforce something like this?  Is it next time you vote they wont let you until you pay your fines?  Do the restrict your attempts to get a driver's license or something of the sort?  If they do nothing why even bother with the fines, its just posturing.  The government wastes 100's of australian dollars trying to collect 10's of dollars in fines...

If the USA did this, they would just pile on more fines for not paying your fines, wait until after it has reached obscene proportions, and then garnish your wages (if any) or arrest you.
full member
Activity: 169
Merit: 100
Be thankful you dont live in Australia where they fine you for not voting.

btw I have a large stack of fines sitting in a drawer collecting dust  Cheesy

How can they even enforce something like this?  Is it next time you vote they wont let you until you pay your fines?  Do the restrict your attempts to get a driver's license or something of the sort?  If they do nothing why even bother with the fines, its just posturing.  The government wastes 100's of australian dollars trying to collect 10's of dollars in fines...
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
As per this website I hate Obama a little less than Romney.
http://www.isidewith.com/results/86508473

Going through the obama list of issues, a lot of them are listed as agreed but the "similar" answer rule seems to be in obama's favour a little bit...

And if you can't trust some random website... who can you trust?

hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
http://www.isidewith.com/results/88127669
95% - Jill Stein

75% - Obama
34% - Romney


LOL US politics call me a green as well, but I want the greens to win here and the libertarians to win in the US, it would be hilarious...
legendary
Activity: 1264
Merit: 1008
OK one more link for y'all Smiley 
Deek Jackson of FKN news sums it all up pretty well as usual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq6vF00x31Y
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
Wat
Be thankful you dont live in Australia where they fine you for not voting.

btw I have a large stack of fines sitting in a drawer collecting dust  Cheesy
newbie
Activity: 43
Merit: 0
Voting for a third party says "I support this broken and corrupt system and this is who I want to be in charge".

Not voting says "I don't support this broken and corrupt system".
    I enjoyed what "ShireSilver" said in response to rhis statement and I have to agree. I have seen this happen many times in my voting district as well. The point is that not voting fixes nothing and they will still hold elections whether the voter turn out is 70 percent or if it is 1 percent. Now dont get me wrong in way am a I going to garuntee you there will not be currouption nor can any politician truly say they are currouption free and not be lying. Becuase I believe that humans are munipulateable and money and capitalism breed currouption and make it hard for people to trust one and other but thats a philosphy for a differnent time. So my answer to why polish the door knobs on the titanic: There is always time to turn around or change course.
hero member
Activity: 532
Merit: 500
FIAT LIBERTAS RVAT CAELVM
As per this website I hate Obama a little less than Romney.
http://www.isidewith.com/results/86508473

Wow... That site shows everything that is wrong with electoral politics. You, for instance, have to select from choices that range from 66% to 78%, and each issue, it looks like, has a different best choice.

So you're stuck with the least-worst... Johnson.
hero member
Activity: 574
Merit: 500
As per this website I hate Obama a little less than Romney.
http://www.isidewith.com/results/86508473
hero member
Activity: 532
Merit: 500
FIAT LIBERTAS RVAT CAELVM
Voting for a third party says "I support this broken and corrupt system and this is who I want to be in charge".

Not voting says "I don't support this broken and corrupt system".
Do you honestly think a government led by Gary Johnson would be as corrupt or broken?
I'm not an American, and I don't know much about Gary Johnson. But a quick look at his policy page reveals plenty of weasel words. For example, he calls for an end to "bloated stimulus programs and unnecessary farm subsidies". No problem then with stimulus programs that are not too bloated, or with farm subsidies that are "necessary"? And he wants to eliminate "needless barriers to free trade", which suggests that some barriers to free trade are "needed".

Also, campaign promises are not legally binding and the historical track record of elected candidates is not good.

And he doesn't seem to have a problem with accepting a comfortable salary extracted under threat of force from his constituents. Just sayin'.

I think he meant to imply that all such barriers and subsidies and such are unnecessary, but yeah, I don't trust him with the ring, either.
donator
Activity: 826
Merit: 1041
Voting for a third party says "I support this broken and corrupt system and this is who I want to be in charge".

Not voting says "I don't support this broken and corrupt system".
Do you honestly think a government led by Gary Johnson would be as corrupt or broken?
I'm not an American, and I don't know much about Gary Johnson. But a quick look at his policy page reveals plenty of weasel words. For example, he calls for an end to "bloated stimulus programs and unnecessary farm subsidies". No problem then with stimulus programs that are not too bloated, or with farm subsidies that are "necessary"? And he wants to eliminate "needless barriers to free trade", which suggests that some barriers to free trade are "needed".

Also, campaign promises are not legally binding and the historical track record of elected candidates is not good.

And he doesn't seem to have a problem with accepting a comfortable salary extracted under threat of force from his constituents. Just sayin'.
newbie
Activity: 12
Merit: 0
To quote: “If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.”
hero member
Activity: 950
Merit: 1001
Then do I ever have the deal for you! Let's bet on it. If any third-party candidate wins, you pay me 100 BTC. If Democrats/Republicans win, then I pay you 0.0001 BTC. Since you're not just being hyperbolic to promote a political argument, it's practically free money!

It is free money, but such a small amount isn't worth my time. I'll do a bet of my 1000 BTC to your 2 BTC.
So you're so rich that simply posting a receiving address is worth a whopping 2 BTC to you, but you're so poor that you can't offer more than 1000 BTC? Why the higher odds all of a sudden? To make things easy, I'll even send you my 0.0001 BTC immediately yet patiently wait for you to save 100 BTC in the unlikely event that I win.

Assuming you agree that there IS a nonzero chance that a third party will win (like they have in the past), then increasing that chance is potentially worthwhile.
Value of voting = (expected benefit if win) x (change in chance to win) - (cost of voting)
Costs are gas money, waiting in line, etc.
Personally I'd put a HUGE value on removing the Republicrats from power, so even if the odds are very low it's worth doing.
administrator
Activity: 5222
Merit: 13032
Then do I ever have the deal for you! Let's bet on it. If any third-party candidate wins, you pay me 100 BTC. If Democrats/Republicans win, then I pay you 0.0001 BTC. Since you're not just being hyperbolic to promote a political argument, it's practically free money!

It is free money, but such a small amount isn't worth my time. I'll do a bet of my 1000 BTC to your 2 BTC.
hero member
Activity: 950
Merit: 1001
Waste of time. Third-parties have no chance of winning, so voting for them is pointless. Rather than wasting ~30 minutes voting, use that time to educate people about libertarianism (or whatever).
Then do I ever have the deal for you! Let's bet on it. If any third-party candidate wins, you pay me 100 BTC. If Democrats/Republicans win, then I pay you 0.0001 BTC. Since you're not just being hyperbolic to promote a political argument, it's practically free money!

Voting for a third party says "I support this broken and corrupt system and this is who I want to be in charge".

Not voting says "I don't support this broken and corrupt system".
Do you honestly think a government led by Gary Johnson would be as corrupt or broken? Ask a dozen random people if they interpret low voter turnout as protest or apathy. You can send a clear message against corruption and inefficiency by voting for someone who will fight against them.
sr. member
Activity: 382
Merit: 253
You know how the media gets all hot and bothered about voter turnout? It's because it legitimizes the system all their friends control. If some tiny minority went and picked themselves a leader it would be clear that he's just their leader, getting everyone involved keeps up the illusion that we all consent to the system. I don't.

But the media does not report the voter turnout, they report the percentage of votes cast. And whoever wins, if people just stay home rater than voting third party, the winner will say "I got over 50% of the vote so I have a MANDATE to do whatever the fuck I want". When they only get a plurality of votes instead of a majority they can't say that as much. (Not that it really affects what they do, just how it is percieved)

One of these people is wrong. I'm willing to bet it's not FreeMoney.

In one town I lived in, the pro government school folks tried to get passed a huge expansion of the existing school. The voters turned it down. They waited the absolute minimum time required by law to put it on the ballot again, only this time the vote was scheduled for February. (This was in Minnesota.) They knew that most of the older folks on fixed incomes would be too afraid to go out to vote, plus it was the only thing on the ballot so most voters wouldn't bother. Only 14% of registered voters bothered to vote, and it just barely passed. It was still seen as legitimate even though less than 8% of registered voters voted in favor, and that's less than 5% of the population.

The idea that people will stop supporting government when enough people stop voting seems like fail to me.
legendary
Activity: 1264
Merit: 1008
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