Quote:
Originally Posted by OccultHawk
But people who get elected usually act like receiving votes gives them the right to govern. I have written "**** you" on the ballot before.
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^ Well, that's a nice Quixotic gesture that many of us probably feel inclined to make at least once in our lives. Unfortunately, it's entirely futile. Who counts votes? You probably offended some poor lady working part-time on a minimal wage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frownland
More like "I have the right to think one of two things, and I demand that my binary decision be counted."
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^ Except that voting doesn't dictate thinking and that not all ballot papers offer binary decisions. Apart from those reservations, I'm prepared to agree with whatever's left of your statement.
Quote:
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Our limited options are constructed and established by a machine that's not in our control. The fact that voting is touted as a key example of Americans' liberty is a slap in the face as far as I'm concerned. Voting is part of what keeps those wheels turning.
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^ If the US system resembles the Brit system, there's nothing to prevent third parties and independent candidates turning up on the ballot. And surely voting
is a key example of Americans' liberty? However unrepresentitively the votes are tallied, it's still notionally democratic and imo is worth supporting, given the absence of anything better.