When I can barely live off $10/hr and meantime my taxes are padding some rich guy's pocket and oil is a multi-billion dollar industry and yet my taxes go to help them rebuild refineries??

Somthing isnt wrong with this????

When my friend and his g/f both work just to support themselves and their daughter but still have to get food stamps because they dont make enough to feed themselves.(And he makes what I make)

Somthing isnt wrong with this????

When you watch as every communty surrounding yours loses 1000+ jobs in the last 3 years to overseas labor to save a buck. And the government wont step in because of the kickbacks their getting from these deals.

Somthing isnt wrong with this????

My vote will remain the same as long as I live. Let freedom reign supreme.
Anarchy

The system has gone too far from its roots of equality for all men to now all men are eqaul to their dollars

Of course you are entitled to your opinion, and if that is what makes you happy, then fine. I just have one or two points for you to consider. Not necessarily to agree with, but just to consider.

Actually a question first... where did you learn that taxes go into someone's pocket? Those taxes are paying for your roads and highways; it pays for the food stamps that your friend gets. I would wager it pays for their Medicaid. Your taxes don't build refineries. They have enough of their own money. Is it fair? Well, somebody had the foresight a long time ago to invest in oil when others didn't. That's free enterprise. Just our luck that we were not born into those families.

But I would submit this. You work for ten dollars an hour, and are not happy with how you perceive that your taxes are being spent? Sometimes couples have to work two jobs to make ends met. Some time though, that is a consequence of owning an SUV, a nice house, nice clothes, 3 or 4 cell phones, and maxed out credit cards. That's just poor personal planning. I know people that make $100,000 a year that are broke.

So yeah, there are things wrong with the system, but what are you going to do about it? You don't vote, so everybody else decides for you. As long as you don't participate, you are forever a slave to the system. I have no idea what freedom you think you have. But I understand. It's much easier to blame others and do nothing than to try and pull yourself up. Anyway, like I said, you are entitled to your point of view. I respect the fact that you are willing to speak your opinion. But it is sad. One day you will wake up and wonder where your life went.


You don't vote, remember? That would be an anti-vote?

BTW, my wife, child, and I live off the $8 an hour I make working part time, and student loans while we are going to school. Once we graduate, we will always have options. And that my friend is freedom. It only took me 37 years to figure out.

Best regards, and good luck to you.

Voting is one of the most fundamental rights of freedom, people die every day all over the world for the right to vote for freedom.

Its just a reflection on America and other sucessful economies that people become complacent.

Ok I will explain it better.

I make roughly 21K a year
No car payment
No Credit Cards
Food, Water, Electricity, Basic Cable/Internet, Phone, Rent, and college loans are my only bills. By the time I add up my bills I have nothing left.
Food $50 a week,
Gas $50 a week
Water $25 a month
Electricity $75 a month
Cable Internet $50 a month
Phone $50 a month
Rent $500 a month
College Loans $75 a month

Total comes to $1325 per month

Pay $10 per hour 40 hours per week 4 weeks per month

Weekly equals $375 after Uncle sam

Grand total Pay equals $1500

1500-1325= $175

Not a lot left. Glad I dont have a car payment or a credit card or insurance for that matter.

As for the remark about my money padding some rich guys pockets. What senators just go to DC for the fun. No they get paid more than most americans do from the government on top of what they make from their other jobs.

On a final note a little history lesson Anarchy became Theocracy which begat Monachy which turned into a Dictatorship that was revloted against to create a Democracy which will be toppled into Anarchy so the cycle can start anew.

I will never vote because of the following things that are possible under the system of the Electoral College:

1. A candidate can lose in 39 states, but still win the Presidency.
2. A candidate can lose the popular vote by more than 10 million votes, but still win the Presidency.
3. A candidate can win 20 million votes in the general election, but win zero electoral votes, as happened to Ross Perot in 1992.
4. A candidate can win a state’s vote, but an elector can refuse to represent the will of a majority of the voters in that state by voting arbitrarily for the losing candidate (this has reportedly happened 9 times since 1820).
5. A tie in the Electoral College is decided by a single vote from each state’s delegation in the House of Representatives, which would unfairly grant California’s 36 million residents equal status with Wyoming’s 500,000 residents. In case of such a tie, House members are not bound to support the candidate who won their state’s election, which has the potential to further distort the will of the majority.

Above FACTS cited to: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electoralattack.htm

6. (I came up with this one myself) The winner take all voting system is stupid! In California, a candidate may lose the state election 49% to 51%. This means that half the state of California doesn't want that candidate, yet he still gains all of the electoral votes.

Just go to a popular vote and you will get millions of Americans, the ones like me, to vote in every election.

Another thing, I agree with Groovicious about the minimum wage. If anything, it should actually be lower. I apologize for not knowing the source, but some independent study claimed that if the minimum wage was lowered to around $4.90, then everyone with a desire to work would have a job. This is due to the fundamental law that is the law of demand. If price goes down, the demand for a product goes up. In the same way, if minimum wage goes down, then the employers demand for workers would be much higher.

Q out.

The electorial college is a way to give States some say-so in the process, balancing a strictly majority (or plurality) of the popular vote. This is the same reason that, while the House has representation based on population, the Senate has 2 members PER STATE.

If it wasn't for the electorial college, the large metropolitan areas would have disproportionate power over the results. Do you really want all presidential elections decided by NY, LA and Chicago? Us country folks should have some say too, and the electorial college gives us that say.

Min Wage is set in place to try and ensure a certain standard of living, i absolutely disagree with arguement that lowering the minium wage would have an overall nett benefit to the economy.
Let alone factoring the cost of living. In this day and age i certainly hope that no worker of a civilised country such as the US or in my case Ireland would ever have the burden of such a ridiculous idea.
There is a direct coralation between a sucessful economy and well paid workers.

Our minium wage in ireland is aprox 9 US dollor/hour

We have full Employment
We have a labor shortage.

Um...I live in Cincinnati. The most conservative area in the U.S. (Please do not debate me on that...Cincy votes against every Democrat. Historically, we're the most conservative area.)

And I am, erm, "not conservative".

I am also not old enough to vote, so I use, *gasp other ways of becoming politically involved. I lobby, I write letters, I canvas--yeah, I just took my AP Government test, ironically, today.

And to all you who say "voting means nothing" or whatever: you have no idea what you are talking about. Ok, one vote making a difference? No. But take that and multiply it by millions, and that's America. The minority decides what the majority does.

Please.

Vote.

(P.S. I also campaign for third-party candidates...huzzah Green Party!)

Also, did you know that most Americans do not check their representatives' voting records? Perhaps if we did this more often, we'd see all the pork.

>_<

I believe it was Winston Churchill who said:

"A man in his youth who is not a liberal has no heart, but an adult man who is not a conservative has no brain."

You'll come around.......

The point I was trying to make with all this is marely this.

If I pay taxes (which I do), pay into social Securitry (which I do) and work a job (yep do that too). Why is it that every time I see how much a senator/congressman/governer/councilman/or whatever makes I think that it could go elsewhere and be better used. You know universal healthcare, re-enforcing social security (ie making sure everyone thats 40 and under have a retirement).

Obviously pension plans went out in the 60"s and with as many companies going under a company 401-K is out leaving only social security and personal Roth IRA or personal 401-K and many people cannot afford these options.

And as for health care most people cannot afford it alone or through the company they work for. Take me for example my insurance will be $25 a week alone, add a spouse it goes to $115 a week, add a spouse and a kid $250 a week. Yeah who can aford that.

i cant vote im to young

but i do vote for American Idol

I Vote, I even vote in the primaries(most of the time)

Most (not all) Politicians make much less as a Senator etc. than they did in there civilian jobs.
Look at our Senate right now. It's made up of Lawyers, Doctors, and just plain rich folks. Nope,
it sure isn't the money. Power? Maybe, but I'd like to believe it's to better the Country. I hate
to think the the years I spent in the service were a waste and that it was all Ol Harry Truman's fault.
Nope, I haven't heard one reasonable reason not to vote...sorry, of course there are extreme exceptions, but
just not to vote because you don't think it does this Country any good....shame on you.

John: I CONCUR WITH YOU 100%. I COULDN'T OF HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER. IT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS AILING AMERICA! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INSIGHTFULLNESS. WARMLY. YOYO.

Can't. Not old enough yet. However, as soon as I turn 18, I'll be voting in the up coming spring for anything that may be on the ballot (local mostly).

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

My thoughts are that if you don't vote, you forgo the right to complain about the problems in the system. Of course you still live in the country and probably have some cause to raise issues, but when you pass off your only tool to directly influence those in power, you also pass the "conch" so to speak to discuss their faults. It is our most basic civic duty.

Yes, the election process has faults. Yes, the outcomes don't always seem to be 100% fair. When we look at the big picture though I wonder how many times those outlined loopholes occur, when compared to the number of times that the popular vote is weighed in full.

I agree with what your thoughts are on this one.We must exercise our right to vote,even if we think the voteing system is flawed.I for one believes that our leaders didn't get to the top position they hold,honestly.
If we didn't vote, I think we would be in a bigger mess than we are now.IMO.

DSTM

Some politicians are smug, arrogant and complacent and the only option is to choose the best of a bad bunch.

I reckon it's time to have a 'none of the above' box (pinched from the film Brewster's Millions). A few majorities for none of the above would shake em back to life!

I do vote but think their should be free beer at the polling stations.

voting is stupid. all the candidates tell you'll they'll do this and that, but once they get in office or they take their seat in congress, everything just becomes either pork barrel legislation or concessions to the huge corporations and national banks. oh, i guess once in a while, they take up some STUPID agenda like steroids in baseball.

i just don't think it matters who we put in there, none of them would do what I want them to do anyway

the only candidate i've seen recently that i like his ideas was Ron Paul, but, he's not going to be on any ballets, so i wont vote

and if anyone here says that not voting means "you dont have the right to complain" , i ask you, why do you not say that to the millions of americans who go in and vote straight down party lines? Isn't this one of those situations where apathy is better than ignorance?

whatever, like i said, it doesnt matter who we put in office, their all out for their own agendas, not ours

1. Got an alternative?

I would like to see the US move toward run-off voting...

2. There is a certain degree of self-correction. If a particular politician gets too far off track, he or she can be replaced in the next election. But then, if you want mountains to be moved, well, no one ever accused democracy of being efficient. But that, believe it or not, is a good thing.

3. Well, you can take a more active roll in getting your preferred politicians in office. However, if you are disillusioned by democratic republic simply because you haven't gotten personally-tailored results, I think you are missing the point!

4. Interesting that he is the only Republican who is strongly against the war in Iraq. I don't agree with some of his stances on social issues, nor his Libertarian views on economics, so I could not support him. I am curious to see if he ends up running as an independent in the general election. He's an interesting character nonetheless.

5. If you don't bother voting, I can't sympathize with you. As I say, if you feel voting is not enough, there are many ways to become politically involved. However I do agree that ultimately, ignorant voting does no one any good.

if you vote you are living in a reality that i'm not familiar with, or your one of the crazies that just watch cnn for 10 minutes then go vote, or you're one of the ingnorant fools who vote straight down party lines, "am i doin this right mr bush, har har har, i made that blinker light up. aint i awesome?"

I vote.

Local is actually more important than other.

One chooses to get involved where ever.

I vote and I taught my children to vote. Never miss it. And I get informed before I vote.

I've studied and worked in politics locally so I'm in the habit of voting (and having an opinion :-) on everything - local, national whatever. The point for me is it does not have to be a profoundly thought out decision. The core functions of the system are stable and embeded enough that they would just continue on even if no-one voted. It would simply transition to another method and then possibly revert once it had established why no-one voted in the first place. You may not like the particulars of the trip but that's where it would go, clanking and hissing and muttering to itself in some sort of arcane language.

This leads people to think that their vote only affects the margins but that's not the case. The strength of political opinion (and therefore the make-up of it, in reality) actually places restraints on the powers that be. It's a dynamic system that you get to interrupt and correct directly at key points and by-proxy throughout the rest of the process.

The rest of the time the system is telling you that everything is dandy, it's done a lot of the chores you asked it to but hasn't quite finished its homework and praying that it has enough support outside its core vote to actually make a meaningful change, based on a menu of aspirations presented to you, the viewer.

The rest is horse-trading. Version 2.0 is known as proportional representation which does the same thing but in a more structured way.

I may be stating the obvious here but if the majority voted the country would be different. How different is entirely unpredictable but you notice when you take a car out of neutral and put it in gear. For me it's really that fundamental.

I agree. Yet local elections have the poorest turnout.

The electorial college gives more weight to voters in states with a higher population than my vote here in Ohio. I would be better to vote in California than Ohio, because my vote would be worth more. Also how does the the electorial college give the people living out in the country of New York there say so, NYC still has control over the entire state. Same thing with Chicago and such. Personally I think the electorial college should be through own, it's not a democracy if the majority of the population wants a certain person for president and the unpopular person wins. This is why I hate some things about the democrats is the whole idea of caucasus, why not just ask everyone who they want and who ever wins 51% of the vote should get it.

the only thing I like about Caucasus is that it makes it easier for the election to narrow it down to 2 people.