In Maryland we are working our asses off to prevent the gov AWB and getting the word out. Now we are informed by our allies in the state house & senate of the following. WTF! Dang, as MANY have stated elections have consequences!
Our allies in Annapolis are reporting to us that they are being slammed with calls and emails and we want to thank you and our friends at MSI, AGC and others for helping to facilitate that. However, they also report that the names of those contacting them are frequently checked against registered voter lists and they are shocked at how many people are not even registered to vote. Put simply their message is that if you are not registered to vote, your opinion may and will be safely ignored.
I know some of my best friends I shoot with are not registered to vote despite me giving them a hard time about it. They say stupid shit like my vote does not matter or its all rigged. You have no right to complain unless you vote. That is my theory anyway.
Pat
The most common reason here is that Jury duty candidates are selected from voter registration. But unless you vote you are basically handing your future over to someone else opinions.
There are a lot of people in my area who are not registered to vote. A few that I know are military veterans and several I know are firearm enthusiasts. Their position is that it won’t do any good to vote. My position is that if you are not registered to vote, you have no right to bitch about anything.
For decades, Ive been in the “no right to bitch if you dont vote” boat.
After last election, and every single politician Ive ever voted for…ALL “right wingers” btw…letting me down year after year, and the GOP as fucked up as the Demorats…Im thru with it, done. I stood in line for two and a half hours on a cold ass morning after a 12 hour shift, with another one to do that night, to vote.
Ill say it to ANYONES face…this fuckin country AINT WORTH MY VOTE ANYMORE. I wouldnt go back into the Corps at gunpoint. I wont write another letter, corner another Congressman, or even keep up with on the news. Youre vote DOES NOT MATTER, period.
And you wont really truly “sway” anyone from voting the way THEY want to vote, either. If any of you think, for as much as one second,
that we have Patriots in office…that they arent there to make a career out of it for the pay and bennies and most of all…POWER & PRESTIGE…well, you just go ahead and live in your little world. It aint reality, I can tell you that. This goverment is as corrupt as ANY “third world” country, as any dictatorship on earth. WORSE, in some ways. So, write your letters, stand in the voting line, email, call & confront your elected ones…it aint gonna do one shittin bit of good, period.
You can’t expect to win every election. Democracy is about the will of the people not about just one voters will. We need to work harder to get more people on our side.
Pat
Don’t kid yourself. Even the opinions of registered voters who don’t follow the script will be ignored.
I too subscribe to the if you don’t vote don’t bitch mentality. As frustrating as the system is, we still need to do everything in our power to effect peaceful change.
I get you both. I will say this the same as you SS, this morally bankrupt, powerwhore filled, bottom feeding system of sorry sons of motherfuckers can do without my proceeding to do the same thing and expect a different result(def of sanity brickboy?)
But I also feel bad about not voting. It does no good, it doesn’t change anything, and it makes me feel like a fool. But hey, millions of true patirots bled, lost body parts or thier minds or their lives, just for my rights. Voting being one of them. I have never served but know many who have, and they continue to amaze me. Should I just say oh well fuck it. I have thought about this all year, should I or not.
Should you ever find that you need an incentive for participating in the voting process, go ahead and register, then go stand outside of the polls on election day. Once you see some of the folks who are out there standing in line, and hear who they plan to vote for, you’ll likely find plenty of motivation to enter the polls and at least cancel out the wishes of one of them. From what I coiuld see at my polling place, I actually needed about 630 extra votes last year, but I didn’t get them. Probably because I was registered as a Republican.
Weighs a lot more coming from you AC. But man it’s difficult for me to reconcile my issues. I have registered and am republican(getting harder and harder to say with a straight face). I just don’t know…
I understand completely. Sadly, the name of this game is often no longer about feeling good about sending a worthy candidate to a high office for the good of the country: it’s about damage control – and we need all of the help that we can get. Either way, we’re afforded a chance to have a voice in our system of government at the very least, and the alternative is generally far, far worse.
I am also in the if you don’t vote don’t bitch camp. I don’t have the wait that some of you do at my polls. If I did I would plan on absentee ballot to avoid it.
New to GD but I feel that the right to vote and all the sacrifices that people have made for it make it something I do for them.
I turned 18 just in time to vote in the big leagues. I was so excited even though I knew about the electoral college. I’m 25 now and I have plenty of friends who have never even considered voting. Apathy is a big problem with my generation.
The way I see it over the past two centuries a lot of Americans paid for our right to vote with their blood and often their lives. I believe we have an obligation to participate in the political process, however distasteful, as a means to honor the sacrifices made by our forefathers.
