For the last few days I’ve been busting my balls trying to write a long and complicated blog post trying to convince people that they need to get off their asses and vote this year. But you know something? The whole thing can be summed up in one phrase.
You know the problems you have with Obama? The Republicans ain’t going to fix that!
You think Obama’s unmanned Drone Killing program is an abomination and flies in the face of the notions of Due Process? I agree with you. But guess what?
The Republicans ain’t going to fix that!
You knows who gets the keys to those drones? Mitt Romney!
I barely trust Obama with this program. And when I say “barely” I mean the slender thread that is the belief that he is deep down a decent human being. As opposed to Romney who seems to have put his empathy into a blind trust.
(Not to mention the fact that Romney has surrounded himself members of George W. Bush’s Foreign Policy Team! Like those eight years needed a sequel.) You unhappy with how Obama has been handling the Economy?
The Republicans ain’t going to fix that!
Romney put Paul Ryan in the second slot. The same Paul Ryan who wrote a budget guaranteed to turn Medicare into a voucher system, privatize Social Security and generally punch poor and Middle Class people in the nuts. You unhappy with how Obama been handling energy policy?
The Republicans ain’t going to fix that!
Romney is going in full with a program to make sure we get and burn every last drop of that dirty, dinosaur juice and damn the carbon count!
You see where I’m going with this? No matter what problems have with Obama, they are not going to be fixed by letting the GOP back in charge.
Does this mean that a Obama second term is going to be all lollipops and blow jobs? No. But a second Obama term with a Democratic led Congress and a Senate that undergoes substantial filibuster reform has more of a shot of getting shit done then the configuration we have now.
Right now, we are on the sixth floor a burning building and we can either get burned to death (Romney.) or we jump out the window. (Obama.)
We still have to worry about hitting the street but at least we’re not on fire.
My reason for this sudden rant. This article from USA Today from a few days back.
A nationwide USA Today/Suffolk University Poll of people who are eligible to vote but aren’t likely to do so finds that these stay-at-home Americans back Obama’s re-election over Republican Mitt Romney by more than 2-to-1. Two-thirds of them say they are registered to vote. Eight in 10 say the government plays an important role in their lives.
Even so, they cite a range of reasons for declaring they won’t vote or saying the odds are no better than 50-50 that they will: They’re too busy. They aren’t excited about either candidate. Their vote doesn’t really matter. And nothing ever gets done, anyway.
“I don’t think Obama helped us as much as he promised,” says John Harrington, 52, a heavy-equipment operator from Farmington, Minn. Since 2008, when Harrington voted for Obama, the financial downturn has forced him to sell his home in Arizona, move to Minnesota to be near a daughter and put him on the road to Nebraska, North Dakotaand Iowa to find work.
His wife “loves” Obama and is sure to vote in November, but he’s not certain whether he’ll get there this time.
This year, perhaps 90 million eligible Americans won’t vote, said Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
“The long-term trend tends to be awful,” Gans says. “There’s a lot of lack of trust in our leaders, a lack of positive feelings about political institutions, a lack of quality education for large segments of the public, a lack of civic education, the fragmenting effects of waves of communications technology, the cynicism of the coverage of politics — I could go on with a long litany.”
And you know what I say to those people? Fuck you!
Yes. Seriously. Fuck you!
I’m sorry but I have reached the age where I am fed up with people whining and bitching. “Ooh, ooh, my vote doesn’t count”. Well yeah, dumbass. It doesn’t count if you don’t cast it! Self fulfilling prophecy, duh!
And if I hear you bitch that voting is too hard, may I remind you that this past year in the Middle East, tens of thousands of people fought and bled for the same right that you are prepared to toss aside like a used Starbucks cup. If these people can handle facing down tanks, guns and men on the backs of camels, you can wait on-line for a few hours in a school cafeteria.
(Sidebar: Yes, I am aware of the number of restrictions that certain states have put on voting rights. But all that means is that you need to make extra efforts in your area to make sure your vote counts. Contact the office of your area’s Secretary of State to get all the details on this year’s ballot. If you’re concerned you’re being disenfranchised, then contact the ACLU.)
You don’t want to vote because things never change? Fuck you! In 2009, we got Health Care Reform. The bill isn’t perfect but damn it, we finally got something on the board! And it’s something we can build on and finesse.
You don’t vote because both parties are the same. Fuck you, you’re just not paying attention right now!
There is no such thing as two opposing candidates who are exactly the same. Even if neither person is an exemplary example of humanity, you can still find something to break the tie. Remember that “South Park” episode where the kids had to choose as a school mascot either a Turd Sandwich or a Giant Douche?
Giant Douche. Because at least he can clean giant things and therefore serves a purpose.
You’re welcome!
You call it going for the lesser of two evils. I call it playing the percentages!
Progress is not something that just comes. You have to fight for every single inch.
I mean, my God, reproductive rights are back on the table! I thought we had that shit locked down in the seventies! Instead, they’re starting to split hairs on Rape!
Is our side trying to suppress the vote? Is our side blocking new job bills? Is our side trying to get us into a shooting war with Iran? (And don’t throw Lieberman at me for the last one. That man hasn’t been a real Democrat for years.)
We are not perfect but at least we are trying to make shit work!
Let me make this clear. You ninety million who say you’re not going to vote this year are as big a problem as “Citizens United”. No, scratch that. Bigger!
Because your numbers can overcome “Citizens United”! Your apathy can’t.
I understand that with all that’s going on right now, the first reaction is “Fuck this bullshit”.
Except that this year, if things don’t break our way, the bullshit will most assuredly fuck us!
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