VOTE! Not voting is a vote for the status quo!
I am starting to believe you with all my heart.
@GipsyOfNewSpain I HATE people who say, (usually using very "I'm so superior" voices), " i am not voting as a protest".
I hate them worse than our current "representatives" in DC. If you do not vote you are Approving the current sludge.
@AnneWimsey I did not vote because I only vote for a candidate with a DD214. I am sorry but if you did not served in the Armed Forces you should not command the Armed Forces. My First Requirement... of many. But I understand your line of thought and have no problem or object to it.
@GipsyOfNewSpain I see what you are saying, BUT my first hubby had a DD214 and he was a violent abusive drunk, who cracked up 3 cars in 4 years & left me the with scars i have today, inside and out. So IMO not a blanket criteria. And there is a Joint Chief of Staff group that the President is supposed to be listening to & taking advice from, up until 2016, anyway.....anybody seen or heard from them lately?
@AnneWimsey I am not defending militaries... or the military... I know about the damage done by the military life but those who never served should never lead. My point. Mine alone. I am sorry for the damage done by your husband.
@GipsyOfNewSpain all's well in my world nowasays, except how the eyeshadow gets in the creases of the scar, but thanks. Re: military life damage.....actually it was the 60's, and he was in the Navy in lieu of jail, as used to be quite common.
@GipsyOfNewSpain
Once again Gipsy, we agree.
This sentence on its own strikes a major chord with me.
There is Something Wrong with Democracy. Is Not Working as it Promised it Should.
I am in Oz, and have been voicing the same sentiment for a very long time, and it is only from being in this forum that I realised at the ripe old age of about 60 that neither the USA or Australia have a true democracy. We the people do not make decisions, we elect people who make the decisions, and noone we elect would be likely to hold the same views as us on every decision. To make it worse we have so many career politicians here, they are not in it to represent us, only their own vested interests, that usually come to fruition when they finally leave politics and receive their rewards from those behind the scenes. With info tech, it is possible to have a lot more decisions made by the people directly, but of course those in power will never allow this.
He still claims he won the popular vote. We also hear "your vote counts". Fuck if it does! I live in a red state. My vote doesn't mean shit! Here's an example I posted a few days ago.
I hear you Loud and Clear. And that is the perfect reason why Puerto Rico will never be a state.
Well, first of all, we don't have a direct democracy but a republic, so that fact that decisions don't always represent the wishes of the majority of the people is not only not surprising, but has never been the case in our history. Nor was it the intent of our founding fathers who purposely did not set up a direct democracy. They feared a mobocracy and so instead set up a representative republic government. Secondly, they used to teach a lot of civics in school, but apparently not anymore. Ask around. You may be surprised how few people have any real idea about how our government works or the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Many people don't even know who their own representatives are. Half the people don't bother to vote for presidential elections, and it's much less for midterms and primaries where many of the most important decisions are made. Even worse, have you ever asked people why they voted for someone? Most of the time, the reasons they give are so simplistic that it is scary. We are where we are largely because of ignorance and apathy made worse by massive disinformation campaigns.
So it is time to change our history.
Say all you want, we all can watch football on Sunday, go back to work on Monday, pay our bills, watch The View loose their minds, Colbert whine a lot and watch the Hollywood celebrities leaving as they promise they would ( and none have )...... Life goes on, bussines as usual.
Just when we thought things could not get much worse, they did.
We have a puppet of putin in office.
Southern jim crow gop senators using trump as the great distraction to further their hate, racism and misogyny.
All of this came about thru gerrymandering, purging of voters registrations and voter supression tactics. But apathy is the real villian, we did not honor out duty to the Constitution, we blindly followed the elected officials, took them at their word they were doing the right thing for Amercia.
November is more important now than ever. Please do all you can to help those in the states most effected by the voter suppression tactics - Alabama did it - other places around the country can too.
Things are going to get worse. Believe me... a lot worse.
Gerrymandering has no impact on the composition of the Senate.
@cmadler Congress will never allow California to be split into 3 states, because that would give them 6 senators.
@Heraclitus The Democratic Party doesn't want it either, because it would put "safe" Democratic electoral votes into play.
eaten from the inside out
That is how all empires collapse within. This one won't last one more half a century.
@GipsyOfNewSpain With any luck at all I won't be around to see the very end.