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Voting: Why You Should and How to Get Out and Do It
Okay guys. I'm going to get serious for a bit here.
This is addressed to everyone, but especially American citizens and especially those who are of age to vote today.
Because please. Do it. Vote.
I did. It took 15 minutes.
I'm not going to tell you who to vote for and I won't tell you who I voted for either, because really that has very little bearing on what I'm begging you to do today. Which is:
Voter turnout for congressional elections is usually pretty sparse. According to The Federal Elections Commission, the average voter turnout in congressional elections from 1960 to 1996 is 48.6% of the voting age population(1). In the 2002 congressional elections, the turnout for the voting age population was 37% and for the registered population, 52.9%(2). Considering that Congress has the power(3) to
Consider this. The United States of America, whether you personally approve or not, is currently determined to impose democracy on Iraq and in general is supposedly supporting democratic forms of government throughout the world. And yet our voter turnout rates compare very poorly to those of many other democratic or representative governments (Israel, Russia, and India, for example, all rank above us, as do major allies such as the United Kingdom)(4). So, what kind of example are we setting? We're the ones promoting democracy. Maybe we should practice what we preach.
Consider also what kind of freedom and power you are granted by even having elections at all. Okay, so perhaps they are not run as well as they could be. Perhaps ridiculous amounts of money are spent on them. Perhaps their impact on who actually sits in office is less than ideal. But elections do make a difference, especially when you consider governments in many countries around the world who have no real form of free election. And if you want to change the system? You'd better do something, not just sit there and complain. Voting is a good first step. Our system, dysfunctional as it is, gives us at least some ability to impact national and international policy.
Cherish this power. USE IT. VOTE.
Let me make this personal for a moment. I come from the Soviet Union. I was born there, back when there was a Soviet Union. I spent a good deal of my childhood there, and in other Asian and European countries (the latter for precisely the reason that the Soviet Union was, well, the Soviet Union). My parents were born and raised there, as were my grandparents. My ancestry in Slavic countries goes back beyond anyone's ability to remember or trace. I'm proud of my heritage -- we're a strong people of great perseverance and spirit. However, I'm also intimately acquainted with the realities of living in a country where your voice will never be heard. Where to speak your opinion can easily lead to imprisonment, torture, and death. Where the supposedly elected leader of your people can kill 60 million of your countrymen for the crime of disagreeing with him -- with or without proof. I may have been born during the tag end of the regime, and I may have been young while I lived there, but I still remember. And if my experience could be considered paltry, I need only to look at the faces of my friends and family and their friends and family -- of anyone who shares my heritage -- to know the ravages of a country where the voice of its people is systematically silenced.
The right to vote is precious. You are all lucky to have it. Use it. Vote.
A note to those of you who choose not to vote out of protest. You have probably formulated your own reasons for protesting the current electoral system. You must ask yourself if those ideals are more important to you than having a say, however limited, in the current important foreign and domestic issues facing the country. I also ask you to consider two more things. First of all, take another look at the turnout numbers I quoted previously. How is your choice not to vote because of reasoned, intelligent, informed protest to be distinguished from the roughly 100 million people's choice not to vote(5) because of laziness, apathy, lack of information, and other such reasons that have little to do with informed political protest? I also ask you to consider how your silence is going to change the system in any way, or even let those who do have some power to change the system know that you feel this way, when, as I pointed out earlier, your silence is hard or impossible to distinguish from that of roughly half to a third of the country.
Don't like the system? Change it. Vote.
Finally, a note to those who don't vote because they think it doesn't make a difference in their lives (a nurse I overheard yesterday said she wasn't voting because she would be "paying taxes either way"). Yes, there are differences between the candidates. Yes there are differences between the parties. Even if you think your one vote in your one district in your one state won't make that much of a difference, enough votes, enough seats won or lost, enough participation in the electoral process WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. You may be one of approximately 300 million, but the House of Representatives member you help elect is one of 435, and the senators for your state are two out of 100(6).
Their voices are heard. Their powers are important. And you can have a choice in who speaks for you. If you vote.
So, what if you want to vote but aren't sure how, or where, or if you're eligible? Well, I've tried to put together a last-minute set of resources to help you out.
As a final note, a little about why I wrote this. Simply put: Voting is important. I do care, very much, who and what you vote for, but that's none of my business and it's much more important to me that you vote at all. Please. Go vote.
An off-lj version of this is also available.
Footnotes
1 Statistics obtained from United States Election Assistance Commission via their National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-1996 page. The turnout for the registered population, as calculated by me using straight averages of the percentages, was 73%. However, this statistic is misleading due to registrations from numerous states not being included (in several cases the raw numbers for turnout exceeded those for registration!). (back to body text)
2 Statistics obtained from United States Election Assistance Commission via their Voter Registration and Turnout - 2002 page. (back to body text)
3 The powers of Congress are outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The Library of Congress has a page on the Constitution where you can view images of the document or read a transcription. A slightly easier to read transcription of the Constitution is available from the National Archives site. Interpreting the Constitution is a complicated affair, so it's hard to find fair, concise sources to distill it. The U.S. Senate official site has the full text of the Consitution with brief explanations of each part alongside (link goes directly to Article I, Section 8). Project Vote Smart also provides two helpful links. GOVERNMENT 101: Congress explains the differences between the two houses, qualifications for entering Congress, explanations of congressional leadership positions, and a summary of the powers of Congress as found in the Consitution. GOVERNMENT 101: The Constitution distills the Contitution down to very few points; most helpful in this case is the Checks and Balances section at the top. Grolier's Online's The American Presidency (from Scholastic Classroom Magazines) has a section on Congress that lists several helpful links that summarize relevant information about Congress. (back to body text)
4 Franklin, Mark N., Cees van der Eijk, Diana Evans, Michael Fotos, Wolfgang Hirczy de Mino, Michael Marsh, and Bernard Wessels. Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. The relevant table listing voter turnout rates in twenty-two countries is Table I.I on page 11, which you can view for yourself using Amazon.com's OnlineReader feature for this book. The table provides much more information about this data, but it's relevant to note that the standard deviation in turnout for the United States is fairly low. (back to body text)
5 I'm basing that 100 million estimate on the following information: The average voting age population for the election years 1990-1996 and 2002 (when the population would be roughly comparable to today's) is 196 million, while average voting age population turnout for the same years has averaged a little over 43%. This means that about 111 million people who were of age to vote chose not to vote. Even assuming that a generous 11 million of those people chose to not vote out of reasoned political protest, their voice is lost amid the 100 million-strong din of apathy. All statistics obtained from the sources quoted in notes 1 and 2, and all averages calculated using straight averages of the populations and percentages. This may be a bit messy, as it has not been adjusted for weight, but it gives a rough approximation of the numbers. (back to body text)
6 All three numbers obtained from the CIA World Factbook, in the People and Government sections for the United States of America page. (back to body text)
This is addressed to everyone, but especially American citizens and especially those who are of age to vote today.
Because please. Do it. Vote.
I did. It took 15 minutes.
I'm not going to tell you who to vote for and I won't tell you who I voted for either, because really that has very little bearing on what I'm begging you to do today. Which is:
- Educate yourself.
- Who's running in your state and district?
- What are their opinions on important issues? (This includes issues they consider important and issues you consider important.)
- What constitutional amendments are being proposed in your state?
- What else is on the ballot?
- Consider what's important to you in this election.
- Think about the short term. What do you want to happen immediately? In the next year or two?
- Think about the long term. What do you want to happen in the next decade? Even later than that?
- Consider social issues. Consider military issues. Consider financial issues. Consider international politics. Consider domestic politics.
- Do your opinions on these matters conflict? Decide what's most important to you, weigh your options, and pick the candidates that come closest to fulfilling your needs.
- Vote. Make your decision, then go out there and vote for it.
Voter turnout for congressional elections is usually pretty sparse. According to The Federal Elections Commission, the average voter turnout in congressional elections from 1960 to 1996 is 48.6% of the voting age population(1). In the 2002 congressional elections, the turnout for the voting age population was 37% and for the registered population, 52.9%(2). Considering that Congress has the power(3) to
- Make our laws
- Declare war and raise and maintain armed forces
- Levy and collect taxes, borrow money, coin money and establish its value, and regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states
- Break ties in the electoral college
- Investigate and oversee the executive branch
- Impeach federal officials in the executive and judicial branches
- Create courts inferior to (below) the Supreme Court
- Confirm or reject Presidential appointees to the Cabinet and judicial positions (Senate only)
- Ratify or reject treaties negotiated by the President (Senate only)
Consider this. The United States of America, whether you personally approve or not, is currently determined to impose democracy on Iraq and in general is supposedly supporting democratic forms of government throughout the world. And yet our voter turnout rates compare very poorly to those of many other democratic or representative governments (Israel, Russia, and India, for example, all rank above us, as do major allies such as the United Kingdom)(4). So, what kind of example are we setting? We're the ones promoting democracy. Maybe we should practice what we preach.
Consider also what kind of freedom and power you are granted by even having elections at all. Okay, so perhaps they are not run as well as they could be. Perhaps ridiculous amounts of money are spent on them. Perhaps their impact on who actually sits in office is less than ideal. But elections do make a difference, especially when you consider governments in many countries around the world who have no real form of free election. And if you want to change the system? You'd better do something, not just sit there and complain. Voting is a good first step. Our system, dysfunctional as it is, gives us at least some ability to impact national and international policy.
Cherish this power. USE IT. VOTE.
Let me make this personal for a moment. I come from the Soviet Union. I was born there, back when there was a Soviet Union. I spent a good deal of my childhood there, and in other Asian and European countries (the latter for precisely the reason that the Soviet Union was, well, the Soviet Union). My parents were born and raised there, as were my grandparents. My ancestry in Slavic countries goes back beyond anyone's ability to remember or trace. I'm proud of my heritage -- we're a strong people of great perseverance and spirit. However, I'm also intimately acquainted with the realities of living in a country where your voice will never be heard. Where to speak your opinion can easily lead to imprisonment, torture, and death. Where the supposedly elected leader of your people can kill 60 million of your countrymen for the crime of disagreeing with him -- with or without proof. I may have been born during the tag end of the regime, and I may have been young while I lived there, but I still remember. And if my experience could be considered paltry, I need only to look at the faces of my friends and family and their friends and family -- of anyone who shares my heritage -- to know the ravages of a country where the voice of its people is systematically silenced.
The right to vote is precious. You are all lucky to have it. Use it. Vote.
A note to those of you who choose not to vote out of protest. You have probably formulated your own reasons for protesting the current electoral system. You must ask yourself if those ideals are more important to you than having a say, however limited, in the current important foreign and domestic issues facing the country. I also ask you to consider two more things. First of all, take another look at the turnout numbers I quoted previously. How is your choice not to vote because of reasoned, intelligent, informed protest to be distinguished from the roughly 100 million people's choice not to vote(5) because of laziness, apathy, lack of information, and other such reasons that have little to do with informed political protest? I also ask you to consider how your silence is going to change the system in any way, or even let those who do have some power to change the system know that you feel this way, when, as I pointed out earlier, your silence is hard or impossible to distinguish from that of roughly half to a third of the country.
Don't like the system? Change it. Vote.
Finally, a note to those who don't vote because they think it doesn't make a difference in their lives (a nurse I overheard yesterday said she wasn't voting because she would be "paying taxes either way"). Yes, there are differences between the candidates. Yes there are differences between the parties. Even if you think your one vote in your one district in your one state won't make that much of a difference, enough votes, enough seats won or lost, enough participation in the electoral process WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. You may be one of approximately 300 million, but the House of Representatives member you help elect is one of 435, and the senators for your state are two out of 100(6).
Their voices are heard. Their powers are important. And you can have a choice in who speaks for you. If you vote.
So, what if you want to vote but aren't sure how, or where, or if you're eligible? Well, I've tried to put together a last-minute set of resources to help you out.
- Find out if you can vote.
Most states require you to register to vote. If you're registered, or you don't remember whether or not you're registered, it's a good idea to confirm your status and check to make sure your information is up to date. CanIVote.org (hosted by the National Association of Secretaries of State) provides a resource for confirming your registration status under their Step 1.
If you aren't registered to vote, it may not be too late. Some states don't require registration, have no deadline for registration in person, or have registration deadlines that have not yet passed (amazing!). These sates include Louisiana, Maine, and North Dakota, though the rules are different for each. To look up specifics for those states and for a general list of registration deadlines, try the National Association of Secretaries of States' information sheet on 2006 registration deadlines (PDF). For general registration deadlines (in "days before election" rather than specific calendar dates for this particular election), try the United States Election Assistance Commission's State Voter Registration Deadlines page.
If it's too late for you to register to vote this time around after all, I strongly encourage you to register to vote anyway, as soon as possible, so that you are ensured the ability to vote in the next election. Don't wait until the deadline for the Presidential election in 2008. Remember, local elections matter too, and the sooner you register the less you have to worry about it and the sooner you can start participating in the political process. The United States Election Assistance Commission has a register to vote page and has provided a printable registration form with general instructions and instructions and mailing addresses for each state (PDF). - Find your polling place and time.
Many locales now offer online services that will help you locate your local polling place. The United States Election Assistance Commission provides links to two sites that host utilities that let you choose your state from a list and then take you to the page on your state's site which will help you find your polling place. I've compared the two utilities for a few states and gotten identical results but have not checked them all, so I'll provide links to both. The League of Women Voters has a Polling Place Locator hosted on its own page, while CanIVote.org has a similar utility (Step 2) hosted on its general voting assistance page (its index page).
You also need to know when your local polling place will be open. To the best of my knowledge, the hours that polling places are operational is on a statewide basis, so all polling places in a state have the same hours. In some states, election day is also a holiday, and schools may be closed that day as well. For a full list of polling hours, see the National Association of Secretaries of State's document on Polling Place Hours, Election Holiday Status and School Closings by State (PDF). Generally polling hours start early in the morning, so you can get there before work/school, and close mid-to-late evening so you can sneak it in after work/school. - Determine what kind of ID is required.
Identification requirements for voters differ state-to-state, so you need to know what document or combination of documents you need to bring to be able to vote. Most states will accept a current and valid government-issued photo identification such as a driver's license or state ID card, and some states will even allow a utility bill, bank statement, social security card, paycheck with your name and address on them, birth certificate, Medicare/Medicaid card, or other documents to serve as your identification. U.S. passports and voter cards are also usually accepted. However, the rules do differ for every single state, so it's best to look your state up. You can do so by using CanIVote.org's utility for determining acceptable ID methods (under Step 3). - Educate yourself about issues, candidates, and what's on the ballot.
You may simply elect to vote along party lines. In some areas, volunteers associated with each party will be on hand to provide you with information on the ballot and their party's stand on it. (At my polling place, volunteers from both parties handed out sample ballots that were exact copies of the electronic ballot pages, with the selection advocated by each party highlighted on their sheet. I took one of each flyer.)
However, I strongly recommend learning as much as you can about the candidates, amendments, and other possible ballot items before going to your polling place. Educating yourself as much as possible is a good first step on making informed decisions in your political life. It's difficult to obtain reliable, non-partisan information, however. I'll try to provide what I can here, and if I find anything else throughout the day, I'll update this list.
There are several good places to start your search for information.- Project Vote Smart is a good place to find out who's running in your area and what's on your local ballot. However, the site is experiencing very heavy traffic today and sometimes times out. Just try it several times and it should work. Some quick links:
- List Candidates for U.S. Congress (choose by state, party, or full alphabetical list)
- Ballot Measures (provides list of measures and summaries of each)
- Many other helpful links are available throughout the site -- please explore!
- Links to Election Resources hosted by the US Department of State. Provides links to many helpful sites including information on the election process, congressional and gubernatorial races, Issues, Polls and Predictions, and Media Sites
- Candidates' campaign web sites. These can sometimes be hard to find. A good place to look is Project Vote Smart's candidate listings, where for each candidate you can find biographical information, contact information, and, if available, a link their web site. Please note that candidates' web sites are likely to be biased, but they are also likely to give you a good idea of the candidates' positions.
- Project Vote Smart is a good place to find out who's running in your area and what's on your local ballot. However, the site is experiencing very heavy traffic today and sometimes times out. Just try it several times and it should work. Some quick links:
- VOTE.
Get out there and do it.
As a final note, a little about why I wrote this. Simply put: Voting is important. I do care, very much, who and what you vote for, but that's none of my business and it's much more important to me that you vote at all. Please. Go vote.
An off-lj version of this is also available.
Footnotes
1 Statistics obtained from United States Election Assistance Commission via their National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-1996 page. The turnout for the registered population, as calculated by me using straight averages of the percentages, was 73%. However, this statistic is misleading due to registrations from numerous states not being included (in several cases the raw numbers for turnout exceeded those for registration!). (back to body text)
2 Statistics obtained from United States Election Assistance Commission via their Voter Registration and Turnout - 2002 page. (back to body text)
3 The powers of Congress are outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The Library of Congress has a page on the Constitution where you can view images of the document or read a transcription. A slightly easier to read transcription of the Constitution is available from the National Archives site. Interpreting the Constitution is a complicated affair, so it's hard to find fair, concise sources to distill it. The U.S. Senate official site has the full text of the Consitution with brief explanations of each part alongside (link goes directly to Article I, Section 8). Project Vote Smart also provides two helpful links. GOVERNMENT 101: Congress explains the differences between the two houses, qualifications for entering Congress, explanations of congressional leadership positions, and a summary of the powers of Congress as found in the Consitution. GOVERNMENT 101: The Constitution distills the Contitution down to very few points; most helpful in this case is the Checks and Balances section at the top. Grolier's Online's The American Presidency (from Scholastic Classroom Magazines) has a section on Congress that lists several helpful links that summarize relevant information about Congress. (back to body text)
4 Franklin, Mark N., Cees van der Eijk, Diana Evans, Michael Fotos, Wolfgang Hirczy de Mino, Michael Marsh, and Bernard Wessels. Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. The relevant table listing voter turnout rates in twenty-two countries is Table I.I on page 11, which you can view for yourself using Amazon.com's OnlineReader feature for this book. The table provides much more information about this data, but it's relevant to note that the standard deviation in turnout for the United States is fairly low. (back to body text)
5 I'm basing that 100 million estimate on the following information: The average voting age population for the election years 1990-1996 and 2002 (when the population would be roughly comparable to today's) is 196 million, while average voting age population turnout for the same years has averaged a little over 43%. This means that about 111 million people who were of age to vote chose not to vote. Even assuming that a generous 11 million of those people chose to not vote out of reasoned political protest, their voice is lost amid the 100 million-strong din of apathy. All statistics obtained from the sources quoted in notes 1 and 2, and all averages calculated using straight averages of the populations and percentages. This may be a bit messy, as it has not been adjusted for weight, but it gives a rough approximation of the numbers. (back to body text)
6 All three numbers obtained from the CIA World Factbook, in the People and Government sections for the United States of America page. (back to body text)
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Thanks =)
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Except I used the enemy's method of swaying minds using a cheap trick, instead of reasoned argument.
"Oh, you should! Remember, American troops are dying to bring democracy to Iraq-- it's dishonoring their sacrifice if you don't even take the trouble to vote at home!"
Which, well, is absoulutely the truth, but unfortunately it's using that sad fact as a cattleprod since "our country doesn't work unless you VOTE, stupid!" or an essay on reasons why don't seem to get through.
Luckily, enough people were upset about this or that this time to vote. I was just visiting some friends from Norway who were utterly shocked that America's so-called democracy normally ran with only about 20-30% of the population actually voting!
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We need another Revolution. People have forgotten what it means to be American.
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Thoughts
Awesome Issue #1: I commend your stellar use of endnotes. Ann Coulter could learn a lot from you (related: look at the last 40-50 pages of How to Talk to a Liberal. note what's lacking. in response, disregard any messages contained in the book solely for reasons of academic integrity).
Awesome Issue #2: Your use of relevant links makes me squee just a little. Even if people don't read the whole thing, they at least see the links and might actually find something they were looking for (or should have been looking for). And way to plug Project Vote Smart; I almost worked for them out in Montana last summer before I got sick. They're pretty much awesome.
Awesome Issue #3: the format is easy to navigate and skim. I like that. So do lazy people, which is your core audience. Good call.
Semantics Issue: Unless I'm reading endnote 5 (and the corresponding figure within the text) wrong ... did you mean to say "million"? There are only .3 billion Americans, so I feel like they and 110.7 billion of their nonexistent fellow citizens didn't all bail on their civic duty this election season.
Philosophical Issue: The United States of America, whether you personally approve or not, is ... supporting democratic forms of government throughout the world. And yet our voter turnout rates compare very poorly to those of many other democratic or representative governments. What kind of example are we setting? We're the ones promoting democracy. Maybe we should practice what we preach.
When you say "we," you refer to proponents of American neoimperialistic policies, but I feel like I, along with many others in this country, do not fall under this "we." If someone doesn't believe in spreading democracy (through physical/economic/cultural/etc. force), why should she be morally bound to demonstrate the principles of democracy to the rest of the world? What does her act of unenthusiastic voting say to the people that she does not believe should be forced into democratic rule?
And the less articulate, more angry part ...
Philosophical Issue #2: Yes, there are differences between the candidates. Yes there are differences between the parties. Even if you think your one vote inyour one district in your one state won't make that much of a difference, enough votes, enough seats won or lost, enough participation in the electoral process WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Yeah, but no matter which candidate I vote for, he's still going to be a dick. He still won't care about me or my issues. I work with microcosmic bureaucracy every day of my academic life down here in Blacksburg, and it works the same way. There are differences between the candidates, but they question is not "which one is going to make my life more better?," with one candidate making my life a little better and one making my life a lot better. It's "which ones is going to make my life less worse?" with one candidate making my civic life bad and one making it a fucking nightmare. (Pardon the bad English in all of this). (And the negativity).
Democrats being in office is not going to make my life as an American better than it would be if they didn't exist. It's just going to make it go down the tubes a little slower than if Republicans were still in charge, and they'll smile and be PC while they push the flusher when Republicans would hate me to my face.
It sounds negative, but it's the truth. If I'm going to get fucked one way or the other, why should I go out and vote for it? That just wastes my time. (I don't completely believe this, but I know it's not entirely false). The Man doesn't care about you, or me, or anyone but himself.
I, as an American, am tired of being bullshitted, but no matter how much I vote, that will never change. That's exhausting.
I like your post. It's something I would have written a year or two ago, when I was going through a "woohoo! optimism about constitutional republicanism!" phase, and it's probably closer to the truth than where I stand on the issue at this point in time.
I'm just hostile about this blatantly unconstitutional amendment. I fought as hard as I could. I vote; I pay taxes; I am a productive, law-abiding (forthemostpart) citizen. But when I do all I can and am still marginalized and abused by the government on behalf of the majority, a government whose role is to protect me from that majority, I just don't know what to do with myself or my political beliefs.
That bit about the Soviet Union kind of makes me want to vote, though, even if I know it's not really going to have a positive impact on this country.
Sorry if none of that made sense. I haven't slept in a few days.
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And yes, it's pretty appalling what a low percentage of the population votes, especially in congressional elections. I don't understand how people think congressional elections are any less important thean presidential ones. The president has a lot of power and is our public face to the rest of the world, but it's Congress that's supposed to decide what goes on back home.
It's pretty unfortunate and frustrating that it took mass dissatisfaction with a variety of issues to get people to come out and vote. But turnout this year was apparently about double the last midterm election's!
I don't really understand that reasoning either, though -- only coming out to vote when something's bothering you. Shouldn't you vote anyway, when things aren't going downhill, just to make sure you keep electing the people that made it so and would probably continue to do so?
Bah. I don't really get it. I went through a short phase when I was... 16 or so when I resovled not to vote (because of The Man or something -- I don't even remember) but actually what convinced me to vote once and for all was my high school American Government course. I went to a good school and had a simply fantastic teacher, who also helped turn me on to staying abreast of current events and being generally politically aware. I like to think I would have arrived there on my own eventually, but still at the very least he got me started much earlier. After taking a good look at how our government actually worked, I was basically appalled into voting -- because NO ONE ELSE WAS, apparently! To the best of my knowledge, I've voted in every election I was elegible for. So there. Take that, 40-60% of America!
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I would hope that taking a good look at the world beyond our borders would be sufficient, but It seems that many Americans don't bother to do that very often.
Which makes very little sense in this day and age. I don't know. Maybe my perspective here is different because I'm not from around here and to do things like talk to relatives I'd have to check in with at least four different countries outside the US.
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Conclusion: more people should use footnotes on the interwebs.
But really I tried to document this pretty thoroughly, especially any and all numbers I tossed out (which I failed at, as you pointed out, because lots of zeroes confuse me, but at keast I tried). Statistics are the devil.
Also, I finished the Coulter book. I'm not sure whterh to laugh or cry. What I find really disturbing is that on a couple of points I agree with her. This makes me feel dirty and crazy. I disagree vehemently with her methodology and her grasp of logic (she knows what ad hominen means, RIGHT???) and almost all her reasons for anything she says (although I'll admit she can be very funny), but a couple of things she said I actually found myself agreeing with. And that scared me.
Specifically, I recall two things: gun control and Elian Gonzalez. I recall the Gonzalez business going on, but I don't remember much about it and haven't looked up the specifics since then. But what the HELL happened? Why did we use militant force to deport a boy back to his father in Cuba? I'm really mis-stating the issues in that question but still. What the heck happened?
AI#2: It's an online essay and I sure as hell wouldn't be able to answer all the questions or explain all the issues. Others are more qualified, and links are awesome =P
I'm defintiely familair with the "tl;dr, I'll just click the pretty links" thing, so I'm really all for providing links. Even if people don't listen to me I'm hoping they can be persuaded/educated in any of those other places I point them to.
And hey, I was pretty impressed with Project Vote Smart. I'm considering seeing if I can come and do anything with them.
For the record, I'm so glad government agencies make much of their information available online now because digging through print versions of reports is NOT FUN.
AI#3: I'm a designer! Format is important! I'm glad this worked, though. I was tempted to make the fonts even bigger to slap people in the face some more but I quelled my urges >.>
SI: Whoa, my bad. Fixing. Numbers hurt my head.
PI: You might not believe in spreading democracy, but many do, and I tried to present several arguments to appeal to different (possibly intersecting)groups. My chief general argument is that, hello, Congress makes important decisions about YOUR life. Maybe it was a poor choice to present the "spreading democracy" argument as the first of the set of arguments between my description of Congress and my instructions on voting. It made it seem like my primary argument, which it isn't. It's supposed to be on par with the ones below it. So, poor choice on my part.
And for the record (and you probably know this), no, I don't approve of the neoimperialism America's practicing these days. To me, the phrase "imposing democracy" is, uh. Well, at best hilarious and at worst hypocritical but probably somewhere in the middle, where oxymorons like "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence" reside.
Also, I want to answer the two questions you posed here about our hypothetical voter who isn't for spreading democracy but they confused me a little. Well, okay, just the second one. I'll think abou the moral obligation one, since my gut reaction is that there IS a moral obligation to vote, but I need to pick that apart and see if it's even related to this specific question. The second question I'm lost on, though. Did she vote or not?
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Therefore, I will leave you with this cute comic (one which just so happens to relate to your response to AI #1) while I formulate non-drivel. Woohoo xkcd.
Re: And the less articulate, more angry part ...
And no, Democrats being in office won't make life that much better and at this point it really does seem like a "less worse" alernative.
A lot of the time I'm tempted to think that a huge part of the problem is the two-party system. I need to look through all my World Governments notes and see what was going on in England, France, and Germany. I remember being impressed when I was studying for the AP, but I was also, uh, 17 then.
It just seems ridiculous to have either/or, whole-package deals like this. I know there's other parties, and if I had to pick one I'd probably say I'm a Libertarian. But they're just not strong enough to make the political marketplace anything other than a two-party monopoly.
Actually. Has anybody done any studies or anything comparing economic monopolies to the political monopoly of the two major parties? That sounds really interesting. I want to look into that.
Back to the subject.
As far as minority parties go, I'm going to bring up Ann Coulter again. She did a LOT of harping about how the minority party (okay, the Democrats specifically) had too much power and how hello, Republicans are the duly elected majority and they should get to do whatever they want as the majority and screw the minority.
I balked at that, hard. I mean. Is it just me or is the Consitution not RIDDLED with all kinds of protection against mob rule and aboslute rule by majority? Didn't the Federalist Papers obsess over (well, okay not obsess but directly address) reassuring people that no, this newfangled government WON'T be mob rule and that there are many safeguards in place to guarantee political relevance to the minority while still "guarding against the danger of factions"? Factions can be a minority OR a majority, and I thought the whole idea of a representative rather than direct democracy is to prevent the majority from running roughshod over everyone else. From Federalist No. 10 (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fed_10.html):I'm not having reading comprehension problems here, right? James Madison, in arguing for the ratification of the Consitution, in a paper that was part of a series with contributions from three of the framers of the Consitution that attempted to explain the document, says that the proposed system is supposed to prevent absolute rule by majority, especially because of some particular attitude that is popular at a given time. Like, for example, Republicanism was in Congress until last week. I'm not crazy here, right??
Well. Just because the Constitution and Bill of Rights try to guarantee some basic right for everyone and a modicum of political relevancy to minority groups, it still doesn't solve your personal problem. I should think of arguments that would actually appeal to people in your situation who aren't inclined to vote =\
And lookie there, angrily ranting about how much Ann Coulter doesn't make sense has made me run over the comment limit. Continued below.
Re: And the less articulate, more angry part ...
Also, how are laws and amendments like that not a form of discrimination based on gender? Two people want to marry and possibly start a family. Sociologically, family units are there to produce children and indoctrinate them into the existing social structure, right? From everything I've seen, read, and experienced, same-sex couples perform this function no worse than heterosexual couples. They need help with the making babies part, but since when is there a lack of kids who need adopting? Legally, in a culture that claims that it's wrong to discriminate against people based on criteria like race and gender, how do amendments/laws like that hold ANY water?
For the record, if anyone ever tried to enact a law or insert and amendment demanding that all churches recognize same-sex marriages, that would be utterly ridiculous. But again, it's not a religious issue, it's a civic one.
I know, I know. People vote with their religions and/or morals. Still, I wish people could be more objective about it, I guess.
Ugh. I could go on, but my lunch break is a finite amount of time.
Thanks very much for responding to my post. Get some sleep.
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(PS: when I say "interwebs" I am usually joking, because I think "interwebs" is a pretty funny name for it)
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Hey, I agree with you, and I always vote. But this is what I've learned from talking to those around me.
Sorry for waking you up the other day.