Yo Americans
Nov. 7th, 2006 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcToday is your election day. You need to vote.
And if you don't vote, please shut the fuck up about your government, its policies and the State of the Union. Because people line up for days in advance to vote in parts of the world. Most Americans have a 10 hour window, plus absentee ballots and advance polls.
Fingers crossed for the result many of you seem to want: put the Republicans out with the trash.
And if you don't vote, please shut the fuck up about your government, its policies and the State of the Union. Because people line up for days in advance to vote in parts of the world. Most Americans have a 10 hour window, plus absentee ballots and advance polls.
Fingers crossed for the result many of you seem to want: put the Republicans out with the trash.
Re: Agreeing, but not...
Date: 2006-11-07 09:27 pm (UTC)First off, I don't view my LJ as a platform. If I was more self-important I might have one of those stand-alone blog-podiums. I also dont' expect everyone who reads here to agree with me. Gawd forbid.
Today is election day in the US, hence the specific message to Americans. I generally post similar messages when there's a Canadian election. The overall message--non-voters shouldn't whinge about what the results are since they didn't participate--is perhaps the only civics message my parents taught me. Vote. Just vote.
People have the right to not participate. Of course. But you'll find in places in the world where the notion of democracy is very new, that voting is considered a privilege. Ditto new citizens here in Canada and (I would assume) in the US. They don't take democracy for granted. I don't either.
Do you really think many/most people who don't vote are lodging a protest? Really? I don't. I think they're cynical about politics. Or lazy. Or both. Here in Canada, folks I know who want to protest go to the polls and file an empty ballot, recorded as a declined vote. That's participating and protesting.
Thanks for your comments. I stand by mine.
Re: Agreeing, but not...
Date: 2006-11-07 10:31 pm (UTC)Indeed. And here in Australia, as you'd know (where voting is compulsory), people protest with "informal" votes - incorrectly filled or blank ballot papers, which are counted but not assigned to any candidate. If a majority of primary votes are informal, the election is null and void and the candidates get to start all over again. That's power.