November 4, 2014
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KnitOrMiss
Posts: 10,104 Member
So this morning, I sacrificed my morning walk to get out and vote. There are a couple important county issues in my area, so I got out and said my piece. I know voting and civic duty are different ideals for everyone.
Do you vote? Do you have faith in "the system?" Do you find that you fall somewhat into your age bracket as far as feeling inspired, for lack of a better term, to vote? Do mid-term elections mean more or less to you than larger elections, like a presidential election? Just wondering.
P.S. I realize this questions is asked with mainly a U.S. slant, so I'd love to hear about the process and all from across the pond, as well!
Do you vote? Do you have faith in "the system?" Do you find that you fall somewhat into your age bracket as far as feeling inspired, for lack of a better term, to vote? Do mid-term elections mean more or less to you than larger elections, like a presidential election? Just wondering.
P.S. I realize this questions is asked with mainly a U.S. slant, so I'd love to hear about the process and all from across the pond, as well!
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I have no faith in the system. If things change for a few years, they just go back. I'm rather radical in my views that the entire governmental/societal system needs to change for anything worthwhile to happen.0
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Not sure if I will vote or not, to be perfectly honest. My husband and I usually cancel each other out, and as he has a very busy day as do I, we may agree to not vote together.
Yes, it's weird that we cancel each other out. He's a conservative, I'm a liberal. But, we're both pretty extreme, which actually means we have MORE in common than more moderate folks, if that makes any sense at all. Our reasoning tends to be different, but we arrive at similar outcomes.
And, I agree, a complete overhaul would be nice, but how do you do that without a revolution, which would totally suck, imo.
Personally, I hate politics, lol. My dad was a very active democrat and political responsibility was practically pounded into me from a very early age. Which had the exact opposite effect of making me politically apathetic.
Ehhhh, it is what it is. Glad you voted though Carly! And, walking there too! Good job!0 -
Well, I walked from the farthest parking row. It is about 3 miles from me, so doing that on company time probably would have been frowned on as that would have been about an hour each way! LOL
And I agree, in a lot of ways, I've lost faith, too. But this issue locally (funding our fire stations) is likely going to come down to a few votes. I couldn't not vote. The rest of everything on the ballot, I looked up and tried to make educated choices, but I'm moderately liberal in a very conservative, Christian, small-minded type of state, so I'm not sure how much my vote counts.
As for cancelling each other out, I get that. LOL My guy and I agree on a few topics, but not all. However, he is adamant about not voting due to his former service and lack of faith in the system. That is his choice. And I respect it, as he does mine.
And I agree, we are in need of an overhaul. Corruption and greed are far to rampant for my taste...as are collusion and conspiracies to override voters. I was watching that new TV show Gotham last night and wondering how much of those exact political issues could be found in today's society... Sad.
But is there another way? I want to believe so, but who knows? Until then...
And I agree - politics suck. Wish we could have a working government without them...0 -
Do I vote yes. Do i have faith in the system? Well thats a whole other question. But I read the measures and research the candidates the best I can and fill in my sample ballet and convince myself that I have made a somewhat informed choice even though I realistically lost steam half way through. But then I am a young person (how much longer do I get to say that) so does that get me extra credit?
But I got up, hoped on my pike and peddled up the hill to the school where my poll is in what can best be described as a closet sized space.
And to think, for the general election I had been out of breath just walking up that hill all those months before.0 -
That's seriously cool, Patrick. Such a measure of your progress...
And you can call yourself a young person until you don't feel young anymore...usually around 60-70 if you believe my parents! LOL
I did the same as you...lost steam halfway through. Couldn't find out crap about the judges they were asking whether or not to keep them in office. I didn't have the luxury of reading through every single court proceeding they've each ever done...so I gave up at that point...and got the cliff notes of the rest!
But the items most important to my city and county, those I spent time on, so I feel very civilly fulfilled! LOL0 -
I vote, but I'm pretty disenchanted with things right now. I consider myself very progressive, and there are so few candidates that share the majority of my views, but beyond that, I feel like it's difficult to get even moderate progress on most issues. On the national level, I vote mostly to prevent backsliding. Locally, I feel like there's more opportunity for actual change. Being in DC, though, my federal-level votes don't matter, anyway
In my perfect world, money would be out of politics, and we'd always have instant runoff elections in order to give third (or even fourth!) parties a fighting chance. There are a million other things I'd have, too, but those are the big ones.
While I'm obviously not thrilled about election results, it's a new day and I'm trying to stay positive! In a weird way, I feel more motivated to take care of myself, because that is something I am in complete control over (even if it's hard sometimes).0 -
Honestly, I've been so busy the last two days, I haven't even seen most of the results, except to be disappointed at our re-elected mayor who's done nothing but screw up since she was elected...I think she was reelected...saw her on TV late last night...but wasn't where I could watch...lol0
