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Presenting America's Political Apathy: Voter Turnout Rate < 50%
The following chart from the OECD via Goldman, speaks volumes as to just why it is that the "democratic" process is slowly but surely completely breaking down in the US. Of virtually the entire developed world, American voter turnout is the second lowest of all countries, and only modestly higher than South Korea, but well below 50% in either case. Furthermore, since the voting population is roughly equally split along the middle in its party affiliation, it is astounding that less than 25% of America's voters set the political stage every four years. One wonders just what the source of this record apathy may be: perhaps it is that as empirical data demonstrate, neither party actually represents any longer the interest of a majority of the US voters, but merely those of corporate lobby groups and, of course, Wall Street. As such, over 50% of voting age Americans don't even bother to make it to the ballots. It may thus be only a matter of time before disenfranchised if silent majority finally says enough, rereads some of this country's founding documents, and agrees that taxation is only fair with representation. Actually never mind: since about half of America pays no taxes whatsoever, the data actually makes perfect sense. And so the pillage of what's left of the American middle class will continue, with nobody batting an eyelid, until such time as the only items left in said class' possession are various weapons of assorted muzzle velocity and other sharp and/or dull but heavy objects.
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If we stop voting, will they just go away?
not a snowballs chance in Hell
the only vote to cast to get rid of these parasites is to stop paying your taxes
Unfortunately, the real turning point probably won’t happen until the lower 50% realize that their easy street is really the road to slavery with a brief rest stop at serfdom.
In the 19th century there were real issues, gold, alcohol, freedom, and things that mattered to the people. Democrats were making a comeback on the Republicans. Species payments were resumed after the civil war, alcohol was kept legal, and the Democrats successfully fought off the Republicans from making America a corporate shit hole Lincoln dreamed of. The Republicans were on the defensive.
The progressive in the Republican Party came up with the bright idea to try and demoralize Democrats and lower the voter turnout. William Jennings Bryan (1896) was the gift they were looking for, he was a “soft money” progressive and voter turnout has never been the same.
Both parties learned from the election and so did the corporate leaders who wanted cartels for their products in banking, oil, agriculture, retail, transportation, communications, and every thing they could think of to eliminate “messy competition.”
Both parties have been trading “issues” for over a century to keep voter turnout low and please the elites. First was the banking cartel, Federal Reserve 1913, the agriculture, oil, telecommunication, transportation, drugs, and medicine, all formed into cartels that could rip off the people of their labor and money.
We have had a one party system since 1896 for all practical proposes, which is why I vote Libertarian. There is not a dimes worth of difference between the Ds and Rs. Both are fucking corrupt beyond repair. The best thing that could happen is we the people start hanging these politicians up at the nearest tree until they are dead by the thousands.
I'm going to write in Ron Paul this year.
yep.
You can read the full list there, or here are 18 facts that are most disturbing (from Davos website, actually):
I think the working statistic in item #9 is so low because you forgot to add all the folks with great jobs pressing those license plates in prison.
Pass a law requiring elected officers to get majority vote.
If one candidate gets 20%, the other gets 10% and 70% people don't bother to vote, then have a runoff election with top 2 candidates running against a 3rd and 4th party candidate.
How about, 'if you can't get a majority, you can't form a government?"
Communist ideas I tell you!!! They can never stand..
Our US system of government today led by an outstanding group of small elite oligarchs are exactly the way it should be, and exactly the way our founding fathers should have wanted it. If not, these crack team elite oligarchs will just make sure to rewrite the history books to make sure that they do... I mean where would the world be if 99% of the public had a voice??
Hey Truth,
What can you expect in the nation of the walking dead?
Why do you stay there?
Just asking, as they say om
The Politics of Numbers
Population = 300,000,000
50% eligible to vote = 150,000,000
50% actually vote = 75,000,000
50% needed to win = 37,500,000
1% Margin = 49% to 51% = 375,000
Divide = Conquer
The number of Diebold machines needed to win when the popular vote is lost = 47.
Ron Paul is the thinking person's choice. Yes, if you don't think or understand the massive problems facing America today then you vote for the other automatons.
Problem with Ron Paul is that not many Americans think....they vote with emotions.
To address the problem, more average americans need to start challening their own politicians by running against them. More candidate the better for voters.
Elites know this so they make sure public leadership position is not economically feasible for most Americans with low salaries, so only their trust fund kids have enough capital to launch a million dollar campaign.
Ask yourself why would anyone spend millions for a position that only pays $150k-$250k tops? because the real benefit is not in the salary but exclusive power and connections only offered by legal monopoly called government.
Kind of like college. Rich don't want to compete against poor because they know they will lose, so they make sure only those with money can afford the opportunity.
Me too I'm writing in Ron Paul. I dont want Mittens to think he actually has any support for his ideas!
i disagree. mckinley won that '96 election over bryan only to meet an assassin's bullet at the buffalo world's fair, bringing teddy roosevelt to the presidency. the cartels were then reduced somewhat through the sherman anti trust law and the new reform regulations of roosevelt's administration. no it wasn't perfect and the corporations retained great power but rockefeller would have rather it hadn't happened, not to mention the food and drug companies subsequently under the f.d.a. ditto for the banks etc. under f.d. roosevelt in the '30's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot).
at various points in history or on vital issues there have been real differences between the evolving two major parties, however much, at other times and on other issues, they have largely overlapped. an example is the '60's when lbj had a different take on civil rights than goldwater, although he felt powerless to resist the anti communism of the times that dictated the vietnam war he thought could not be won.
the one two punch of bush and obama is fairly amazing both for how like they are to each other and how different they are both from much of the prior history of the country. 9-11 really changed a whole lot and nearly nothing in a good way (well maybe israel and the u.s. are less all powerful).
i agree that many of ron paul's views are the corrective this country needs. perhaps it will take the reanimation of the very temporarily staved off deflationary depression followed by extreme inflation that seems in the cards to wake the sleeping.
That's as right as you can be without capitalization.
What if the only ones voting are the same ones who are already NOT paying any taxes?
Then your democracy is over.
Nothing wrong with ending tyranny of the majority.
Ah yes, the tyranny that follows will be much better than the previous tyranny.
To what tyranny are you referring? How does it come about?
Ending democracy need not result in serial tyranny.
tell me one instance in history when this happened... our way of life depends on very long supply chains and the armed control on them - stop the organized control of those supply chain and you have immediately at least warlords
your thinking is a remnant of the psyche of the great frontier and the Wild West - which was embedded in the greater global imperial struggle - politically something like the eye of an hurricane
It matters not who casts the vote. It matters who counts the vote.
Uncle Joseph? That you?
this not paying any taxes is a canard: they don't pay income taxes (as the link says). they pay property taxes, social security taxes, medicare taxes, sales taxes, licenses, fees, etc. etc. etc. stop with this poor language (i'm talking to whichever tyler wrote the above post). that is imprecise language used to very vile ends, and ends which are, imo, contradictory to the larger purposes of this site, i.e. not to turn the relatively powerless against the absolutely powerless but to mobilize both against the heinously illegitimate but very powerful elite which runs this country and the world.
After they get the tax credits from the federal government they are probably ahead on taxes.
All your votes are belong to us.
No, you don't have to worry about that. They don't vote. In two of my last jobs, one with 55 and one w/ 95 employees (the one w/ 55 now employees 20, and the other is shut down. closed forever.) I was one of two people that voted, me and a fat secretary. When I came in from lunch w/ my 'I voted' sticker on they looked at me with total confusion. These people have never voted. Never even registered. They couldn't tell you shit about politics. Clueless by design....
And regarding taxes....they all loved tax season! I was in charge of about half these fools and each and every one of them came into my office the fucking first week of Jan. looking for their W2. I had to tell them very slowly that the W2 came from the corporate office..... They all came in the next week asking again for their W2's ....because they got a fat IRS check for every diaper-filler they had back at home.
And when the check came....they all showed up w/ new rims and tattoos.
#winning
voting today is about as moronic as new rims and tattoos. aah the cool tattoed sheeple.....they all get what they deserve in the end.
OT but "
voting today is about as moronic as new rims and tattoos. aah the cool tattoed sheeple.....they all get what they deserve in the end."
I'm a criminal defense lawyer, every time somone gets sentenced for a felony a parole officer writes a report to the court, the report lists tatoos scars etc, in 12 years of practice I have only seen on person sentened on a felony who didnt have a tat!
Wow. This sounds like something our of Jay Leno's "Streetwalking".
"Who's the vice president of the United States?"
A: Duh, Alex Baldwin?
It's sounds fun to parrot some dumb ass comment made by an author BUT
The Statement that 50% don't pay ANY taxes is just pure 1%er propaganda....
Fill up the gas tank? Taxes paid...... Buy something at a store besides food? Taxes paid....... Rent an apartment? Property taxes paid..... Etc etc etc - you can't turn around without hitting some tax.....
And on and on it goes......
Saying that No Taxes are paid is pure 1% Propaganda - OWS has their hands full trying to educate the willfully ignorant.
I'd wager that the poor sap who doesn't make enough to pay federal Income tax still pays a higher overall tax rate than our next president Mitt Romney -
It's all fun and games as a Comedic interchange BUT the problem is too many people actually believe that Bs.
The same people who think its true are the ones who bitch about the 'sheeple' then bitch about the Occupy crowd out in the street.
Propaganda, perhaps... but the core point remains, since the consumption taxes you cite differ from income taxes. Taxes from gasoline purchases are (mostly) routed to road construction and maintenance. Uses of property taxes vary by municipality but generally fund police, firemen, teachers and general upkeep of a community. It's the basics that tend to get funded from U.S. consumption taxes, and the billionaire driving a Bugatti en route to a fundraiser consumes the same amount of road as the poor bastard driving a Chevy Nova to his McDonald's day job. This is all good and fair, though as you point out, the billionaire feels the tax pinch a lot less than the burger flipper. But this is also fine. Contrary to liberal myth, the majority of wealthy U.S. individuals is self-made, so the billionaire not feeling a consumption tax as much as the high school dropout is just rewards.
Income taxes, on the other hand, fund all sorts of government goodies that get disproportionately used by the burger flippers of the world:
Source: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258
So guess what? The statement that '50% don't pay ANY taxes' may be technically inaccurate, but it sure as shit captures the correct spirit of the majority's tyranny when trying to appropriate ever-increasing sums of tax dollars to fund the United Socialist States of Amerika.
Incidentally, in case anyone is interested, these cats are actually trying to do something about the way U.S. elections are funded and run: http://www.rootstrikers.org
You've fallen for the same game the 1% ers have been playing forever - keep the little guys at each others' throats and they won't notice we're POUNDING THEM IN THE ASS EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY.
Keep worrying about people getting crumbs while the whole loaf is being stolen right under your nose. You probably think you are pretty smart.
Dude - all I ask is you keep your fuckin' grubby hands out of my back pocket and make your own way in this world without scapegoating someone or something.
@woodyg
All that you say is true, but
Who cares, woodyg?
You get something for being alive in the form of a human being.
All of this crap about who pays what and who rides for free and How much 'I' pay versus 'you'
All of this shit is divisive and exactly one of the biggest fucking reasons nothing will ever be done in the US of A
We are just a nation of complete fools to keep pissing on the other person's shoes
I'm so tired of this---it has been the same all of my life----maybe i'll take some time away from this site om
Agreed. Paying taxes today is like paying to be punched in the face, hard.
amen ZG, yet, get ready to be frog walked
You always say Stop Paying Taxes. I agree and I marked you Up as I normally do, but you say that like it's easy. I would like nothing better than to stop paying taxes but if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it, right?
I work in a job for a paycheque from which the tax is withheld at source. My deductions are the minimum I can arrange but I still have to wait a year to reclaim the surplus (what gov decides is the surplus) of what they've already stolen before I could get it.
Whenever I file it's for a refund. That's b/c I have no way to make my withholding lower.
The only way for me to stop paying taxes is to quit my paid job. This is what I would love to do, and we are working toward it, but finding ways to replace that income "under the table", or to provide for ourselves what we would normally buy, takes a great deal of resourcefulness and connections. It takes time and a learning curve, a pretty steep one for those of us born & bred in the matrix with few useful skills, surrounded by friends and family who also have few useful skills (e.g., cooking, sewing, mechanical, electrical). Then there's learning to deal with the friends/family who are suspicious and wary of us as they see that we are really serious about pulling off the grid. For most people who collect a paycheque, as the matrix has bred us to do, it is a very difficult thing learning how to live away from it, especially with so little community support. You basically have to figure it all out and learn how to do everything yourself.
Had to get that off my chest b/c as much as I agree with what you say, it always kind of bugs me that you just say it like it's that easy and obvious. It's simple, maybe, but it is not easy, and it comes at a price. And I think that should also be acknowledged. Any additional tips you feel like giving along with Stop Paying Taxes would certainly be appreciated.
Maybe it's because the POTUS would have a son who looked like this:
http://cdn2.dailycaller.com/2012/03/Photo_on_2010-06-17_at_16.05__2_DC.jpg
The basic problem is the two party system and the cost of campaigns. Unless you are a woman who needs an abortion or gay there is no substantial difference between the candidartes on any major issue. All of them are bank whores. All of them are spendthrifts. All like the imperial wars. All bow down in front of the Jewish lobby. Look at the 2008 election. One party won a large majority in the house 60 votes in the senate and the presidency and what did they do? They continued all the major policies of the prior administration and then you wonder why nobody votes. What for???? You can't get a democratic outcome under this rigged system no matter what you do. 2008 proved that.
For sure. From where I sit, it's the 50% who vote who should be mocked, not those who don't vote. Hell, voting just provides an air of legitimacy to something which clearly isn't. The "get out the vote" campaigns aren't done to tip an election one direction vs. the other... they're done to make the rigged game look legit.
well written pb.
ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY
Voting is for morons. Voter turnout should be 0%, seeing its as high as 50% means we've got real problems.
"In a democracy you get the Government you deserve".
If I seen Nancy Pelosi in person, I would drink a bottle of Tequila straight to my head to make sure I could vomit in her fucking face and then make her eat it! CUNT!
I don't like her politics either, but what pissed you off!
The only way to get rid of them short of violence is to take over the political system from the inside and eject them.
I'm doing my part. Join one of the two major parties, show up to every event, gain influence, cast votes against the pirate class, remove them from positions of influence.
Take the ongoing Virginia 11th CD House GOP primary race for example. Couldn't get a clearer choice between a regular American with common sense who cares about his country and his kids' future (Vaughn), and a hardcore neocon with no principles other than ambition and self-advancement (Perkins, who actually owns a government lobbying firm).
http://vaughnforcongress.com - put your money where your mouth is if you care any more than these people who don't even bother to show up to vote.
it's usually a 53% voter turnout isn't it?
that's the globally accepted (rigged) figure for continuing the fraud that just more than half of the electorate actually vote to give the pretence of 'democracy' and a public mandate
check most parliaments votig records.. you'll also find another recurring number of 66% voted for some controversial policy and 33% against ..this gives a revolving number of 'representatives' a rat hole of 33% to escape through and the excuse they didn't vote for this or that 'unpopular' policy
Democracy is the enslavement of the minority.
Democracy is the enslavement of the majority
There, fixed
Democracy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep voting on whats for dinner. The sheep needs to wise up and buy a gun.
@CH1
The minority is the 1% om
The minority is those of us between the rich and the poor. I believe it was called the middle class.
Its 53% of 49%
49% of eligable voters bother to register and only 53% of those vote in any given election... thus less than 26% of eligable voters vote and it takes half of them to tell us who is going to run the country... That is why the fringes rule. That's why the politicians cater to the extremes.
BTW, why do you have to 'register' ? Sorry , I am not from the US... I keep hearing about 'registered republicans' , 'registered democrats', 'independents' and even though I don't really know what that means ( anyone cares to explain? Surely it doesn't mean you go to your local sheriff who then tatoos a donkey or an elephant on your forehead? ) I cannot help but notice that the very nomenclature promotes the two-party system ( after all, if there are registered democrats, registered republicans and 'others' it does suggest anythign else is not welcome ).
Do you have the two-party system in your constitution, just like Soviet Russia had its one-party system?
You must be registered to vote in each party primary. All registered voters can vote in the general election. The primary determines which d or r will run against each other in the general election.
That still does not explain why anyone has to 'register' to vote. In my country you just show up, present your passport (or driving license, or nat'l ID) and vote. You dont have to 'register' first, and certainly you dont have to register 'as a sympathizer of a given party'. Isn't that contrary to the whole 'secret voting' idea? And can I register as, let's say, a libertarian? A communist?
It varies in different states. In some you have to register by political party and in some you don't. In mine there is no party registration. In the event there are competing primaries you have to vote in only one.
It's because it doesn't matter who we elect, we still get it stuck straight up our asses!
They aren't even bothering with the "elect" part.
Link - This Hoax Affects Everyone - Vote Fraud - Link
pop culture way more important - snooki's pregnant, trayvon, big bang theory re-runs, nfl will review all turnovers - come on...
The democratic process in America wheezed its last pathetic breath in 2000.
You're either misinformed or a hopeless optimist.
Sure it was a scam before, but 2001 was the complete descent into total in your face fraud of all systems.
It could be worse. US voting could be mandatory like Australia and North Korea.
Tyrannizing people to make them vote.. how noble of them!
Tyranny is democracy
war is peace
freedom is slavery... you know the drill.
I say, each individual's vote always counts, whether they vote by ballot or not. If you choose not to vote by ballot, then it is automatically a "NO" or "NOTA"
If we cannot get the required numbers to pass initiatives/bills (states, counties, munis, and CONgress), or elect a candidate, then everybody goes home, until we think we need to try the farce all over again. At a minimum, we need to drop this squeaky wheel method of governance.
My $0.02
How wrong you are, I live in Australia and yes it's mandatory to vote. We have excellent affordable single payer health care, a minimum wage people can actually live on, 5% unemployment, banks that pay 6% interest, and mandatory portable retirement plans you control and invest yourself, the fifth-largest pool of pension assets in the world. The median net worth is $217,000, compared with $47,000 in the US...where apparently nobody votes.
I just got back from Oz. If I had a country like that, I would vote too. I don't know how you do it. Maybe you keep your bankers in check? Looked like some economic justice from what I saw. Everyone working, living decent and happy. We used to have that here, until our pols of BOTH parties got bought off completely and totally, and the voters got distracted silly marketing gimmicks to make them feel good abut voting for candidate X....or demonizing candidate Y, when in reality both candidates were owned. Silly voters. We get what we deserve.
Don't believe it, Dingleberry. We fled Aus a year and a half ago, because we didn't want to go broke just staying alive.
Aus is great if you don't like the prospect of owning a paid-for house, if you love overpaying for food and fuel, if you enjoy working like a dog to keep up with some of the worst inflation in the western world, if you don't know the difference between debt and money, if you love riding the (western) world's worst housing bubble that is only just this year beginning its real decline, if you enjoy the "Big Four" banks running the country and politics so corrupt that the people barely notice anymore, if you prefer having the govvy force you (by withholding from paycheques) to put your retirement in the stock market, oh, and having a private debt-to-income ratio that was about 1.8:1 when we left, then by all means, move there.
Here's the real story on Aus:
http://www.whocrashedtheeconomy.com/blog/graphs
http://www.whocrashedtheeconomy.com
Read and be amazed. You're right that the people are decent, but "working" is debatable (ABS counts you as "employed" if you worked 1 hour in the previous week, and you are not counted as unemployed if you don't actually say you were seeking work). Happy? I guess that depends on one's priorities. We were happy for years. Then we weren't. When we got unhappy enough, we finally left; but it took a lot for us to get to that point.
The Aus that you tourists see is NOT the Aus that the natives live in. (And God bless all tourists to Aus!) Although you wouldn't know it from the "lucky country" rhetoric that people still try to talk up back there. Gov has propped up the housing bubble as far as humanly possible, using taxpayer funds at great waste of course, but then Aussies have no more power over our politics than you do. In fact, from what I can see of the US, the average Aussie has less influence over the government than the average American. (Generalising unforgivably of course.) The big banks hold sway over gov policy; and their mortgage books (esp. ANZ and CBA) are horrendous. The shorters will have a field day against our banks when they start going over, but the gov will pull the whole country down trying to prevent that, I think.
We have a lobby group, Prosper Australia, trying to get a property tax passed now. All we need, on top of the carbon tax already just passed. Aus was I would say less socialist than other western nations until, oh, maybe the late 90s? But we are rapidly catching up.
I miss Aus like crazy. I still can't believe we even left; I can't wait until we can finally go back, but that won't be until there's some future worth going back for. I feel like I'm in exile from my home, I feel like we were driven out. It makes me so sad to have to live in a foreign country, as much as I'm grateful that we could, but facts are what they are. Our standard of living has increased dramatically in Canada, and that's on less income. At least here, we can make plans to carve out some sort of future. I see no way forward at the moment for the home we left behind, although that may partly be coloured by my sadness in having to leave.
PS: You get fined if you don't vote. As far as I'm concerned, it's not a "right" if you have to do it whether you want to or not. Then it's nothing but an obligation (at best) and a charade (at worst). You can tell I've been unhappy with our political choices for a long time....heh. I was "Kevin07", and then suddenly he crossed the big miners and overnight we got a PM foisted on us that we never even got to vote for. At least you Americans got the President that a majority of you actually voted for! Didn't wake up one morning and get told, "Oh, guess what, that guy's out now and we've put the Deputy in charge. Enjoy the change of government and have a nice day."
Always love these point-counterpoint from the boots on the ground.
My default setting is always on liberty, so when I see the words "single payer" or "mandatory" I don't think freedom. These words mean an authortative action, an imposition on individuals.
Good post.
I don't like to hear mandatory much myself. If you have to do something it usually means that someone is getting something out of it.
I always thought single payer was a decent idea; it beats figuring out that you and the insurance company paid the doctor. I also don't like it when the insurance company demands a lower payment and the hospital bills you for the difference.
That is a mis-characterization of the Australian system. In Australia if you don't vote they encourage you to do so and if you still don't vote then you lose your ability to vote unless you reapply through a rather involved process. They do not "force" anyone to vote they merely sanction those who do not.
Summer 2012: Iran war, crash in the markets and financial institutions
five devastating storms will mark the summer of 2012 and thus accelerate the process of world geopolitical swing:
. US relapse into recession against the background of European stagnation and BRICS slowdown
. dead end for the central banks and interest rate increases
. storm on the foreign exchange and Western sovereign debt markets
. Iran, the war ´ too far ª
new crash in the markets and financial institutions.
Full Analysis:
http://www.webcompact.net/index.php/news/21800-summer-2012-iran-war-crash-in-the-markets-and-financial-institutions
You forgot one of the most important: Solar storms.
Even worse- Shitnami's.
What about the Olympics?
My Mayan Calendar has the games clearly marked for this year.
I know the games are on
Where is what i don't know
Help om
London
It"s funny how the USA is hell bent on spreading democracy everywhere in the Middle East but can't seem to make its own people enthusiastic about it. In any case, the desire to vote is only relevant when there is real choice. At the moment, the choice between Democrats and Republicans is not really choice but only a decision about which side of the same piece of toast is less burned.
Real choice is when one of the two candidates for president is Ron Paul.
You will have democracy, you will like it, andyou will beg for more. Unless you are Iran....can't have the people electing some guy like Mossadegh.
"Why Can't Americans have Democracy?"
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/03/02/why-cant-americans-have-democ...
Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country too.
What is it we're looking at???
Is this the percentage of the population?
Or of registered voters?
Or of those eligible to register?
and what is the time frame? this chart is uesless nonsense
....or those registered as eligible!
Gee...how apathetic are we Kiwis...don't even chart!!
L0L!!!
i had coffee, too! damn you, uncle_leather!
However, according to another chart somewhere in internet land, Kiwis are the most sexually active people on the planet.
Too busy to vote?
So many sheep, so little time.... ;-)
Now that's some funny shit right thar.
I like the approach Switzerland takes by allowing their citizens to vote on issues by referendum.
Representatives are not needed anymore. Sure, in the 18TH and 19TH centuries, it took a helluva long time to get anywhere, and hence reps.
Fire up direct voting. If you can bank online, you can vote online. You don't need 535 paid-off douchebags making the decisions for you, on bullshit that doesn't, for the most part, matter. Monthly voting would be a helluva lot better than paying Asshats and their staffs too much to do more damage.
Won't happen in this "version" of america. Maybe after the next American Revolution it will, but fatass money-sucking, corporate-sycophant-millionaire-politicians won't give up the teat because some main street schmucks want a larger slice of the pie.
I always thought Koch Brothers was some kind of gay slang......
The Kwok Brothers, now theres a story waiting to happen...........
It could be worse ... if there were the same number of federal reps per million population as Australians need to make decisions for them, there'd by 3,110 paid-off douchebags in Congress ... or, if in the ratio needed by the totally indecisive Greeks, there'd be 8,260 of them snuffling truffles on Crime Capital Hill !!!!!!!!
The 535 paid-off douchebags ain't the ones making the decisions...happens way above their pay grade.
Voting online?! Seriously, not enough fraud in the system already?!
I love reading, but 2700 pages to obamacare. I think we need some sort of representatives. And I hate to say it but a direct democracy might produce worse results than we're getting now.
Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that under Canada's Charter of Rights that Canadians have the right to consent to be governed.
So, didn't vote or didn't vote for this government or find that the government you elected lied?
Just send in a letter saying you don't consent to be governed.
Its the Freeman movement and its exploding
We are no longer a Constitutional Republic, and democracies are dangerous.
We're screwed.
___
"Don't vote. The government will get in."
I had no idea we are allowed to vote. I thought Mr Diebold took care fo that for me.
DIEBOLD 2012
Seriously...how bad could it be?
LIVE FREE OR DIEBOLD HARD
vote for None of the Above!
If a majority did, it would really put a wrench in the gears...
I know, that is a total fantasy
That's the goal...mission accomplished.
And then there are the Diebold machines, and the foreign owned vote tabution and processing firms, and the election fraud, and the "lost vans", and the exit polls, and the "projected winner" media announcements, and on and on....
Voter apathy is the LEAST of our voting concerns!
Link - This Hoax Affects Everyone - Vote Fraud - Link
Paper ballots only, observers, and video records with multiple angles for each polling place.
yeah right, like the establishment will allow that!
what's the point in voting anyway? it's a fucking rigged game.
just like participating in the markets. no way you're gonna win unless you are on the inside. and i'm not.
stack, and wait is my only option as the kleptocracy steals what they can from my hard work.
bush family just endorsed nitwitmitt...............
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/george-h-w-bush-joins-republican-leaders-in-endorsing-romney.html
Yet another reason to dislike both the Bushes and Mittens.
The FIX is in.
The country liked Perry, then Cain...Gingritch, Paul, Santorum.....
Hey, GOP, ANYONE BUT MITT!!!
Now, rather than listen, or admit their mistake, they will blame the loss in November on the long selection process "dividing" the conservatives. LOL
Hey, GOP, no more Washington elite, corporate stooges.
OR
They know ANYONE will beat obama, and they want their best puppet in place.
I wonder how many of Ron Paul supporters are apathetic ?
None.
I wonder how many of the apathetic electorate have truly listened to Ron Paul ?
None.
Ron Paul Stolen Democracy
http://sgtreport.com/2012/03/ron-paul-stolen-democracy/
“Minus 16,022 votes for Ron Paul in Florida.”
The camera work is very amateurish but this will shock you - a Diebold vote counting machine inserted with a memory card to control the counting function that had been prepared by an expert was feed 8 ballots of 2 yes votes and 6 no votes but the machine says the vote totals were 7 yes and 1 no. One of the election staff talks about the elite propagated social meme “conspiracy theorists” and could not keep herself from crying with the shock of what she just witnessed.
This is some completely f**ked shit.
the Iowa primary was obvious theft, Paul packs auditoriums, has passionate voter base; and Romney et al cannot fill a minivan. That night said it all. I do believe Romney will be given the election since he is all for attacking Iran. USA has scam elections just like the overthrown CIA sponsored states did, full circle.
I am at least one of the formerly apathetic, who listened. Dr. Ron Paul cured my apathy.
You want voter turnout? Ron Paul should start a grassroots social media campaign offering a voucher for a carton of free cigarettes or a 12 pack for a vote. Is that illegal?
Not in Chicago.
We had a retired Colonel running for state office at a gas station buying gasoline for people to show them how cheap it used to be.
He didn't see a problem with it. The power that be around here did not do anything about it.
I actively voted against him, and tried to get as many to the polls as I could. He did not win.
If you are in the clique, then the police, states attorney, etc, just ignore your crime.
most people vote to get a sticker and a free mini-pizza
and 2 liters of soda?
all right, whoever the serial junkster is: here is some hard voting data about the republicanPrimary race from WALTER BRASCH
Catching Up With the Republican Primaries
paste: A Republican needs 1,144 delegate votes to get the nomination. Mitt Romney, America’s best runner-up, has 568; two-term senator Rick Santorum, recovering from a blistering loss to a moderate Democrat in Pennsylvania’s 2006 Senate campaign, has 273; Ron Paul, who may or may not be a Republican, has 50. Newt Gingrich has 135 delegates;
I used to think those that didn't vote were lazy or unpatriotic. I watched a George Carlin video, in which he said not to bother to vote because all it does it make you feel like you have a voice, albeit a small one...when in fact you have NONE since both parties are entirely, thoroughly and utterly corrupt. I thought he was crazy. Until this decade, particularly when we bailed out the banks against 99% of the public's wishes. And then nearly all of them that betrayed their public trust got re-elected. I am convinced beyond any doubt, that the only way to change this hopelessly corrupt marketing scheme that we call elections is to not even give these pols a second of attention, and certainly no support. When only 10% show up to vote, THAT will get their attention. Because after voter apathy eventually comes voter disgust, and then who knows what. None of you ever had a say in this country. You just thought you did. Some of you even got teary eyed when Obama won. I know....I saw you. Thankfully most on this blog realize there is no difference whatsoever between the parties when it comes to money, which is what politics is all about. Everything else is cognitive dissonance.
"When only 10% show up to vote, THAT will get their attention."
Not really! They already don't think they need us. Why would they care if anyone showed up?
They are in power. They don't care what you do. It will probably take torches and pitch forks to get them out.... Just like in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Lybia and all the other places where the people finally got fed up with their rulers...
Uh....no. Our nation is armed to the teeth, and has revolted once already. When they have your attention and allegience thru voting and getting you involved in contentious debates...they have your mind. That's the point. And they don't need to care what you think because you are pre-occupied with political gibberish. Ever hear of "God, guns and gays"? These issues are brought up at election time for a reason. You are delusional if you think you have ever affected the real politics (i.e. wealth distribution) of this nation in any way. That is what the bailouts showed you. If you would have looked.
I know what you mean and I agree with you, actually. That being said, I will vote yet again even though I do it via absentee ballot and they probably just toss them in the incinerator. I'll vote for Ron Paul even if I have to write in his name. And I'll vote against any incumbent who is running again -- my Congressman is stepping down after decades of public leech service -- just because it will give me perverse pleasure to do so. I'll vote for any Libertarian running for any office just to try and spike a few numbers even though I know the game is pre-determined. They got their names on the ballot. And btw, you're one of the people I like to read here.
Zh should stick to the markets. They quote a heritage article that says 50% pay no INCOME taxes then reword it to say no taxes. Btw the heritage chart ends at 12/31/2008 Huge difference because of the 50% who pay no taxes, 75% pay payroll taxes which contribute more to fed revenues now than income taxes. See here http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-cha... share of federal tax revenue. Not to mention state real estate excise taxes etc etc. the other 25% are either the elderly, students, or ppl making less than 22k a year.
I have spent my life looking for the most boring person alive and I finally found you. My Quest is over.
greeks uber zer0Hedge?
call tyler out; tell him what you think of him!
where did you learn this? in fencing class?
What's wrong slewie? Upset that the German nazi snow monkey schnitzel face is going to go bankrupt trying to bail out its zombie banks and its failed social/economic/political experiment aka the euro is unravelling much like what happened after ww2
Ohedge is awesome just good to point some things out sometimes instead of blindly following everything you read like the muppet schnitzel face you are
nothing's wrong
i'm ok, thxz
i was just thinking: if you're gonna get in tyler's face, why pussy-footatound, is all?
you know: the aspect you deflected from and didn't address
you're not gonna really address anything, trolling away like this are you, toy-boy?
any idea what the article was about? some misunderstanding about taxes? L0L!!! how long have you had these problems, son?
if you want to call tyler out, call him out! but that doesn't apply to you, as we already see
buh-bye!
I've been pointing this phenomena out for years when having political discussions with friends...
In fact, it's not really as surprising as it looks; it's been he norm since the time of the American revolution. At that time, approximately 50% of the public were apathetic; they just wanted to live their daily lives. Of the the remaining 50%, it was a fairly even split between "tories" and what we call "patriots" today; with a small edge going to the...tories...
People weren't watching American Idol then, but the were caught up in thier individual lives and could give a rats arse who was in charge.
My Regards to all.
God doesn't vote.
He invented it. God showed man representative Government in the Book of Exodus.
Apathy. That's the lazy, typical explanation. But that's just not true.
My experience with politics (3 congressional campaigns, one presidential--most recently as campaign manager and field director) has been the exact opposite. People are engaged. They're intelligent. They care, deeply.
And their involvement and participation is ACTIVELY DISCOURAGED, foiled, and disrupted at each and every point of interaction in the process. It's nasty. Every single step in the American democratic process is designed as an active deterrent toward participation. And that's not a mistake. There are many, many people who benefit from a greatly reduced participation rate.
Dave Meslin touches on this, barely, in a great TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html
Try this: get a real job.
When I'm at work, I do my job. I don't discuss politics or shoot the shit. I do the job I'm paid to do.
The person I am at work isn't the person I am outside of work. What--you want me to get up on a desk and go off on random nihilistic/anarchist anti-corporate rants?
Familiarty bias; Reminds me of some people I know who "don't no anyone who voted for Bush".
Yes the people who work or hang around a campaign are interested; what would you expect.
Lack of voter turnout is a result of the masses slowly coming to the realization that their votes mean nothing.
The path we are on will continue regardless of whether the blue or red team comes into power.
I vote because I care enough to take the time but I don't kid myself that it will change our country one iota.
Vote 2 Party, dial 666-ADD-Debt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBAvX1HX_XU
If you still think democracy is good then follow the advice of the Orwellian series thing, keep writing to your representitives, that's the last chance we have. They care about you and worry about your safety all day long, that's why they voted for NDAA, it's for your protection.
QUICK ... take a look around then, gracefully, assume the feutal position under the desk and call the DHS to report the terror people, they're wearing jeans and, they're smiling!
How ridiculous have we become? Seriously, neigh a century of deceit under the banner of democracy and PEOPLE STILL DON'T GET IT! They really believe they're in control.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
If you have a passport, you are a SUBJECT, get it? Sovereigns don't have passports, they can go wherever they want, no impedement, no harrassment, no paperwork, no fees, NO NOTHING! THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THEM! How, in the name of logic and reason did the human race accept to be tagged like that? What is this dismal reality we've made for ourselves? We're all collectively fighting over imaginary credits some scumbag "legally" [1] counterfeited. Is this really what an "advanced civilization" looks like?
Let's hope these statistics are signs of change, I doubt it.
--
[1] Does this term have any meaning anymore? Every day it's beginning to mean "we wear uniforms, we have guns, deadly hardware and indoctrinated peasants, now we can do whatever we like"
Cheney is still running things from "Site R". Need proof? Just ask yourself why is Obama, a Democrat, continuing to follow the neo-con agenda?