Disillusioned members of the left. Disillusioned members ont he right.

[Sidhe]

3rd party is good, then if two of the guys are useless then you have a third choice. Of course in the Us this is usually a joke vote

I love general elections in this country

you get about 400 parties in every seat some of which are truly nuts?? like the BNP.

The Monster Raving looney parties man is the only sane candidate amongst the bunch too normally oddly enough

 

[Fifty]

3rd parties are pointless, might as well not vote.

The two major parties suck, might as well not vote.

might as well not vote.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Tough to argue with that logic.

 

[Fifty]

Tough to argue with that logic.

Always tough to argue against the correct viewpoint!

 

[Israelite9191]

Voting is the only way to hold your government acountable. Unfortunately, there are so many people who agree with Fifty that trying to hold your government acountable through voting has become almost impossible. While we may be in a situation where logic such as Fifty's almost makes sense, it is because so many people used that logic in the past to bring us to the point that we are at today.

 

[h4ppy]

The problem is that one vote has never made a difference on a large scale.

 

[Irish Caesar]

If everyone used that logic, one vote would make all the difference on the large scale.

 

[Fifty]

If everyone used that logic, one vote would make all the difference on the large scale.

The problem with hypothetical if's is that they rarely conform to reality.

 

[Ayatollah So]

The reason to vote is not to tip the balance with a single vote, but simply to fulfil your obligation to your political allies, if you have any. The reason to make political allies and respect them is that things go better in the long run, making and keeping such agreements, than they would do otherwise.

 

[Fifty]

The reason to vote is not to tip the balance with a single vote, but simply to fulfil your obligation to your political allies, if you have any. The reason to make political allies and respect them is that things go better in the long run, making and keeping such agreements, than they would do otherwise.

Fine, then I'll just lie and tell them I voted when I really will just go get a burger or sit on my boat!

 

[BasketCase]

Yes, and now the people couldn't get them out of there if they tried.

Of course they can. Incumbents get voted out all the time (I'm surprised you didn't think of George Bush Sr. at this point!). Incumbents do have an above-average chance of winning an election, but the reason for that is because the voters vote that way.

The voters had a chance to remove Bush Jr. in 2004. The safety valve is there. The voters decided not to use it. In 2008 the valve will open again (Bush Jr. will be out no matter what, but the decision at that point will be to continue with Republican policies or switch to Democratic ones).

 

[Irish Caesar]

I'm not talking about the President; it's easy to unseat him when compared to Congressmen who draw their own districts and Senators who could buy the towns they live in...

 

[kingjoshi]

I'm not talking about the President; it's easy to unseat him when compared to Congressmen who draw their own districts and Senators who could buy the towns they live in...

Senators are for the state. House Representatives are smaller districts.

But I agree in spirit of what you said

 

[Irish Caesar]

Oh, I know that Senators are for the whole state. But it's not often that a Senate race is hotly contested and not often when an incumbent loses. Sure, I remember Daschle lost South Dakota in a close one, but Senators have a tendency to stay in Washington a long time.

 

[Arminius]

Clowns to the left of me. Jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

 

[h4ppy]

Wait, I don't think that Congressmen draw their own districts, at least not national congressmen.

 

[Irish Caesar]

This is my district. I wonder who would draw it in such a way?

Many of the others are in odd shapes, too.
Other states also have this absurdity.

 

[Israelite9191]

Remember the Texas thing where the districts were redrawn at the last minute so that Republicans would have majorty in more states? BTW, this goes against the "one man one vote" law. Don't ask me to explain it, I barely understand the law as it is. All I know is that many legal scholars have stated that the re-districting goes against "one man one vote" and that when they explained it it made sense.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Despite being a Catholic, I am not sure that I can support a political party that bases its platform on religious ideology. That just scares me too much. They seem to conveniently ignore the 1st Amendment, in that regard.

And this is why you are my favourite "religionist", as Curt Sibling says.