I'm so sick of political ads!!!!!

[LDAHL]

I think mandatory voting is evil. Mandatory voting ultimately requires the use of force to achieve compliance.

If someone ethically chooses not to vote, and voting is mandatory, presumably the first step is a fine. If that person refuses to pay the fine, at some point armed police will enter their life. If that person resists the armed police, they will shoot that person dead.

I am unwilling to kill someone to force them to vote.

I doubt it would be so breathlessly dystopian here. It would probably work more like the original Obamacare requirement to buy health insurance.

[Williamsmith]

Think outside the (ballot) box. Voting is perhaps the least effective political activity for change. Do something that will bring real change. It doesn’t take much effort to vote, that’s why people are so defensive of it. What’s it take to get that patriotic little sticker...drive to some local place, stand in line a little and make a choice for the lesser of two evils. Frankly, I don’t want to give my implied consent to anybody who won’t represent me anyway.

[KayLR]

Somewhere, someone must have the wherewithall to invent a gizmo which could be given to each person who turns in their ballot, and that could be attached to a tv or remote which would block campaign ads

[Lainey]

Does anyone remember the Silence = Death slogan regarding AIDS?
It came about because it became apparent that with a president who would not even utter the word AIDS for many months, along with an indifferent citizenry, the AIDS activists had to force the point that not taking a stand really meant you agreed with the status quo. And the status was that thousands of young people were dying. Being silent meant you were okay with that.

My point is that you have the luxury of declining to vote if the status quo is serving you well. Unfortunately, it's not that way for many millions of people whose very lives depend on a tiny number of office-holders. These fellow citizens need your vote to help elect people who will take things in the right direction. When I see schools crumbling, roads not being repaired, necessary health care denied, environmental gains being erased, etc. I cannot look away and pretend it doesn't matter.

[Williamsmith]

Does anyone remember the Silence = Death slogan regarding AIDS?
It came about because it became apparent that with a president who would not even utter the word AIDS for many months, along with an indifferent citizenry, the AIDS activists had to force the point that not taking a stand really meant you agreed with the status quo. And the status was that thousands of young people were dying. Being silent meant you were okay with that.

My point is that you have the luxury of declining to vote if the status quo is serving you well. Unfortunately, it's not that way for many millions of people whose very lives depend on a tiny number of office-holders. These fellow citizens need your vote to help elect people who will take things in the right direction. When I see schools crumbling, roads not being repaired, necessary health care denied, environmental gains being erased, etc. I cannot look away and pretend it doesn't matter.

Your arguement might hold some water if politicians campaigning didn’t lie, if they didn’t roll their sleeves up to fight for what’s right on the campaign trail and immediately upon election start doing nothing or worse, the exact opposite.

I would be glad to sell my vote to you so you can have twice the impact your one vote has. How much would you be willing to pay me for the ability to double your voter impact? Yes, that’s exactly how much it’s worth. By all means vote every chance you get. Just don’t pretend that a person who doesn’t vote is any less important.

[ToomuchStuff]

I thought you were dead George?

[catherine]

Interesting article about why some people aren't voting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...l_ideas&wpmm=1

"I am a registered independent who hasn’t voted since 1992 because I refuse to support the corrupt bipartisan system. I will not give a mandate to the lesser of two evils. It is clear that politicians seek power as a steppingstone to corporate board positions and/or K Street lobbying jobs..."

"Because my simple vote cannot adequately express the rage, fury and contempt I feel for those already in government, as well as those who seek to replace them. The system is carefully optimized to care for those who already have; the have-nots will always have to fend for themselves."

"In the grand scheme of things in my life, the decisions that politicians make do not really affect my daily life. Every politician is the same, so what does it matter? They are going to make decisions on issues dependent on what their donors and what the party want — not on what the constituents want. We do not make any actual changes."

"I don’t vote because the winners of most races I’m eligible to vote in are predetermined, due to gerrymandering, the electoral college and the overall heavy political imbalance of the state. (I tell people from elsewhere that Maryland leans so far to the left that even our crabs are blue.) In reality, I have no more say in who my congressional representative or my U.S. senators will be than my neighbors in D.C. have in choosing theirs. Voting in such a system is not only a waste of time; it also perpetuates a system of anti-democratic elections."

[JaneV2.0]

I love the ad written by Richard Linklater for Beto O'Roarke (though the ad has been disavowed by O'Roarke--who doesn't take PAC money)--the actor says it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O1FihbeMEI

[LDAHL]

I have no problem with someone glorying in the virtue of their principled irrelevance, so long as they are willing to abide by the decisions of those of us willing to sully ourselves with participation in an imperfect system.

[JaneV2.0]

Most political ads are background music to me. If they're too offensive, I mute them. I find them much less offensive than the near-constant stream of "Ask your doctor is Abidabilumib is right for you!"