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You. Must. Vote. This is extremely infuriating but it’s even more maddening that we as a country, voted for this. We voted for our representative. We voted for

You. Must. Vote. This is extremely infuriating but it’s even more maddening that we as a country, voted for this. We voted for our representative. We voted for what they stand for. There’s no one to blame but ourselves (even though you didn’t “directly” vote for them, we still bear the brunt of the decision, that’s how a democracy works). But I’m honestly hopeful that voters will get wiser as the current state of technology becomes a commodity. The thing that does concern me, is the irreversible damage that will take generations to heal.

frongpik 6y ago
We've been given an illusion of choice between a few carefully preselected candidates. Most of positions in today's ballots are like this: a really bad candidate and a bunch of lunatics or outright fakes as an alternative.
jedmeyers 6y ago
> You. Must. Vote. Of course, but there is very little utility to it when the vote counting is hidden behind an opaque software system, and you have no way of confirming that the vote counting is secure. So sure, go vote, but with absence of verified and secure counting it's almost pointless.
- LockAndLol 6y ago
  Promote open source and vote for those that do. It takes time but it isn't that hard. Of course you have to execute what you preach and use more open source yourself otherwise that'd just be hypocrisy.
xyzzyz 6y ago
Instead of blaming yourself for the actions of the elected officials you voted for, consider that you have absolutely no control over what that official does, beyond literally one bit of data you’re allowed to send every 2 or 4 years. That’s one of the problems with democracy: it gives illusion of control and provides legitimacy that politicians need to do what they want.
- LarvaFX 6y ago
  You could become a representative yourself, like AOC did.
- garbagetime 6y ago
  It's one of the problems with what is commonly called democracy. It wouldn't be a problem in "real" democracy (i.e. government by the people).
  - endominus 6y ago
    I can imagine many more problems that would cause. Apparently I don't have as high an opinion of the average person as you. It would certainly lead to a different incentive structure and outcomes, but not necessarily better ones. The book "Democracy for Realists" covers more details about how people vote. Spoiler; they tend not to be very rational, objective, realistic, or nuanced.
  - mschuster91 6y ago
    That would require people to constantly educate themselves to deliver a proper vote, which is unfeasible (because people have to work and live, and large parts of any country are too ignorant/uneducated/outright dumb). Representative democracy was invented to solve that problem by having the representatives and their staff do that education, but they took the easy way out and listened to those with the biggest campaign contribution coffers.
  - trianglem 6y ago
    I can imagine all sorts of horrendously terrible problems with real democracy.
  - jonkho 6y ago
    Imagine a restaurant whose menu and prices were voted on by the people at large. What would happen? The menu would look deranged and prices would be too darn low for the restaurant to function in an economically viable manner. The whole restaurant operation would collapse! Who said democracy is a good way to bring about stability and prosperity to an organization/operation in the long run?
swebs 6y ago
Specifically, vote Libertarian. They seem to be the only party who still cares about civil liberties. Unfortunately, the voting system is set up so that third parties only have a real chance in local and state elections.
- AdrianB1 6y ago
  Can you share some info on that? The little that I read about it, US Libertarian party is not what most Libertarians would recognize as libertarian.
  - swebs 6y ago
    Here's the American Libertarian party speaking out about CISPA, https://www.lp.org/blogs-staff-libertarian-party-kill-cispa-and-repeal-patriot-act-ndaa/ https://www.lp.org/blogs-staff-libertarian-party-kill-cispa-... Here are some essays by individuals on the topic. http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html https://mises.org/library/intellectual-property-and-libertarianism https://mises.org/library/intellectual-property-and-libertar...
not_a_moth 6y ago
Audit. The. Elections. First.
- LockAndLol 6y ago
  Who do you expect to do that or who do you expect to give the power to somebody to do that?
  - jpadkins 6y ago
    In AZ, the legislators tried to https://patch.com/arizona/across-az/senate-issues-subpoenas-all-ballots-voting-machines-audit-maricopa-county-election https://patch.com/arizona/across-az/senate-issues-subpoenas-... So far, the county election supervisors have resisted. I do not know what the next step that would compel them to force an independent audit. Maybe contempt charges?
tacocataco 6y ago
Aren't you blaming the victim of our mathematically flawed electoral system, First Past the Post? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo Say for example you voted for Andrew Yang in the iowa democratic primary. He drops out super Tuesday (IIRC). You no longer have any say in the Democratic primary. If we switched to a more representative electoral system, these people can still have their vote count. These people could still put Yang during the general election, while still having their vote count for the candidate with the better chance to win. There is also no reason for our multi state primaries to occur over many days. This ensures the media has maximum influence on the results.

frongpik 6y ago

We've been given an illusion of choice between a few carefully preselected candidates. Most of positions in today's ballots are like this: a really bad candidate and a bunch of lunatics or outright fakes as an alternative.

jedmeyers 6y ago

> You. Must. Vote. Of course, but there is very little utility to it when the vote counting is hidden behind an opaque software system, and you have no way of confirming that the vote counting is secure. So sure, go vote, but with absence of verified and secure counting it's almost pointless.

LockAndLol 6y ago
Promote open source and vote for those that do. It takes time but it isn't that hard. Of course you have to execute what you preach and use more open source yourself otherwise that'd just be hypocrisy.

xyzzyz 6y ago

Instead of blaming yourself for the actions of the elected officials you voted for, consider that you have absolutely no control over what that official does, beyond literally one bit of data you’re allowed to send every 2 or 4 years. That’s one of the problems with democracy: it gives illusion of control and provides legitimacy that politicians need to do what they want.

LarvaFX 6y ago
You could become a representative yourself, like AOC did.
garbagetime 6y ago
It's one of the problems with what is commonly called democracy. It wouldn't be a problem in "real" democracy (i.e. government by the people).
- endominus 6y ago
  I can imagine many more problems that would cause. Apparently I don't have as high an opinion of the average person as you. It would certainly lead to a different incentive structure and outcomes, but not necessarily better ones. The book "Democracy for Realists" covers more details about how people vote. Spoiler; they tend not to be very rational, objective, realistic, or nuanced.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  That would require people to constantly educate themselves to deliver a proper vote, which is unfeasible (because people have to work and live, and large parts of any country are too ignorant/uneducated/outright dumb). Representative democracy was invented to solve that problem by having the representatives and their staff do that education, but they took the easy way out and listened to those with the biggest campaign contribution coffers.
- trianglem 6y ago
  I can imagine all sorts of horrendously terrible problems with real democracy.
- jonkho 6y ago
  Imagine a restaurant whose menu and prices were voted on by the people at large. What would happen? The menu would look deranged and prices would be too darn low for the restaurant to function in an economically viable manner. The whole restaurant operation would collapse! Who said democracy is a good way to bring about stability and prosperity to an organization/operation in the long run?

swebs 6y ago

Specifically, vote Libertarian. They seem to be the only party who still cares about civil liberties. Unfortunately, the voting system is set up so that third parties only have a real chance in local and state elections.

AdrianB1 6y ago
Can you share some info on that? The little that I read about it, US Libertarian party is not what most Libertarians would recognize as libertarian.
- swebs 6y ago
  Here's the American Libertarian party speaking out about CISPA, https://www.lp.org/blogs-staff-libertarian-party-kill-cispa-and-repeal-patriot-act-ndaa/ https://www.lp.org/blogs-staff-libertarian-party-kill-cispa-... Here are some essays by individuals on the topic. http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html https://mises.org/library/intellectual-property-and-libertarianism https://mises.org/library/intellectual-property-and-libertar...

not_a_moth 6y ago

Audit. The. Elections. First.

LockAndLol 6y ago
Who do you expect to do that or who do you expect to give the power to somebody to do that?
- jpadkins 6y ago
  In AZ, the legislators tried to https://patch.com/arizona/across-az/senate-issues-subpoenas-all-ballots-voting-machines-audit-maricopa-county-election https://patch.com/arizona/across-az/senate-issues-subpoenas-... So far, the county election supervisors have resisted. I do not know what the next step that would compel them to force an independent audit. Maybe contempt charges?

tacocataco 6y ago

Aren't you blaming the victim of our mathematically flawed electoral system, First Past the Post? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo Say for example you voted for Andrew Yang in the iowa democratic primary. He drops out super Tuesday (IIRC). You no longer have any say in the Democratic primary. If we switched to a more representative electoral system, these people can still have their vote count. These people could still put Yang during the general election, while still having their vote count for the candidate with the better chance to win. There is also no reason for our multi state primaries to occur over many days. This ensures the media has maximum influence on the results.