4 ms·

What I dont get it is, why in our presidential elections, candidates promise but are not liable for not doing their promise, we vote trusting them!!!! Who in hi

What I dont get it is, why in our presidential elections, candidates promise but are not liable for not doing their promise, we vote trusting them!!!! Who in his right mind would trust a polítician promise?????

bigmattystyles 5y ago
Because they're not elected tyrants. They may want to do things but, for instance, in the US, an elected president may not get the legislature (s)he wants.
brightstep 5y ago
Because elections are for a different purpose than we are taught. We are told to vote for candidates who most closely match our preferences but see them turn from their promises, time after time, toward a bipartisan project of war, environmental destruction, enrichment of corporations, etc. What our votes really do is provide legitimacy to this system. Your choice is to vote for the bipartisan consensus or to abstain.
- dane-pgp 5y ago
  > What our votes really do is provide legitimacy to this system. Are you really hoping that you can convince enough people to abstain that eventually the two major parties will have an epiphany and feel so ashamed that they'll fix the voting system to allow more competition and better representation? I think you really need to consider who you are up against here, which is people who are prepared to fight dirty for unchecked and undeserved power, who will treat your abstention as being consent for their misrule.
  - brightstep 5y ago
    No, I'm not advocating abstention from voting. Maybe I was a little too harsh. Sometimes voting can make a big difference, but more often than not it doesn't. That doesn't mean we shouldn't engage.
noahtallen 5y ago
How do you make someone liable? For example, democrats can correctly claim that they can’t get votes to pass most of their legislation right now, which means Biden can’t achieve his goals. Did Biden lie? I mean perhaps some, but a lot of the big policy pieces would get passed if democrats had a bigger majority in the senate. Also, our system isn’t very competitive, so how do you get rid of someone who lied? - No term limits in Congress, so people have a huge edge as incumbents - It’s very hard to primary someone and defeat the current person in your own party. - There are only two parties which have an impact, which means you end up voting for “one of two.” And when neither are great options, neither will turn out to be great options. Essentially, the number of times you can make a choice is very limited. (Basically to when someone resigns or steps down or runs against the opposite party.) and then when you have a choice, you don’t have very many compelling alternatives.

bigmattystyles 5y ago

Because they're not elected tyrants. They may want to do things but, for instance, in the US, an elected president may not get the legislature (s)he wants.

brightstep 5y ago

Because elections are for a different purpose than we are taught. We are told to vote for candidates who most closely match our preferences but see them turn from their promises, time after time, toward a bipartisan project of war, environmental destruction, enrichment of corporations, etc. What our votes really do is provide legitimacy to this system. Your choice is to vote for the bipartisan consensus or to abstain.

dane-pgp 5y ago
> What our votes really do is provide legitimacy to this system. Are you really hoping that you can convince enough people to abstain that eventually the two major parties will have an epiphany and feel so ashamed that they'll fix the voting system to allow more competition and better representation? I think you really need to consider who you are up against here, which is people who are prepared to fight dirty for unchecked and undeserved power, who will treat your abstention as being consent for their misrule.
- brightstep 5y ago
  No, I'm not advocating abstention from voting. Maybe I was a little too harsh. Sometimes voting can make a big difference, but more often than not it doesn't. That doesn't mean we shouldn't engage.

noahtallen 5y ago

How do you make someone liable? For example, democrats can correctly claim that they can’t get votes to pass most of their legislation right now, which means Biden can’t achieve his goals. Did Biden lie? I mean perhaps some, but a lot of the big policy pieces would get passed if democrats had a bigger majority in the senate. Also, our system isn’t very competitive, so how do you get rid of someone who lied? - No term limits in Congress, so people have a huge edge as incumbents - It’s very hard to primary someone and defeat the current person in your own party. - There are only two parties which have an impact, which means you end up voting for “one of two.” And when neither are great options, neither will turn out to be great options. Essentially, the number of times you can make a choice is very limited. (Basically to when someone resigns or steps down or runs against the opposite party.) and then when you have a choice, you don’t have very many compelling alternatives.