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In most cases, your vote is meaningless. The common duty and celebration of whatever is kind of BS. You're better off convincing someone who would have voted

In most cases, your vote is meaningless. The common duty and celebration of whatever is kind of BS. You're better off convincing someone who would have voted differently not to vote at all. Instead, the two of you can celebrate your rights with beers, which is way more enjoyable, and has the same effect on policy. If you live in California, Obama will win this state. It's not even a contest. Why not do something creative with your vote? Have some fun with it. You know, you can write in ANYONE's name for the presidential election. Hypnotoad 08! Proposition 8 really is pretty close, and is evil. It's worth going to the polls just to vote no on that. Religious fundies come out in force, and we need to balance their hate.

krschultz 18y ago
Voting for the President can seem meaningless, but the local elections are really decided by small margins. Our town of 60,000 often has mayoral races that have margins of less than a thousand. And that often has more of an impact on your daily life. Property taxes, local roads, local schools, zoning, parks, green acres conservation etc.
mhartl 18y ago
All Hail President Hypnotoad!
yters 18y ago
And the more Republicans you convince that it is meaningless to vote, the more certain a Democrat win is - so it's inevitable! Since a Democrat win is inevitable, no one needs to bother voting. Saves all the hassle of standing in line and such.
- astine 18y ago
  Obama held a rally two blocks from my home last night. There were over two thousand at the rally all partying and having a good time. I imagine that they all went home so confident that the next day they forgot to vote. I'm joking of course. This state will swing blue this year. But, it's happened before that over-confidence has lost an election. I suggest that every man go out and vote his conscience. It's not just about who wins this time. It's about perception, and exercise of your rights. If you don't exercise your rights, they will be taken away. Even if you disagree with both major candidates, a vote of 'other' will do more for your cause than no vote.
  - yters 18y ago
    Seriously, I'm becoming more persuaded that voting for the right person is much more important than some pragmatic, battle winning perspective that says minimize evil and maximize win potential. One election is not that much in the grand scheme of things. The funny thing is that once everyone realizes this, the principled vote becomes the pragmatic vote. Disclaimer, I didn't do that this time, so don't take this as reverse psychology. If you think it is, go ahead and vote pragmatically. If that confused you even more, then don't vote. Now stop thinking about it before your head explodes.
    - IsaacSchlueter 18y ago
      "So, did you vote for Obama?" "No, I wrote in for the Ron Paul/Hypnotoad ticket." "WHAT!? But you don't want McCain to win, do you?" "No, but I live in California. Unless I vote a couple million times, my vote doesn't matter. California's blue by about 20 points." "I can't believe you!!" Some people just don't get statistics.
      - yters 18y ago
        Where'd this vote hypnotoad meme come from? I've seen it pop up a couple places today.

krschultz 18y ago

Voting for the President can seem meaningless, but the local elections are really decided by small margins. Our town of 60,000 often has mayoral races that have margins of less than a thousand. And that often has more of an impact on your daily life. Property taxes, local roads, local schools, zoning, parks, green acres conservation etc.

mhartl 18y ago

All Hail President Hypnotoad!

yters 18y ago

And the more Republicans you convince that it is meaningless to vote, the more certain a Democrat win is - so it's inevitable! Since a Democrat win is inevitable, no one needs to bother voting. Saves all the hassle of standing in line and such.

astine 18y ago
Obama held a rally two blocks from my home last night. There were over two thousand at the rally all partying and having a good time. I imagine that they all went home so confident that the next day they forgot to vote. I'm joking of course. This state will swing blue this year. But, it's happened before that over-confidence has lost an election. I suggest that every man go out and vote his conscience. It's not just about who wins this time. It's about perception, and exercise of your rights. If you don't exercise your rights, they will be taken away. Even if you disagree with both major candidates, a vote of 'other' will do more for your cause than no vote.
- yters 18y ago
  Seriously, I'm becoming more persuaded that voting for the right person is much more important than some pragmatic, battle winning perspective that says minimize evil and maximize win potential. One election is not that much in the grand scheme of things. The funny thing is that once everyone realizes this, the principled vote becomes the pragmatic vote. Disclaimer, I didn't do that this time, so don't take this as reverse psychology. If you think it is, go ahead and vote pragmatically. If that confused you even more, then don't vote. Now stop thinking about it before your head explodes.
  - IsaacSchlueter 18y ago
    "So, did you vote for Obama?" "No, I wrote in for the Ron Paul/Hypnotoad ticket." "WHAT!? But you don't want McCain to win, do you?" "No, but I live in California. Unless I vote a couple million times, my vote doesn't matter. California's blue by about 20 points." "I can't believe you!!" Some people just don't get statistics.
    - yters 18y ago
      Where'd this vote hypnotoad meme come from? I've seen it pop up a couple places today.