Subject: Re: Last Canadian election I couldn:t vote
Author:
Posted on: 2009-08-05 04:24:00 UTC
Three weeks? Now that is impressive.
Mind you, ours don't tend to be loitering for very long between being called and actually occurring. This may be because the government has this little habit of waiting until public opinion is in their favour and then calling an election for as soon as humanly possible, lest things swing the other way in the interim.
I spent some time with family not too long ago, and I have to say, the encounter made me a tad depressed. These relatives watch Fox News almost exclusively and bitch about "Obama this, Obama that" for stupid shit that frankly makes no sense. They didn't used to be like this, as far as I can recollect; they didn't used to watch Fox News 24/7. They used to be relatively normal people.
Let me add that I am an independent all the way and voted Obama; the man is not the Messiah and is far from perfect, but I believe he is the best person for the job.
I don't mean to start a flame war, but perhaps others could share stories with political nutjobs of all flavors.
This place actually dot dot dots the F word? Since when?
Honestly, I think we're supposed to stay away from heavy swears anyway. Occasionally they're not a problem, but dropping the F-bomb in a public forum frequented by kids (at least, it was. or could be) is probably not a good idea in any case.
Actually, I was intending not to name names. Easier that way.
How exactly a bunch of racist nutters would help a bit I'm not sure. My scepticism is based in large part on the fact that the party seems determined to lay every problem the country has at the feet of non-white citizens, and assumes forced repatriation will sort everything out and bring back to glorious days of Empire. I'd rather have a government that's slightly more grounded in reality.
I lurk in SomethingAwful's Laissez-Faire forums; I believe I heard some pretty scary stories about the BNP, if memory serves.
I wanted to slap my ex-boyfriend so hard when I asked if he planned on voting for the next election and he said "I don't think I'll vote." What a shithead.
Three weeks? Now that is impressive.
Mind you, ours don't tend to be loitering for very long between being called and actually occurring. This may be because the government has this little habit of waiting until public opinion is in their favour and then calling an election for as soon as humanly possible, lest things swing the other way in the interim.
Yeah; this guy, however, was a rich white kid who had everything he could ever want and didn't vote not because he had anything against the system, or had issues with government--he just didn't care. As long as he had his video games, and porn, and crappy restaurant food, he cared about nothing else. It's one thing to care and not vote--it's entirely different to be an apathetic bumhole with tunnel vision and stunted social growth. It was like 1984...
Anyways, I vote because there is always someone I want in office. I'm okay with the voting system. Also, I always remind myself that, less than a hundred years ago, women couldn't vote. I better damn well get my ass to the local polls to honor the women who fought for suffrage (as a feminist, this is important to me.)
Coming in late, but I just read a bit about the BNP and... My brain, it hurts. I'm not white or from Britain, but I still don't see how discrimination can possibly help anything. Therefore, I am heavily on the side of "they're racist nutters".
I feel I should restate that I didn't actually vote BNP.
Although this is why we have secret ballots.
but then again, I don't see the point in a lot of things. After all, the phrase "If voting could change things, it would be illegal" exists for a reason.
And that would be because you live somewhere reasonably safe, where the worst that can happen to you personally based on your vote is having arguments about it. Some places, some times, you or your family could be ostracised, you could lose your job, be attacked or even killed simply based on how you voted. If you know that's the case it takes a lot of guts to vote how you want to rather than voting for the party that won't get your kneecaps smashed. In the interests of not intimidating voters, we therefore have secret ballots.
And if not, go buy a knife.
Yeah, we are pretty much safe in that regard, but the safety is maintained by the secret ballot. We don't have much politically based violence, because we've no way of distinguishing between Us and Them and so working out who to attack.
Example: say you vote for the BNP. And then say you're applying for a job, and the bloke interviewing you is a hardcore Green Party member. If he can look you up afterwards and find out where your political allegiances lie, he's likely to find spurious reasons not to give you the job.
...if you're in the military, emergency services, clergy or medical professions then you're not allowed to be a member of the BNP. Remember the fuss a while back about the BNP membership list being leaked and people potentially losing their jobs because of it?
you can pwn him in court.
... what does the Green Party do anyway?
They're the happy-clappy organic vegetarian Gaia types, generally.
I think that on the internet, we expect most people to be well-informed, relatively young, and open-minded. Instead, you continue to find sites like Free Republic and Stormfront. It can be appalling to think that these kinds of people even have access to the internet, let alone are able to publicly declare such ideals as white supremacy (shudder) and homegrown terrorism (UGGGHHH).
Aye, I know, it just came as a shock. Mind you, politics has a tendency to do that. If it helps explain my vehemence, the BNP are basically neo-Nazis - in other words, not a party I'm terribly happy about the existence of.
I confess I'm no expert on the European Parliament myself. But so far as I understand it, a parliament is a Good Thing, because it means we've elected representatives hashing things out, rather than committees and whatever agencies (forgive my lack of technical terminology) that aren't accountable to The People. They also, as mentioned, go for proportional representation, which is also a Good Thing, but does mean we get some characters with ... interesting views up there.
...Just be glad they didn't teach the babies to say "Obama es un comunista". Although at least my family isn't psycho right-wing, so I take what I can get.
I always viewed her as the female equivalent of Bush. She was a big reason why I didn't vote McCain--I was tempted until she entered the arena. Just because she's white and female like myself doesn't give her my vote.
Hellz yeah!