Election Day Rant
Nov. 3rd, 2009 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalSo... my novel for NaNoWriMo is going all right. Kinda took a bad turn last night into the land of pointlessness. I'm hoping to dig it out from there tonight.
But that's not what I want to post about. Here in the US, it's Election Day today. So Americans on my flist: get out there and vote!
In honor of the occasion, here are my top pet peeves when it comes to election day. Feel free to ignore, I just want to rant:
1. People who don't vote. Seriously. Men and women fought and died so that we can get off our lazy arses and click a few buttons on a screen to tell it who should lead us. That's how the process works here in a representational democracy. If you don't like that, move to a different country or start a petition or something, but you ARE going to be led regardless and I refuse to believe that people don't have at least SOME preference. Even if you're not voting FOR someone, casting your ballot one way means you're voting AGAINST someone else. And, in my state's case, it's particularly crucial because some of the guys running will absolutely positively be AWFUL for Virginia. So, yeah. I hate all the excuses and the people who don't vote. If you don't like the choices, write someone in.
2. People who don't know who's running. ARGH. Do you not notice the countless signs, radio, and television ads? Or the television coverage, for that matter. Just spend 5 minutes looking at websites. It's not difficult to be an informed citizen, people.
3. People who call this a mid-term election and don't want to vote because it's not important. Hello, civics class much? Wait, that doesn't make sense. But this ISN'T a mid-term election. In Virginia's case, we're electing our GOVERNOR today. That's kind of a big deal. The smaller the election, the more of an impact that official is going to have on your daily life. I don't understand why people don't want a say in their local government. As fewer people turn out, you even have more of a say. EVERY election is important. Vote in EVERY election. There are multiple positions that need to be filled. And there might be issues/referendums/propositions/etc. (Goodness gracious, the hours I've spent calling people in Maine to get them to vote No today...)
4. People who don't realize it's an election. Come ON! Did you not see the countless signs on by the street? Or the ads on television? Ignorance is my number 1 pet peeve I think, right after laziness. It pisses me off to NO end when I go somewhere on election day with my "I voted" flag sticker and people say "Oh, there was an election today?" WTF?!
5. People who disagree with my political views. LOL Okay, I respect people with strong sets of views. But that doesn't mean the other views don't piss me off most of the time.
Look, the likelihood that there will be a candidate I agree with 100% on every issue is astronomically low (especially because so many of the democrats are mainstream instead of crazy liberals, like me). But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take 10 minutes out of my day to cast votes.
I swear, though, if Ken Cuccinelli gets elected I might just have to move out of this state. My dislike for that man is SO strong.
Quick follow-up (because I'm a Hufflepuff): I totally believe you're free to make your own choices and decisions. Don't vote for the people I like, that's fine. Don't vote at all, that's your choice as well. The things that piss me off are just things that piss ME off. *hugs*
But that's not what I want to post about. Here in the US, it's Election Day today. So Americans on my flist: get out there and vote!
In honor of the occasion, here are my top pet peeves when it comes to election day. Feel free to ignore, I just want to rant:
1. People who don't vote. Seriously. Men and women fought and died so that we can get off our lazy arses and click a few buttons on a screen to tell it who should lead us. That's how the process works here in a representational democracy. If you don't like that, move to a different country or start a petition or something, but you ARE going to be led regardless and I refuse to believe that people don't have at least SOME preference. Even if you're not voting FOR someone, casting your ballot one way means you're voting AGAINST someone else. And, in my state's case, it's particularly crucial because some of the guys running will absolutely positively be AWFUL for Virginia. So, yeah. I hate all the excuses and the people who don't vote. If you don't like the choices, write someone in.
2. People who don't know who's running. ARGH. Do you not notice the countless signs, radio, and television ads? Or the television coverage, for that matter. Just spend 5 minutes looking at websites. It's not difficult to be an informed citizen, people.
3. People who call this a mid-term election and don't want to vote because it's not important. Hello, civics class much? Wait, that doesn't make sense. But this ISN'T a mid-term election. In Virginia's case, we're electing our GOVERNOR today. That's kind of a big deal. The smaller the election, the more of an impact that official is going to have on your daily life. I don't understand why people don't want a say in their local government. As fewer people turn out, you even have more of a say. EVERY election is important. Vote in EVERY election. There are multiple positions that need to be filled. And there might be issues/referendums/propositions/etc. (Goodness gracious, the hours I've spent calling people in Maine to get them to vote No today...)
4. People who don't realize it's an election. Come ON! Did you not see the countless signs on by the street? Or the ads on television? Ignorance is my number 1 pet peeve I think, right after laziness. It pisses me off to NO end when I go somewhere on election day with my "I voted" flag sticker and people say "Oh, there was an election today?" WTF?!
5. People who disagree with my political views. LOL Okay, I respect people with strong sets of views. But that doesn't mean the other views don't piss me off most of the time.
Look, the likelihood that there will be a candidate I agree with 100% on every issue is astronomically low (especially because so many of the democrats are mainstream instead of crazy liberals, like me). But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take 10 minutes out of my day to cast votes.
I swear, though, if Ken Cuccinelli gets elected I might just have to move out of this state. My dislike for that man is SO strong.
Quick follow-up (because I'm a Hufflepuff): I totally believe you're free to make your own choices and decisions. Don't vote for the people I like, that's fine. Don't vote at all, that's your choice as well. The things that piss me off are just things that piss ME off. *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-03 05:59 pm (UTC)You seriously had me freaked out there, until I realized that this is a non-election year for Indiana. *whew*
I was panicking and feeling horrible as I would have fit into almost all your pet-peeve points up there if there had been an election. I was honestly like "I swear I didn't see any signs at all!" I could miss other stuff easily though, because I don't get a newspaper. I don't watch normal network tv, just what I Tivo, (and NFL games) therefore I never see local news. I had the most awful time desperately trying to learn about the local races when I voted in the Presidential election last year, and I'm still not happy about how difficult it was to gather unbiased info about the local races. (That's where I disagree with you...I'm pretty internet savvy and good at searching, and was on a mission to learn, and I had just an utterly awful, horribly difficult time finding good info on those local races. I was tempted to chuck it all and vote randomly or leave races blank, because it was just not easy at all.)
I will admit, I've skipped non-presidential elections before, though only once since I've gotten my legal state of residence issues settled after moving back from Ohio after college. But I would make the effort if there were a candidate or issue I felt strongly about, either for or against.
*whew* Still glad I'm not the most horribly unobservant person in the country...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-03 06:52 pm (UTC)And I spent a long time calling people in Maine and the gay marriage issue is SO close there. I'm going to be watching that like a hawk and crossing my fingers.
I'm not good at getting unbiased info on candidates. I usually just read the Washington Post and compare the two candidates websites. Or, in most cases, I go by the party or who endorses them (for example, President Obama cares about the VA governor's race so it's kind of a no-brainer). In one case, during a democratic primary when I was equally pleased with both candidates' stands on the issues I cared about, I voted based on the quality of their websites. That's my little confession. LOL
I think there was one election back in college when I didn't vote (my first year?). But other than that, I've voted in person or absentee for every election since I was 18, including primaries and local town board elections held at weird times. Things like healthcare and transportation and education and women's rights and the economy are ALWAYS going to be important issues to me, and those are big parts of every election. So I'll always vote.
On a totally unrelated note... OMG photobucket? Why did you do this to me? What happened to my images? Cripes! My password isn't working and I don't know what e-mail I used. Crapola! I'm going to have sooo many broken images now *cries*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-03 07:16 pm (UTC)"Things like healthcare and transportation and education and women's rights and the economy are ALWAYS going to be important issues to me, and those are big parts of every election."
This is true. However most local elections rarely say specifically what they're really planning for any of this, except maybe transportation, and mostly it's republican incumbents winning by a landslide very time so I've kinda given up. Yes, I know, horrible attitude that won't change anything. But even when IN went Dem. for Obama (a minor miracle), the local races still almost all went Republican. My county went Republican for President too, actually, and it's the second most urban area in the state, where you'd expect more Democratic votes. And my personal hot button issue (gay marriage) has incredibly poor support in Indiana in general, even Democrats appear lukewarm at best just so they can get elected in this Red a state. *sigh*
Sorry about your photos! I noticed it yesterday but figured you'd see it soon enough...