The Answer Is Turnout: Vote, You Jackass

[WilliamPitt]

Last edited Sat Mar 15, 2014, 05:50 PM - Edit history (1)

(Photo: Tom Arthur)

The Answer Is Turnout: Vote, You Jackass
By William Rivers Pitt
BuzzFlash at Truthout | Op-Ed

Saturday 15 March 2014

My mother is an official for a town nearby, and this past week was a voting week on what are called "Warrant Articles," which is New Hampshire-ese for ballot initiatives and budget proposals. The town she works for has a small but very vocal and very active contingent of Free Staters who believe in conspiracy theories like the UN is seeking to take over the town by way of Agenda 21. They show up at every town meeting, and always always always always vote.

...and they win, more often than not, because the people with their heads screwed on right don't bother to summon the energy to raise their hand once a year. The Agenda 21 people are a small segment of the populace, but they always show up.

Bill Clinton, in his first inauguration speech, said, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America." One of the things that is right with America is your right to vote, and when I hear people say voting does not matter, does not make a difference, it makes me want to tear my teeth out.

Math: the coocoobirds who think dinosaurs don't exist because they aren't mentioned in the Bible comprise, give or take, about 12% of the voting population in America. They are a small minority within a minority party. When only 50% of the voting population shows up to vote in a presidential election year, that 12% doubles to 25%, because those 12%-ers go to the polls even if it is raining live jaguars outside...which means any right-wing candidate who says the right things about Jesus, fetuses and guns is halfway to the 50.1% needed for victory before they put their pants on come election day. To call that an enormous advantage is to devalue the definition of "enormous."

...and in midterm elections - the ones that decide the entire House and a third of the Senate - turnout tends to sit somewhere around 35%, which means that 12% dead-bang guaranteed turnout actually flexes to about 40%. Which explains the current House of Representatives pretty succinctly.

So don't don't don't don't just don't you dare tell me that voting doesn't matter. That is a heaping crock of lazy crap. In point of fact, the decline this nation has endured over the last fifty years, the empowerment of the moneyed few over the many, and the rise in power of Taliban Christianity, exactly and precisely matches the dwindling turnout numbers on election day...which, by the bye, has a direct relationship to the "lesser of two evils" candidates you holier-than-thous refuse to turn out for. If you don't like your choices, it's because you didn't make a choice in the last election, and the one before, and the one before. Nature, and politics, abhor a vacuum. If you don't like what has filled it, non-voter, find a mirror and stare into the eyes of the reason why.

If you don't vote, you are responsible for this. If you vote, you can fix this. I have a fever-dream involving 80-90% turnout across the board in two consecutive elections, midterm and then general. Such a one-two punch event would change the country overnight, and these candidates you can't stomach would scurry back to the dark corners they came from. That kind of turnout would obliterate the power of money in politics in one fell swoop.

The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/william-rivers-pitt-the-answer-is-turnout-vote-you-jackass

[MindMover]

1. The answer is message and follow through of that message ...

Last edited Sat Mar 15, 2014, 04:17 PM - Edit history (1)

and unless the follow through happens soon, then lackluster turnout is going to continue ...

I will not vote for another Democrat just because they have the letter D in front of their name ...

and the reason why we are in the mess we are in is the inane voting rational that " I am going to vote D no matter what they stand for ...

[lastlib]

17. okay--vote for him because the other guy has the 'R' before his name.

The worst Democrat is better than the best Repuglikkkan.

[MindMover]

19. apparently not in Florida ...

[Thinkingabout]

40. A lot votes Republican and this is why we have Ted Cruz. I agree the best suited

Person should be elected but this does not happen. Even if the best person gets elected they have to toe the line of the party or they will never be reelected.

[leftyohiolib]

39. it's pathetic that you'd surrender your vote to the republicans.

we wonder why things don't get done that we want to have done, well this is one example. no ui extension, social security cuts, incentivizing the moving of jobs overseas. all that's ok cause you have your f'd up principle to hide behind


"the reason why we are in the mess we are in is the inane voting rational"
no the reason is cause there are too many whiny-ass aholes that use pathetic justifications to screw their neighbors and the rest of the dems who worked hard to get dems elected

[MindMover]

45. Pathetic surrender and loss is what happens when we define progressive with the ..

Positions based on , austerity, cuts in SS, fixing Obama care ...

and thanks for your bullshit rant ... much like Florida, it's a losing formula ...

[leftyohiolib]

65. talk about bullshit

[arcane1]

2. "If you don't vote, you are responsible for this."

It's a shame so many people don't grasp this obvious fact. Indeed, far too many fools completely disagree with it!

[calimary]

7. Abso-freakin'-lutely!

Truer words were NEVER spoken.

What will it take to get through to everyone on our team?

[napkinz]

52. I'll second that!

[calimary]

56. These are TERRIFIC, napkinz!

Thanks for posting them. Every last one of them is true, and rather urgent!

[Cirque du So-What]

3. The perfect antidote

to the current bout of political fatalism that has infected DU. If you're 'concerned' enough to preach about the demise of the Democratic Party on an internet discussion board, get off your ass and DO SOMETHING instead of merely tippy-tapping your neuroses to the masses!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Well, I was debating pointing out that parties change

and I can see very well the Democratic Party becoming (once again) the party of business, the GOP going away, and a new lefty party replacing the Dems in that space.

[RBInMaine]

22. Pipedreaming. What are YOU doing to make that happen?

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. It is not me, this is a historic process

the Demoratic Party has represented the interests of labor for the first half of the 20th century. In the last half, especially the last 30 years we have seen a turn right towards the interest of business, and away from traditional voting blocks.

This is obvious to anybody who understand political history. Look up third way.

[deafskeptic]

42. I can see that coming too. If I could, I'd recommend your post. n/t

[psiman]

35. That is my dream as well

I think the reason that all the squabbling has been so vicious, here and on allied sites, is that we are confronted with two options:

Make common cause with the center to crush the GOP, knowing that we will be reviled.

Split from the center, hoping that we win and the GOP never actually blow up the planet.

Both of which are dangerous, and both of which will be painful.

Comfort/fear balances are all over the map on this one so we keep swinging between the two poles, steadily building up long memories of betrayal.

Which leads to score settling and gratuitous personal attacks one people who rationally should be our friends.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. It is not a dream of mine

At this point I am so damn jaded with politics that I vote, but don't expect any change whatsoever. It is an observation based on the history of the democratic party. It goes 180 every 75 years or so. And that is starting with Jefferson.

[uppityperson]

4. GOTV. I didn't vote one "non-important" election, school levy failed by 11 votes

teachers were laid off for part of the year, it was a mess. Even if not an "important" election, there is still something worthwhile being heard about. Even if they lie, cheat, call the election before you vote, still there will be something.

[JJChambers]

5. We have a lot of one-issue voters here

Who refuse to vote because their pet issue isn't being represented to their satisfaction. I saw one yahoo say he would never vote again until NAFTA was repealed. People like this just poison our party and our country.

[lumpy]

31. Yes, have noticed that is the case.

[Fumesucker]

6. I think you may be confusing cause and effect

You posit that the political situation today is due to a lack of turnout.

Personally I think it's more the other way around, the lack of turnout is due to the political situation.

For instance, the single biggest reason (out of several) that I chose Obama over Hillary was that candidate Obama went so far as to mock the mandate for private insurance while Hillary was a supporter of the mandate.

So my chosen candidate won and guess what we ended up with anyway?

That single 180 degree turn went a long way towards making me even more cynical than I was already about politics.

[lastlib]

18. Regardless, the best to the political situation is more turnout.

The key to democracy is getting the attention of those who make the laws. The way to get their attention is to VOTE!

[Fumesucker]

20. In our system the way to get the lawmakers' attention is with a campaign donation

From my point of view the problem is really one of class more than anything else. The politicians who make the rules do not associate for the most part with the 99% but rather their peers are among the 1%, the movers and shakers who it must be said are doing very well indeed in the political system as it is.

[lastlib]

36. The key to change that is TURNOUT!!

[YoungDemCA]

47. +1

nt

[polichick]

21. Agreed. And turnout will get lower and lower if party leaders...

refuse to get why voters are over them.

[RBInMaine]

23. You didn't get perfect purity, but you got PROGRESS, and a damn lot of it. No more WHINING.

[Fumesucker]

29. I got precisely the opposite of what I thought I was supporting someone for

That's a long way from expecting "perfect purity".

[Thinkingabout]

44. Would Romney or McCain have given you more?

[Fumesucker]

46. Such a thoughtful and unique response

[Thinkingabout]

49. Thank you

[riqster]

54. Actually, it was a cogent and applicable response.

The choice was between Obama and one of those two assclowns. Not voting for him meant a tacit vote for them, because American elections are binary.

I agree that Obama is miles from perfect, but the greater of the two evils is seriously, scarily, destructively evil.

And the only reason those two barbarians were kept outside of the gate was turnout. Enough to make it impossible to steal the White House again.

[Fumesucker]

55. Yes the answer to vacillating and prevaricating politicians is that their opponents are worse

That's very motivational..

[riqster]

57. The idea of another Bush-ish adminstration is hugely motivational to me.

[leftyohiolib]

66. that's not an answer more of a weasly evasion

[rhett o rick]

8. I agree that we should all vote but not sure that it will make a difference.

It didnt in 2000 presidential and also it didnt in 2004. Thousands turned out to vote in Florida in 2000 but were denied access. They would answer the question "did you vote" with a NO. And how reliable are the voting machines. "Did you vote". Yes but Diebold changed my vote. And what good is my vote if I dont like either corporate chosen candidate?

I believe everyone should vote, but I understand those that say "what good does it do?"

[tech3149]

10. If voting mattered they would make it illegal

I don't remember who said that, Carlin I think, but it's true. There are efforts to make it harder to vote all around the country. There are efforts to skew your vote by lack of information, disinformation, and just plain lies.
Every effort to suppress or skew your vote should be seen as a threat to your rights as a citizen.
Take it personally.

[raccoon]

60. +1 nt

[11 Bravo]

9. Fuckin' A, Bubba!

And if everyone who didn't get their pony decides to sit this one out, then they have no fucking business complaining about whatever ensues!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I wish it was this simple

...

[WilliamPitt]

13. IT IS THAT SIMPLE.

Let's try it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. No it is not

why are people NOT voting? Care to ask that question? Especially at very local, SPECIAL elections?

But even at national Presidential, we are well bellow turnout averages for other advanced economies, and even some not so advanced economies.

By the way, you are not the only one with Agenda 21 idiots, Some even get elected to boards here. Even as electeds they are not as influential as otherwise your assumption would say they should.

So no, it is not that simple...

[jwirr]

12. And that goes especially for those who live in areas that they have been making it harder to vote.

Do not let them beat us because we did not try.

[ProSense]

16. So after fanning anti-Obama, anti-Democratic Party flames

"The Answer Is Turnout: Vote, You Jackass"

...voting is the answer?

Who is the "jackass" supposed to vote for?

Bill Clinton, in his first inauguration speech, said, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America." ...and in midterm elections - the ones that decide the entire House and a third of the Senate - turnout tends to sit somewhere around 35%, which makes that 12% dead-bang guaranteed turnout actually flexes to about 40%. Which explains the current House of Representatives pretty succinctly.

Hillary 2016? How does voting change anything? Obama, the corporatist tool and 'hall-of-fame bullshit artist," had Democratic majorities his first two years, what good did that do?

Those are questions for you.

I proudly voted for Obama and support the Democratic Party, and encourage people to push for change without the use of misinformation.

[Martin Eden]

25. "Who is the "jackass" supposed to vote for?"

The best (or least worst) option.

[Fumesucker]

32. The least untruthful politician n/t

[Martin Eden]

41. For example, a politician who promises to make every effort to abolish SS, and does? n/t

[MindMover]

28. unfortunately you quoted another centrist right D ...

Certainly not a progressive D

[ProSense]

34. That's from the OP. LOL! n/t

[BeyondGeography]

53. Ya gotta love it

His frequent targets have been those least in need of this you-don't-say OP. Mr. Find a Fucking Mirror was so proud of those 500 responses and 300 some-odd recs the other day, too.

[Martin Eden]

24. Ding Ding Ding

We have a winner!

[bl968]

26. Hillary

I have voted in every election in my life up to this point. However I am strongly against dynastic presidencies. I won't vote for another Bush, and I won't vote for another Clinton. That leaves two choices if Hillary is on the ballot. Vote Republican, or not vote. I will most likely not vote. We have 300 million Americans surely there is someone who would do a great job as president but who isn't a Clinton. Warren would be a great choice based on her actions.

[wyldwolf]

58. ... doesn't fit the definition of 'dynastic.' Sorry, I know all the cool progressive use the term...

... but it isn't applicable.

[Control-Z]

59. You are correct!

Thank you for posting.

[DeSwiss]

30. The answer is LOVE.

- Unconditional LOVE and nothing else. Always has been and always will be. Further, I think people should vote their conscience. And no matter how well-intended, people shouldn't have to be insulted, frightened, shamed nor coerced into doing something that they don't believe in. Because if that's all it comes down to, then it ain't worth it.

That's why they call it FREE WILL.......

[ReRe]

33. What I feel like doing when I come up against one of those....

.... who say their vote doesn't count? Like taking them out behind the barn and giving them a good "talking to," until they swear on their great grandma's grave that they will go vote. No ride? I'll take you. Didn't have supper? I'll get you a sandwich on the way home, my treat. Too tired? Don't give me that! Too sick? then let's get you an absentee ballot. "You're damn right your vote won't count, if you don't go vote!"

[SleeplessinSoCal]

38. The answer is to get poor areas to sign up for vote by mail.

Since the govt refuses to get more voting machines to the polling places in poor areas, lines cause voters to wait countless hours to vote. I wouldn't be surprised if most can't wait around long enough even if they manage to get there.

[Autumn]

43. Always vote. Always. If you can't bring yourself to vote for a person on the ballot

vote for the ballot initiatives and proposals. Those are just as important.

[Iggo]

48. Exactly.

Vote, Ya Jackass!!!

[gulliver]

50. Always vote, every office, to defeat every Republican in every election.

Not doing that is morally and intellectually equivalent to voting Republican.

To be lower than a Republican, you have to discourage others from voting. Anyone who does that, regardless of their motivation, is worse than a Republican. Far worse.

[Thinkingabout]

51. Women have been kicked around by GOP Taliban and why women continue to vote

For Republicans is beyond my comprehension. The GOP does everything possible to bust unions, where are the union members who are left. The GOP is prejudiced, they don't like people of color. The GOP is against immigration reform and only like to hire them. The numbers are stacked against the GOP, the numbers is on the Democratic side but we still have to vote. The GOP is fractured, the TP is too far in never never land, it is time to take charge and then we can get this country back on the right track. GOTV

[Enthusiast]

61. I will vote.

[MH1]

62. Very interesting that this basic, fundamental truth gets only 54 recs at DU.

Anyway, thanks Will, but it's twice a year, every year for most of us, if there isn't a damn good reason we can't.

[questionseverything]

63. is it that repubs always vote or is it that

software makes it appear repubs always vote?

Gottesser writes with this excerpt from Bev Harris's Black Box Voting:
"I have found and posted the actual voter list software used widely throughout the USA (TN, WI, PA, CO, KS...) for Accenture voter registration and voter histories. I located the files on a magnetic backup tape of the hard drive of a county elections IT employee, part of a 120-gig set of discovery files. The Accenture voter registration / voter history software is highly problematic, and has been reported switching voter parties in Colorado, and losing voter histories in Tennessee. Although it is now widely known that Accenture voter list software gets it wrong, just WHY the program misreports voter information so often has never been explained. I am hoping that by releasing this software to the public, it may shed light on what's really going on with our voter registration systems. I also it also happened in the 2008 presidential primary and in May and August 2010, and according to election commission notes in Shelby County, also in the 2012 presidential primary. Computer buffs, have at it. Much source code exists within the structure because it is built on MS Access. I do not read source code, though I can see some structural problems with the software (for example, it allows political party ID to be set differently from one precinct to another)."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

highlighting this part///////


posted a Tennessee file with work orders and release notes which shows the Accenture software has a history of tripling votes in certain ('random') voter histories, going back to 2004. Except it is not random: Other files I discovered prove it is with primarily suburban Republican precincts that votes are somehow being recorded twice and sometimes three times for certain voters in the voter history report, and this didn't just happen in 2004;///////////////////////

so yes we need to gotv but we also need to fight for transparent counting and reporting of elections

[questionseverything]

64. link

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/21/168207/bev-harris-of-black-box-voting-releases-accentures-voting-software