Toon: Which one of the following leads to actual political change?

[Proud Public Servant]

Lest we forget...

[seacaves]

1. The toon looks like the mockery from TeaOP-Fox-Koch-Wall street.

that we have heard since it Occupy movement started.

[Proud Public Servant]

3. Actually, Wuerker's cartoons have supported OWS

But he's right; all this good work comes to naught if the same bastards are in power 16 months from now.

[PSPS]

6. That's right. Some OWS-sympathetic people need to be running for office.

That's the only way anything is going to change.

[bhikkhu]

15. Or it could be the other way - by de-selecting candidates

If a unified voting block can take 5 or 8% away from an asshat, there are many races where that would change the result - particularly in the primaries.

[mzteris]

2. the bottom line

it's the voting that counts in the end...

Everything else gets people excited and involved, but unless they're involved enough to VOTE, it doesn't matter one whit.

[tblue37]

12. Not quite--it's WHO counts the votes that counts! nt

[sce56]

23. +100 Bingo We have secret counting of ballots by privately owned software that can be rigged!

[redqueen]

4. K&R

[HughBeaumont]

5. Who would that be?

Wall Street-approved candidate (D), Wall Street-endorsed candidate (R) or underfunded, symbolic and eventually File 13 vote (NA)?

Economically, where right now it matters the very most, there IS NO OPTION.

The tax cuts for the rich are still in place. Corporate corruption continues to go uninvestigated. The bailed out banks have resumed business as usual . . . with huge CEO perks/bonuses while firing multiple thousands of workers to pay for it all. Workers gave these shitbags a lifeline and get repaid by being fired.

And vote locally? Ohio's Democratic politicians aside (who've been doing an amazing job, but may be nullified due to GOP redistricting), more than a few states' Democratic organizations promote "sensible" (read: milquetoast "Third Way" Democrats) candidates over liberal ones.

The whole Corporately-compromised system is broken from stem to stern, which he doesn't seem to get.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. I was sickened to hear that the choice will have to be made between

Dennis and Marcy. Tell ya what - you all pick one and send the other east. We could sure use the sanity.

[PDJane]

7. Voting doesn't count in a broken system.

That's how Bush II made president in the first place.

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. Sorry, but not very realistic

Until the money is removed from the political process and elections stop being about buying a seat (and taking millions upon millions of dollars to accomplish) foregoing #1-5 to hope for #6 is just a pipe dream.

Sorry to be so negative. :-(

[w4rma]

10. Sorry, but unless you're planning to kill some people, you have to vote to accomplish that.

Getting OWS supported candidates in and supporting them, is the ONLY real way.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. So the broad base of support we believe OWS has is either non-existent

or our supporters will not vote what they believe at the polls. That is the real meaning of what you said.

We need to run people who share our ideals. Starts local first and it may take some time to get there nationally. Otherwise all the camp outs and drumming is for naught.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. I wish I had the answer

My glass stays pretty much half empty lately. My euphoria over the election only lasted a week until the appointment of the very people who caused this mess and I pretty much wrote off a huge chunk of hope for the future after Citizens United. Crikey, McCain was about as passionate as I have ever seen him standing on the steps of the Capitol with Russ Feingold railing against that - and what has happened since? Any legislation to overwrite that or even strengthen McCain/Feingold?

Buehler? Anyone?

Crickets...

[Zorra]

13. Political change through voting: Extremist Republican Corporatist

gets replaced by Moderate Democratic Corporatist. Then, every 2, 4, 8, or 12 years, vice versa. Repeat cycle ad infinitum.

The Scoreboard...

Wealthy private interests: 666

99%: 3

Political change through direct democratic action:



Scoreboard...

99%: 1,776

Wealthy private interests: 2

Don't get me wrong, I am a total advocate of voting. I have voted Democratic in every general election since I was of voting age.

But let's get real here:

Most significant social and political change occurs after popular uprisings force the issue

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. So you expect political uprisings and violence in the US?

We can even get a general strike going...

[Zorra]

19. OWS is a populist uprising. It will not become violent, except on the part

of authorities using violence to quell what they consider civil disobedience.

Uprising
1. A sometimes limited popular revolt against a constituted government or its policies; a rebellion.
2. The act or an instance of rising or rising up.



I did not post or infer anything advocating violence, and I do not advocate it. However, as I'm sure you know, it is a fact that historically, in the course of human events, some found it necessary to engage in violent revolution as a last recourse in order to rid themselves of oppressive circumstances.

And no one has seriously attempted to institute a general strike.

Yet.

[Capitalocracy]

17. The correct answer is G

all of the above.

[ThomCat]

24. Yes. We have seen very clearly that if all you do is vote

then all you get is politicians who contribute to the problems because they allow themselves to be bought and controlled by lobbyists.

Anything we do to develop a public message, and communicate it together with other people, together with voting, helps to make sure that politicians we put into office will pay attention to the reasons we put them there.

Maybe, just maybe, they'll tell a few of those lobbyists that they have a conflict and have to do what their constituents (us!) want them to do.

[Tsiyu]

18. Well, I'm sure

that people who get off their tookusses and do A through E never get off their duffs to do F :sarcasm:


Really.

Those union members, vets, students, and retired people never vote atall....

[Odin2005]

20. If voting ever changed anything it would be illegal.

[cyglet]

21. For me it's not about voting

It's about changing the dialogue from Republican/Democrat to 99%/1% (working class/gilded class). That they have been trying to get away from the working class fighting amongst each other is realistic and refreshing. If they're trying to get people away from voting against their own interests this way, then that's great. If they're trying to encourage progressive candidates, that's great too.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. "History has tried to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians."

"History has tried to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians.  Now, to go and stick one at the very head of government couldn’t be wise." Mark Twain

[Quantess]

25. What a load of shit.

Still believing that voting will fix our country is naiive. Those days are over!

[Douglas Carpenter]

26. this comic was drawn by someone who does not understand politics in the real world at all

voting will not make any significant difference in itself unless you change the political culture. The New Deal only become possible after decades of agitation in the streets created a political climate in which politicians paid attention to the demands of labor and it became possible to vote into office politicians who would carry through those demands - something respectable politicians would not do at an earlier time before the political culture had changed. The civil rights movement did not begin with voter registration drives. Voter registrations drives only became relevant after long periods of mass action created a political culture where it became possible to elect politicians who would carry forward the demands of the civil rights movement - something respectable politicians would not do at an earlier time before the political culture had changed. And most certainly the gay rights movement did not begin with voter registration drives - Voting only became relevant after long periods of agitation and resistance created a political climate in which politicians paid attention to the demands of the gay rights movement and it became possible to vote into office politicians who would would carry through those demands - something respectable politicians would not do at an earlier time before the political culture had changed.

Both political parties are now utterly dependent on the financial support of Wall Street interest. If one is actually serious about wanting to break this stranglehold the financial industrial holds over both political parties - it is most certainly not going to happen and respectable politicians are not going to willingly cut-off their own supply of dependable financial support that they really do need in order to get elected - until the political culture changes and public demand forces a situation where respectable politicians have no choice but to break from the stranglehold the financial industry holds over both political parties.

Already only a few weeks into this great new movement something is happening - The issues of Wall Street's stranglehold over government as well as the issue of vast income disparity has moved from the fringes only voiced by the ravings of leftist and malcontents into the mainstream of political discussion. This is truly incredible. But to break the stranglehold that Wall Street holds - and to make it even possible to vote for politicians who will address income disparity, economic injustice and corporate control - will require more than voting for politicians with their latest slick sound bites, platitudes and talking points. What is happening now may very well be the beginning of something that can change the political culture and make it actually possible to vote for politicians who will actually address the issues of income disparity, corporate control and the stranglehold of the financial industry.

[Matariki]

27. For this cartoon not to be trite & naive bullshit...

we would actually have to have elections that haven't been corrupted by voting machines with secret, hackable, proprietary software, which don't have a verifiable or trustable paper trail.

We would also need an election system that hasn't been corrupted by unlimited and secret money to campaigns.

Given that neither of those things are true - the majority can't trust that elections aren't merely an empty act of 'brilliant theater' and have to HOPE that PERHAPS panels 1 through 5 actually stirs things up enough to bring about, at least, the above changes.

Until then, this cartoon is condescending, empty, and naive.

[Zorra]

28. kick