Please Remember to Vote

[iacrenter]

TI Members,

Tomorrow is Election Day--please remember to vote!

 

[winex]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

 

[iacrenter]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

I strongly disagree. Your right to vote as enshrined in our constitution says nothing about being informed. Be glad we live in a country where you have the freedom to be an idiot or vote for an idiot.

Yes, it would be great if people spent days watching TV political pundits, studying candidate platforms, or analyzing the long term impacts of CA Propositions but that is not reality. People vote for a myriad of reasons but questioning their education/motivations is not the answer. The more people who get involved in this most sacred of democratic processes will help make our country stronger.

 

[The Motor Court Company]

Irvine is flush with FCBs and H1B holders. they can't vote

 

[winex]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

I strongly disagree. Your right to vote as enshrined in our constitution says nothing about being informed. Be glad we live in a country where you have the freedom to be an idiot or vote for an idiot.

Yes, it would be great if people spent days watching TV political pundits, studying candidate platforms, or analyzing the long term impacts of CA Propositions but that is not reality. People vote for a myriad of reasons but questioning their education/motivations is not the answer. The more people who get involved in this most sacred of democratic processes will help make our country stronger.

I have mixed feelings about this.  I'm not saying people who don't know anything about the election shouldn't vote but it would greatly annoy me if people were at the polls - picking candidates because they have the same first name as their mom or voting yes on a proposition because it's their lucky number. 

It would bother me even more if my mother were named "Mitt" or "Barrack"...

 

[winex]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

I strongly disagree. Your right to vote as enshrined in our constitution says nothing about being informed. Be glad we live in a country where you have the freedom to be an idiot or vote for an idiot.

Yes, it would be great if people spent days watching TV political pundits, studying candidate platforms, or analyzing the long term impacts of CA Propositions but that is not reality. People vote for a myriad of reasons but questioning their education/motivations is not the answer. The more people who get involved in this most sacred of democratic processes will help make our country stronger.

In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, he regularly was elected by 100% majorities.  Look at any "Banana Republic" of a country and you are sure to find 100% voter participation rates.  Freedom to be uninformed is an American freedom.  Thinking that having uninformed people voting improves the process is simply foolish.

 

[iacrenter]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

I strongly disagree. Your right to vote as enshrined in our constitution says nothing about being informed. Be glad we live in a country where you have the freedom to be an idiot or vote for an idiot.

Yes, it would be great if people spent days watching TV political pundits, studying candidate platforms, or analyzing the long term impacts of CA Propositions but that is not reality. People vote for a myriad of reasons but questioning their education/motivations is not the answer. The more people who get involved in this most sacred of democratic processes will help make our country stronger.

In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, he regularly was elected by 100% majorities.  Look at any "Banana Republic" of a country and you are sure to find 100% voter participation rates.  Freedom to be uninformed is an American freedom.  Thinking that having uninformed people voting improves the process is simply foolish.

100% voter turnout in a totalitarian regime is very different from a high voter turnout in an un-suppressed democracy.

Who defines informed vs uninformed? What makes one person's vote more valuable than another? This is a very slippery slope. I don't think it is wrong if someone wants to vote based on lucky number, surname, or just how a candidate appears. It is their RIGHT to do so. I personally would not vote in that fashion but wouldn't discourage people from participating in the democratic process. I wouldn't place my value judgement ahead of someone's constitutional right and civic obligation.

 

[winex]

I have mixed feelings about this.  I'm not saying people who don't know anything about the election shouldn't vote but it would greatly annoy me if people were at the polls - picking candidates because they have the same first name as their mom or voting yes on a proposition because it's their lucky number. 

It would bother me even more if my mother were named "Mitt" or "Barrack"...

I was actually referring to our senate choices this year.  I actually overheard someone say that in a Starbucks line a few weeks ago.

I only hope that that persons mother was named Elizabeth...

 

[winex]

I've never been one to shy away from speaking the truth just because is unpopular.  So here goes ....

If you need to be reminded that today is election day, you shouldn't be voting.  Our system of government isn't improved when uninformed/uninterested people have the ability to cancel out the decisions of those who have studied the issues.  And if you didn't realize that the election is already here, you probably aren't on top of the issues.

So if this thread hit you by surprise, do your country a favor and stay away from the polls tonight.

I strongly disagree. Your right to vote as enshrined in our constitution says nothing about being informed. Be glad we live in a country where you have the freedom to be an idiot or vote for an idiot.

Yes, it would be great if people spent days watching TV political pundits, studying candidate platforms, or analyzing the long term impacts of CA Propositions but that is not reality. People vote for a myriad of reasons but questioning their education/motivations is not the answer. The more people who get involved in this most sacred of democratic processes will help make our country stronger.

In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, he regularly was elected by 100% majorities.  Look at any "Banana Republic" of a country and you are sure to find 100% voter participation rates.  Freedom to be uninformed is an American freedom.  Thinking that having uninformed people voting improves the process is simply foolish.

100% voter turnout in a totalitarian regime is very different from a high voter turnout in an un-suppressed democracy.

Who defines informed vs uninformed? What makes one person's vote more valuable than another? This is a very slippery slope. I don't think it is wrong if someone wants to vote based on lucky number, surname, or just how a candidate appears. It is their RIGHT to do so. I personally would not vote in that fashion but wouldn't discourage people from participating in the democratic process. I wouldn't place my value judgement ahead of someone's constitutional right and civic obligation.

I have no problem discouraging the uninformed from participating in a process that they obviously don't care about.

The choice to become informed is an individual choice that anyone can make.  And while I wouldn't expect most people in this forum to already know that the 2014 elections will be held on November 4th, and that at the Federal level, barring any unexpected events, the Democrats will be defending 20 seats and the Republicans will be defending 13 seats, I would expect anyone who is voting in the 2012 elections to have at least spent some time studying the candidates and issues before voting.

That's one reason why I am firmly against same day voter registration.  It only encourages the uninformed to vote.

 

[momopi]

In Athenian Greece, they had a tradition of voting who they didn't like into exile for 10 years.  So there was an illiterate farmer who went to Aristides, a learned man, and asked him if he'd write the name "Aristides" for him so he can cast his vote on who to exile.  Aristides asked the farmer if this "Aristides" guy had never done anything bad to him, and the farmer replied "not at all, I'm just sick and tired of hearing how great this guy is all the time".  Aristides quietly wrote his own name for the farmer without debate.

Following such democratic traditions, if someone were to go to a voting booth today and cast dice to determine how he'd vote, he's entitled to doing so.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Even the most informed can cast a vote that does our country a disfavor.

Amount of knowledge is subjective... I've read that serial killers are actually well-informed and smart.

I'm voting for Aristedes.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

4 more years.

2 more before winex starts posting again. x 2