The Voting Youth

Ok, about me: im 23, black, living in brooklyn NYC, unemployed, finishing up my associates in applied science at TCI in manhattan and with everything i hear and read from this site to michael savage, i want to know:

will voting make a difference regardless?

i know politicians are selected into office at this point, like Obama himself, and this is the position to NY state governor we're talking about. Paladino i know of is backed by the tea party and Cuomo was the state's attorney general. my thing is, if these politicians are simply selected to their seat as opposed to voted in, then what is the point to voting when our voices are ignored and our needs are pushed to the side?

i need someone older than me to help me understand here

reply to post by Kojack


people vote for their choice with the hope their candidate isnt a piece of crap

your playing russian roulette.

never vote for the guy who promises you the moon but delievers nothing but cheese'

vote for who you want and who you think is going to do what they actually say

however apathy is worse that just sit back and not voting.

without hope there is nothing else

Even when we think voting doesn't matter, it matters tons.

Consider the Census. From this data, districts are drawn up,
funding for emergency services are allocated, just about everything
is projected off of this, so the more accurate data the better. Much Better.

While as a lone individual citizen it may not _feel_ like one vote matters but inside
the decision making circles this is mega huge. Each vote is like a chip in the poker game.
Sure, maybe one guy at the table won that last pot and has the most chips, but that doesn't end
the game, and every single chip counts. A politician can only use the chips they brought with them,
the one's left at home count for nothing at all. If a player ever did get 100% turn out, even if they
are sitting at the kids table, everyone in the room is going to be aware, and talking about them.

So vote.


David Grouchy

reply to post by Kojack


Voting gives you the illusion you are in control .. by casting your ballot you feel you in some way, however insignificant it may be, you helped alter the way the Government will operate. You alter history. You run the show.

When you come to the realization that
1. Politicians are all the same, they are greedy, self interested, self motivated, and often lack entirely a moral compass.

2. Politicians all have to sell themselves, not unlike a prostitute would render services, to gain the funds and favors to get to the position they seek. From county commissioners to Presidents.. they all prostitute themselves to special interest, the wealthy, and other political backers.

3. Regardless of the political outcome politics, as usual, carries it's course, regardless of who's in office.. the two parties will use different methods to get to the same end, but it will never differ in the end.

When you come to these realizations the first feeling of power and direction a "normal" person would feel after voting is rendered useless. You become aware you are a pawn, you are a social security number, a tax receipt, you are nothing more than voter who needs to be purchased with cliche lines about empty morality and the promise of future prosperity you certainly will never see. You will come to the realization you don't own your politician, often your vote isn't even counted, your opinions fall of def ears, your feelings are the last thing considered and the state, as a whole, takes a back seat to the powers of the Corporate entities that own your representatives.

Voting is nothing more than an illusion of freedom. Look around you, most people will never own their homes, most people will never outright own their cars. most people owe more in debt than they make in a year. Most people will never be able to retire. Our government purposefully keeps our elderly below poverty levels. Most people in this country survive off of the leftovers of animals compressed together and died a different more appealing color (fast food and the vast majority of foods at a grocery store) and I'm sure you, like many others in our generation, will owe a bank for your education.

Even if we assume your vote counts... I see no reason to partake in this vile institution, a system set up to serve the powerful and the influential by the labor of the weak and the powerless.

reply to post by Kojack


According to statistics compiled by George Mason University there were 213,231,835 eligible voters in 2008. However, only 132,645,504, or 62%, actually cast a ballot. That leaves a deficit of 80,586,331, or 38%.

If you consider that, in the 2008 Presidential election, only 9,522,083 votes separated the candidates, 80 million additional votes absolutely have the potential to completely change the political climate of our country. Obama won the Presidency with only 69,456,897 popular votes. That is considerably less than those who chose to not vote, for whatever their reasoning. ( and yes, I do understand the electoral college process )

If those 80 million would choose to make a statement by voting for a third party candidate, rather than by staying home, we would begin to see real change in Washington. The only message sent by not voting is apathy and that is exactly what the elite want you to be. An apathetic populace is easy prey.