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Underground > Switchboard >

VOTE YOU BASTARDS

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We're The Great Old Ones Now

08:30 / 09.05.02

But if the object was to make 'jedi' a recognised religion, it failed, because the mechanism isn't there. Your example cuts both ways, and the 'jedi' thing was written off as a joke.

The bloke in the monkey suit is a more interesting result, but since we know nothing about his actual politics, it seems a little risky to vote for a football mascot.

gozer the destructor

10:05 / 09.05.02

His slogan was 'free bananas for school children' and in his first day at office he saved a youth centre by donating part of his salary. He feels a myaor should be independent of politics and is planning to continue being independent in every avenue of his service, apparently.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:19 / 09.05.02

"For many people it's the only time they ever think about politics. It's the easiest means of registering an approximation of what you want, even if the nearest you can actually get is a choice between Chirac and Le Pen."

That's arguable, but it's not quite the same thing as being the *single simple* way to register our political desires - what bothered me about your original phrasing was that it suggested, as indeed the mainstream political parties like to do, that there aren't any other ways of registering our political desires, at least none as simple and effective as voting (which as you concede above, is hardly ever that simple or effective...).

18:54 / 09.05.02

"All voting is a sort of gaming, like chequers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting nautrally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting [i]for the right[/i] [i.e., for what is right! not Tory/Republican/right wing, of course.] is [i]doing[/i] nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the actions of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. [i]They[/i] will then be the only slaves..." --"Resistance to Civil Government," Henry David Thoreau, 1849.

Thoughts?

alas

08:37 / 10.05.02

Just thinking out loud, but why doesn't Barbelith put up a candidate at the next election? We could raise the deposit between us, and with the resources of everyone here could muster quite an effective campaign!

That way instead of merely decrying the lack of voting options, we're making a new one for people. Could be an interesting project!

gozer the destructor

10:02 / 10.05.02

It would be intresting to see how it works on the inside...

We're The Great Old Ones Now

13:15 / 10.05.02

Flyboy:

I say tomato, you say genetically modified tomato-based food product.

It is pretty simple. You decide whom you like or whom you really don't like, and you vote accordingly. If the vote is a landslide, you tried (and were either part of the landslide or you picked a set of views your fellow voters really don't like). If the vote is close, yours is vital.

Difficulty, of course, is that there may not be a candidate who expresses your views. But then, there's almost always someone you'd rather die than see voted in. I just have a big problem with being politically 'active' and refusing to vote - unless, of course, you take the 'worse is better' line that things have to get awful before the pendulum swings the other way. Which I accept but have this whole other big problem with.

solid~liquid onwards

19:59 / 10.05.02

having our own elected official would be groovy... it would take a lot of planning for an election campaign for someone from here to make them palatable for the general public.

*sttab drifts further into fantasy

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