Why the heck would I vote?
 

I'm 18 years old, and as most everyone knows 18-24 are the age category most likely not to vote in elections. I'm probably not gonna vote in 2012 and I really don't care. Right now I get that I need to vote to let my voice be heard exercise my right people died for, be in control of my life, and blah blah blah. I've tried to rationalize why I don't feel like voting and I've come to the conclusion to why I don't wanna vote and maybe why lots of younger adults don't either. The reason we don't vote is because we don't get to pick a candidate. If you think about it you can get into voting for primaries and other things and how actually yes our votes do pick a candidate but really no we don't, at least not my generation. First off there's no candidate that can truly relate to us, to be president you have to be at least 35 but the youngest ever elected was 42, how is my generation suppose to relate to someone who grew up without "Family Guy" or the Internet? Your laughing right now but its not a joke if you think about it no one in my generation had even heard of Barack Obama before the millions of dollars kicked out by sponsers started spreading his name all over the media and in no way did someone from my generation have a say in that. Basically its the baby boomers and generation X picking candidates and saying "here, these are the people you can vote for." Why the heck would I vote for that?

When I was eighteen I couldn't wait to vote, or join the Navy.
I voted in '82 and didn't even know who to vote for. I just voted Republican because my mother told me to. Then in '84 I voted for Reagan, 'cuz at the time, I liked the guy, and thought only Republicans had a clue.

Then, I had a long talk with my Dad................................

The age argument is a stupid one. You won't be eighteen forever, and everyone who is fifty today was once eighteen. Get the picture?

Anyhow,
It's called a sense of duty.
People died for your right to vote.
Now get off of your ass and get to the polls.

Dave

I understand your way of thinking. You do have some valid points. Like you, when I was you age, I felt the exact same way. Then I hit my mid 20's and realized that no matter how broken the system was, It was still my duty to vote.

Fast forward to last night. My wife and I are basically having this same conversation about how powerless our votes are. We both hate every candidate on the ticket. I convinced her that voting is the right thing to do.

I know this does not answer your question but I hope it lets know that your not alone.

Grumpy

If you're going to use that argument then you also have to accept that people died for your right to choose not to vote as well.

Also:
- People dont always die for the right things. Do I really need to give you an example?
- I, nor he, asked those people to die for anything. So, we should not be bound by any such contract.
- Those people were trained to die for the status quo (excepting revolutionaries and non-government troops). The fact that that may include representative democracy in some cases is a mere byproduct.
- You should not assume what individuals wanted to die for just to back up your own view of what people should do. I find that quite offensive.

good post. Frankly I think voting at 18 is inappropriate to begin with. The age was 21 until 1971. As people live longer they also take longer to "grow up". As a result I believe most age restrictions should rise, like driving.
As to you not having anyone running that understands you I totally agree. There are 4 senators in their 80s, 23 are in their 70s presently. How they can possible represent you is indeed ridiculous. IMHO

However your last statement is bogus. You have every bit as much opportunity to effect who runs as do baby bloomers or X folks.

BTW no one your age or my age heard of Obie until he was funded. That's how it works.

So you are half right and half lazy in your disillusionment of our political process and your own perceived disenfranchisement.


if it was up to me the way we vote would be significantly different but it's not so I do what I can rather than do nothing.

We feel the same as you Dirtycommy. Neither party is really gonna do us
any favors. You have to look past the candidates to see what the party
stands for. One would like to make us all equal and faceless while the other
would like you give you an opportunity to make something of yourself. Not
really that simple but it seems so at times.

Frankly, at 18 few people know enough to blow hot soup so it may be just as well they don't vote.

Well that's a pretty sucky attitude. Maybe they should raise the voting age to 60 when people finally know everything :rolleyes:

I fixed it for you.

I was way smart at 40. :p

I'm 39 and I'm a dumbass. But with my birthday next year there's a glimmer of hope :D

Just give it a few months and you'll be smart as us "well grayed" folks.:p

With a generation raised on Family Guy, or the Simpsons, or American Idol, or Dancing with the Stars, or Survivour to expect miracles is a bit much. There are exceptions, our young British friend displays an acumen beyond his years.

We had a saying, "When I was 18 I thought my father was pretty stupid, I was amazed at how much he had learned by the time I was 21.":rolleyes:

Given our half assed political system I suppose it does not much matter who we let vote.

People constantly moan about how poorly the government works. Imagine if a company had most of senior management swapped out every 4 or 8 years and replaced with people whose only qualification was that they were owed favours by the Chairman of the Board. The big surprise is that it even works at all.

Or imagine a company where the Board of Directors needs the 'advise and consent' of their competitors before they can hire the senior management. Where any one of their competitors can arbitrarily put a 'hold' on any of these senior appointments.

Or where they need a super majority of both friends and competitors before they can even discuss the company direction and plans, let alone implement such plans.

I just noticed in another thread a reference to the Electoral College, now there is as good a reason as any to believe that your vote is a waste of time.

There may be political systems that lend themselves more to farce but I cannot think of one off-hand.:rolleyes:

You really think that the majority of the 'grown up' public know what they're doing when they vote? Because, if so, you may be the first person I've ever met who thinks that.

Let me think. We as a society say that 18 year olds are not smart/responsible enough to legally drink a beer, yet they're smart/responible enough to vote. Does not compute.

No I do not, but given the sad state of the media here it would be unfair to expect them all to know what in hell is going on.

Recent political ads have (to be kind) bent the truth a wee bit, if not outright lied, but no one confronts the lies. Frex, Ethanol Grassley and Bishop Hatch both spread lies about the British and Canadian healthcare systems in the recent Congress with little confrontation. I expect it from Grassley, but the Bishop - for shame.:eek:

Right, so the drinking age and the voting age should be the same so more can vote drunk......I see where you're going with this.

Dave

Given our half assed political system I suppose it does not much matter who we let vote.

Including you and I.

People constantly moan about how poorly the government works. Imagine if a company had most of senior management swapped out every 4 or 8 years and replaced with people whose only qualification was that they were owed favours by the Chairman of the Board. The big surprise is that it even works at all.

Or imagine a company where the Board of Directors needs the 'advise and consent' of their competitors before they can hire the senior management. Where any one of their competitors can arbitrarily put a 'hold' on any of these senior appointments.

Or where they need a super majority of both friends and competitors before they can even discuss the company direction and plans, let alone implement such plans.

No, most companies are run by nepotism.

I just noticed in another thread a reference to the Electoral College, now there is as good a reason as any to believe that your vote is a waste of time.

There may be political systems that lend themselves more to farce but I cannot think of one off-hand.:rolleyes:

I'm waiting to hear you mention how much better Canada is, once again.

Damn multiquote not working!

I didn't have to wait long, did I? ;)

My we are touchy. You will note that I said they lied and that I did not make any comparisons between the three systems. Though I will note that to the best of my knowledge no one in Canada ever had to file bankruptcy due to medical expenses.

If someone can come up with a valid argument for the Electoral College I would be happy to hear it. In some states the electoral votes are apportioned according to the popular vote, reasonably fair within the margin of rounding error. In other states it is first past the post; if a candidate gets 50.1% of the popular vote he/she gets all the electoral votes. In effect the other 49.9% of the voters were just dis-enfranchized. This is fair?

If someone has a copy of the naturalization oath please post it. It has been more than 18 years and my memory is a little vague on the part where naturalized citizens swear they will never criticize the system.:rolleyes:

At the time the constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 18 passed, we still had a draft. A point often made was that individuals were old enough to fight and die for their country, but not old enough to have a say in who sent them there. Some fair logic there, if you ask me.

Nowadays, 18 is old enough to make a personal decision to join the military. That is a decision that will seriously impact the life of the individual and people around him or her.

I think the largest participation in voting by young people is among college students. I know that Obama energized the college-aged voters in a big way. The past two years of obstruction has likely caused dis-interest among many of those idealistic voters. I hope that doesn't have a lasting effect, because I still have hope that more members of my sons' generation will go forward with an idea that they need to think beyond their own needs and wants to the needs of the country their neighbors and their world. Mine know that they will be subjected to more excruciating lectures if they forget that principle.

Regards,

D-Ray

In a way, I have a problem with this. In effect, college kids (who are already dependent on Mom and Dad) further get to vote on how the government will spend Mom & Dad's money.

OTOH, the money that's being spent is actually being borrowed from the Chinese for repayment by future generations. What goes around comes around.:o

I dunno. My kids work 20 hours per week during the school year, and full time in the summer, so they are taxpayers too. They are likely to be paying interest on the deficit for the remainder of their working lives as well. I am just grateful that they didn't spend their blood for the benefit of Haliburton.

OK, I'll show one of my biases here. Your comments have much more credence with respect to most of the frat boys and sorority girls - unless they are members of Phi Zappa Krappa.

Regards,

D-Ray

As do mine, but in their tax brackets, they get it all back come April 15. BTW, my oldest two kids (20 year old daughter, 22 year old) are interested in current affairs, politics, history, etc., but haven't wanted to vote yet. They still feel (wrongly, might I add) that their engineering studies haven't left them with time enough to be adequately informed on the issues. That, and they are thoroughly disgusted with the political system as it stands. I think they're afraid that any politician who got their vote would be encouraged to keep up the silly BS that got them elected.

C'mon Finn! They will not get all of their tax dollars back, unless they weren't taxed for Social Security and Medicare. How many times do I have to tell people that those are taxes too?!

Regards,

D-Ray

What are these?

Yeh, but these taxes are put in a lockbox.:D

You won't get an objective description of the frats and sororities from me, but Phi Zappa Krappa was an anti-fraternity fraternity inspired by a poster of Frank Zappa sitting in the loo. For some understanding of the class lines drawn by the frats, watch Animal House.:D

Regards,

D-Ray

The guy who said that didn't get to take office.:p

Regards,

D-Ray