Wil Wheaton has posted a speech he gave last night in San Francisco. It only enforces what I’ve been believing for some time now. I urge you all to read it. This, along with the Open Letter to America should really make you think about where this country is going. I love this country – she’s a beautiful one – but the state of this nation is severely lacking. The more people think about this, the more people are going to be willing to act on it. Yes, I’m guilty of complacence, but I have the right to vote, and with that vote I make my voice heard. Hopefully more and more people in this country will do the same. It’s a shame that people believe that, “I’m just one person. My vote won’t really make a difference. I think I’ll go have a beer instead…” The problem is that over 50 percent of our residents feel the same way. Each vote DOES count. If you don’t vote, you’re not deciding the fate of the nation. If you don’t vote, stop complaining. Since I vote, I believe I do have a right to bitch and moan. The way I can make a difference if I don’t like the way something is going on in this country is to vote differently next time. I fully intend to do that. <sigh> Okay, now I’m all depressed. With that, I’m gonna go comfort myself in dinner and watch a cool movie. Thanks for visiting and Keep Coming Back!!!]]>
So, if every vote counts, how does the electoral college fit in?
The system’s a joke, and everyone knows it. The dollar is the only thing that matters, and you can’t even say that a single vote counts as much as a single dollar….. (which won’t even get you a cup of coffee any more).
Our current presidential election should serve as a blatant reminder that our electoral system is bullshit. One man, one vote – as our forefathers wanted. Why should I have to accept a vice-presidential candidate simply because he’s the chosen running mate for the presidential candidate I want to vote for? Hierarchal election structure – the candidate with the most votes gets to be president, the one with the second-most gets to be VP. This serves a sort of checks-and-balances, as the runner-up will most likely be of a different political party. Besides, how does a guy decide to settle for VP and not run for president himself? It disgusts me, he obviously either has a self-esteem problem, or is not qualified to be president. If he isn’t qualified to be president, he shouldn’t run – ’cause he’s the one that will take over the office if the president dies. Blah.
Fuck partisan politics. One man-one vote doesn’t work; I voted for Nader, and nothing came of it. They don’t even get federal funding. Dems and Pubs, and that’s it. God bless America, eh?
Damnit, don’t shatter my illusions! 😉
No worries – the system seems to work for local issues – municipal, county, and state elections. At least you have a say over who becomes sheriff or mayor. Technically you have a say over who becomes governor, but not if the president goes to Stockton to campaign for an embezzler… Did I just say that out loud??
The sad thing is that copyright law will never be left up to a vote of the populace – it will be a purely congressional issue, and we know how much we can trust that room full of fat, rich, old white men to be impartial….
Unfortunately, I believe you’ve hit that issue right on the nose. Ugh!
Fortunately for me, I’ve never had to worry about copy-protected audio CDs. BeOS does very well with those. And for the ones that have data tracks, I can just rip the last track, open an audio editor and strip out the data at the end of the music. 🙂