I got really pissed off today

[I_UndergroundPanther]

Didnt go into a screaming rant,however I wanted to.

I was at program today. All of us were in the van shooting the shit on the way home.

Than this happened. A person who also goes there said she wasn't voting. She said she's "sick of the ya ya between parties" as her excuse. She tells me they are both like children..

I asked her how do you feel about losing your ssi? Your medical assistance?

How would you take seeing women,like you or your niece be forced to carry a rapists baby?
Then go to jail trying to get an abortion because she has an ectopic pregnancy that will kill her?

Would you feel oki doki if I got locked up or sent to an abusive religious hate group to un- transgender me? Because they exist and are empowered by republicans.

It 's disgusting to not vote in this election to me. Our country is on the line, democracy itself is in danger and not voting lets the nazis and religious control freaks win.

I told her its all our freedom,our rights are seriously on the line now. This isn't an election like usual this time. She blew me off.
Rather than tearing her a new one..which I really wanted to do..

I told her if the republicans win I will blame you. I will remind you of what you failed to do to protect our country from fascism. If you get in trouble with the fascists or lose your ssi medicaid or housing subsidy I will not help you. I have just lost all my respect for you.

I will remind you as often as humanly possible of the failure you did and what you helped happen to everyone by not voting,and I will never forgive you once the republican tyrants begin to totally destroy this country. I will never forgive you.

She shut up her bothsiderism crap. And stuck her nose in the air. She is the problem and why fascism is threatening our country.

A couple of the other clients agreed with me and said they are voting dem. I reached over and fistbumped them.

That idiot asshole not voting is a fucking waste of skin.

[XanaDUer2]

1. Fucking idiot

My sister's the same. And she's on SSDI and has been for 20 years

[FakeNoose]

2. Maybe it will make a difference when she goes home to think about all you said?

I hope so! You did good my friend!

[progree]

36. That's what I was thinking - I sensed there might be some wheels turning in her head

not a lot of wheels, and not very fast, but something was starting to get thru.

[TigressDem]

41. As long as she doesn't vote REPUKE she can stay home.

Better than going in and voting for the MAGA crowd.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. My math tells me there are up to ONE HUNDRED MILLION who think voting is a waste of time

Either they are very self-involved assholes or we are not using the right medium to get their attention.

[Tetrachloride]

5. We are not using the right mediums and memes

[we can do it]

10. Hopefully this is sarcasm, if not it's bullshit.

[Tetrachloride]

12. ......

[TigressDem]

42. Because people who look at the "both sides do it memes" have short little spans of attention.

They can't dig in to the deep details unless there is lots of sensationalism and guns and someone to blame for all your probs.

The "talking points" and "memes" of the reich wing are relentless.

Our side isn't about deceiving people into believing what they must to put Oligarchs in power by any means possible.


All we have is the TRUTH and so many people don't recognize that when they see it anymore.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. What would those be?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

29. Tasers, pepper spray, and cattle prods.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[progressoid]

16. +1

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I'm going to go with

self involved AND arrogant assholes.

[we can do it]

9. This☝🏼

[calimary]

47. We ran into one older fellow who was rather adamant about it.

Absolutely NOT interested in voting. We were out canvassing. We dropped the subject and said farewell and have a nice afternoon, and and headed to the next address.

He was adamant. It would have been a waste of time to try to tell him the truth. He was actively and rock-solid unreachable. Fortunately enough, that’s the first ardent hostile I’ve ever encountered, and since we moved up here and I found the local Indivisible group, I’ve done quite a few canvassings. Besides, we had more turf yet to cover.

[IbogaProject]

49. One problem is many states use the voter rolls to summon jurors

That is a big disincentive for some selfish people. I always vote, including in the primaries, which are very important here in NYC.

[hlthe2b]

4. Has anyone asked what you meant about a "January 6th" reference?

An otherwise intelligent woman (casual "friend" ) I see at the dog park from time to time listened to my conversation with a male friend/lawyer and "fellow traveler" progressive. We were discussing crowd behavior and how the worst has become more commonplace at sporting events, concerts, and the like. Somewhere in that context, I mentioned, "well after January 6th" I'd not expect it to get a lot better or something like that. My face, when she asked what was Jan 6th, must have said it all, though I quickly stated the "insurrection at the capitol?" and moved on. My guess is her face may have shown a bit of scorn (she is conservative, though I'm not certain she voted for Trump and she's not a MAGA)

I still cannot believe anyone would ask that.

[gratuitous]

7. Can't blame you for righteous anger

It sounds like you may have another chance to speak with your friend again. Without rancor, remind her that by giving away her vote, she's playing into the hands of the people who are going to hurt her. They've worked really hard to make her feel fed up and make you sick of the ya ya. And you're going to let them run over you.

Then stop. If her brain still works, it will tell her what she ought to do. If it doesn't anything else you have to say will simply harden her resolve to cut off her nose to spite her face.

[Ligyron]

54. I tell them...

…the people controlling your life have paid a lot of money to convince you of that. You’re making it easy for them.

[DFW]

8. She is like the religious idiot in the old fable

The one sitting on the roof of his house as flood waters rise, refusing rescue help from a rowboat, a canoe, a houseboat raft and a coast guard motor boat, saying "my God will protect me from harm." The waters rise, and he then drowns, stands before God, and asks God why he didn't save him? God says, "I sent you a rowboat, a canoe, a houseboat and the Coast Guard. What were you waiting for, the Queen Mary?"

[we can do it]

11. Thank you.

[ChazII]

15. This is one of my favorite

stories. Basically, when did 'the one' make the decision to make his situation worse? I have even used it in the classroom with my students. Of course it was more like, 'when did you decide to skin your knee? Before or after you were told not to run on the wet sidewalk with your shoelaces untied."

[calimary]

48. I LOVE that story!

The version I learned ends with a slightly indignant God saying “I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”

[DFW]

50. It's the sort of tale that morphs over the years

I’m sad sure there must be a thousand different versions by now.

[Cozmo]

14. Most likely that this non-voter would have voted republican. True dems know how vital our vote is

[soldierant]

24. The same thought occurred to me.

Her not voting may be a blessing in disguise.

[ShazzieB]

37. I hadrhwtthought as well.

Anyone who really can't see a difference between the two major parties is too pathetically out of touch to able to make a well-reasoned choice at the ballot box, imo.

[Emile]

17. I tell people like that it's our patriotic duty to be informed and vote!

People have fought and died for our right to vote and should never be taken lightly!

[japple]

18. Good on you for your righteous rant. I agree with you 100% and hope you

helped some of your fellow travelers to think about how they are voting. Bless you.

[c-rational]

19. Some wise person once said silence about what is wrong is often most harmful. Thank you.

[LT Barclay]

20. I was like that at one time. In a perverse way I owe Newt Gingrich a huge thank you, because it was

his push to privatize the National Park system that made me realize what supercilious assholes made up the GOP.

[Leith]

21. Good for you!

I'm pissed off, too. But even more than that, I'm scared. I start collecting Social Security and going on Medicare next year. Now, with the rethugs planning on taking that away from us, it scares the fuck out of me. Their nay votes in The House on Veterans' care, hurricane relief, and a bunch of other bills are all we need to know about them.

I will never figure out what tf is wrong with them, but their constituents should vote every last one of them out of office and spit on them as they are run out of town.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

56. Yeah

Im disabled and depend on the social safety net myself.

I have everything to lose if republicans destroy it. My home,everything I have,without medical assistance I would die. And most painfully I would not be able to afford my darling cat,who literally saved my life,Othello. Losing him would make me suicidal. On top of everything I would be as good as dead.

The idea of losing everything terrifies me and it brings rage.

[Leith]

62. I understand

There are literally millions of us who depend on SS and Medicare/Medicaid. I just don't understand how they can even think about taking away what little we have.

I love cats. Give Othello an ear rub from me.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

63. Rubbing those ears

Right meow. Hes on my lap.

[Doremus]

22. Tried to talk a Jehovah Witness into voting but it did no good.

He started proselytizing me so I figured I'd give it a shot. He quoted all the usual reasons for not voting (against scripture, etc.), and I asked him one question. Did he think the JW Auschwitz prisoners would have preferred he vote for anyone besides the Nazis? He was unfazed.

[hunter]

46. There's no convincing Jehovah's Witnesses about this.

They're dead certain they've got a special place in heaven and that participating in politics jeopardizes that.

My mom got booted out of the Witnesses because she couldn't stay out of politics. It was literally bouncers at the door of the Kingdom Hall.

It can be extremely traumatic for people to be shunned by their community.

Fortunately religious craziness like this was a pretty ordinary business in our family. None of my grandparents shared a religion. Holidays always resembled the Troubles in Ireland. The only religion my grandparents had in common was that they were not Mormons in Mormon territory.

After that we were Quakers. I never did say the flag salute in school. I'm pretty much a Catholic Social Justice Warrior and heretic, but that's another story. The first President I actively supported was Jimmy Carter and I've never voted for a Republican. The Republican Party went completely rotten with Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a horrible preview of the worse future to come.

[Bread and Circuses]

23. I truly understand

I have an acquaintance who 'schooled' me that I should make friends with republicans. She's into loving and kindness for all , which I am. When the people are literally trying to enslave or kill me, I don't need to share my friendship and heart with evilness. And that is what they are. They are evil. Every single person who votes republicans into office are part of the darkness. No more excuses. They knew and if they want to pretend another story, they can all go to H E double-hockey sticks.

I have two acquaintances who don't vote for the same excuse that both sides are wrong.
I'm done with all these idiots. Just go jump in the Ocean and leave we sane and kind people alone.

[Joinfortmill]

25. Boy, do I hear you. WTF is with these people?

[JudyM]

26. Yes, she is falling for the veil they're been successfully pulling over the eyes of the uninformed.

She’s basically saying either (1) she’s not interested in taking the time to figure out what’s actually happening/what’s actually at stake or (2) she’s not smart enough to understand it through their obfuscations.

This points to our greatest need in informing the electorate: keep it simple and repeat, repeat, repeat.

People should know by now that Republican “tax cuts” only help the wealthy and large corporations. They should know that most personal freedoms, affordable healthcare, worker and environmental protections are being protected only by Dems. If they want a bit more, they should watch Katie Porter video clips to understand the economic impact of republicanism.

I ask people what if one side is better at conning people and the other side is better at actually doing things for them/protecting them? This often makes them take a little more interest.

[Ziggysmom]

27. Don't let the fools get to you, Panther. These morons are also very lazy, making excuses for

their self destructive apathy. I had a mother like that, who buried her head in the sand. It's a miserable life of their own making. Unfortunately, as you so eloquently stated, "This isn't an election like usual this time".

[Ferrets are Cool]

28. It is maddening

[BigmanPigman]

30. I applaud your efforts!

[tiredtoo]

31. To me she sounds like a disgusted republican.

just my opinion. I was talking to a fan of the orange turd last week. I asked her about the ending of Social Security. She said she will be dead in a couple years so it doesn't bother her. I then asked her about her children/grandchildren. She had no reply. To me that's the problem they are all selfish and think of no one but themselves.

[Evolve Dammit]

32. Great thread and posts. We know that 100,000,000 are too dis-engaged to even bother. Pity.

and potentially, autocrat-enabling. If they don't even know, or care about their own rights and programs that pertain to them, they are truly willfully ignorant. Unfortunately, their apathy (or whatever you want to call it) affects us all. They are letting the fascists take hold, and that is reason to call out as many as you can.

[Eliot Rosewater]

35. I have been saying this for a while, that up to 100 million wont vote and the reason

will be they dont care or see any reason to bother.

HOW do we get this 100 million, which some of us have been talking about for a while now, to vote?

The SAD part of this is if you could get any of them to acknowledge the loss of rights as in Roe, I bet most would be hard pressed to tell you which party is behind it.

This is ALL our fault that this many of us are this ignorant.

[Evolve Dammit]

53. Something is fundamentally lacking to not care, or realize that it impacts much of your life and

you're choosing to not participate. Perhaps you've been told "it doesn't matter, they're all the same" or some such crap in your household growing up. Perhaps it's the lack of basic civics classes in schools. Perhaps it's sheer laziness? I don't know. Combinations thereof? I know the intimidation crap that DeSatan is pulling will have a negative effect on turnout. Almost forgot the pandemic (I voted absentee for the first time), but that was a factor.
National day off would definitely help, but GOP wouldn't ever go for that.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

57. Scary 100 million

People are so apathetic they wont even vote against fascism. Then when they get hurt by it,they'll try to blame someone or something other than thier own apathy.

Disgusting.

[Genki Hikari]

51. Maybe for mid-terms 100 million, but not Presidential elections

In the mid-terms the 100 million number has sometimes held true, but not in Presidential years. Even in the worst voting year ever, 1996, when only 49% of eligible adults cast a vote, it was only 90 million. Yeah, that's high, but it still didn't reach 100.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections

I realize that it's hard to make sense of their chart. Wikipedia copied the data for their page about voter participation during presidential years, and it's much friendlier on the eyes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States_presidential_elections

---

Several factors go into voter apathy, and it's not all because the populace is too stupid or lazy to vote.

One thing that hardly gets mentioned: Voter fatigue plays a bigger role than most realize. The bombardment of each election season with the ads and mailings and news coverage wears on a person. Much of that is because we flat-out have too many elections. Some locations conduct an election of some kind

EVERY.

SINGLE.

YEAR.

Throw in runoffs, and it's no wonder that voters get tired of the constant electioneering.

It may be time to look at making all local offices 2-year, at a minimum, to give voters a breather in between.

[myohmy2]

33. if...

...you can't at least vote to keep fascists out of office and our democracy safe why bother doing anything?

...I know chastising and shaming doesn't work but it does make you feel better...people like that woman Just Don't Care...

...I look at them as hopeless minimum human beings...

[NGeorgian]

34. Glad you spoke up.......

we all need to.

[Glorfindel]

61. Welcome to DU, NGeorgian!

If your "handle" means you're from Georgia north of Atlanta, well so am I. We need to keep reminding people that there really are Democrats in these old hills.

[Iggo]

38. They get mad when they try to blame their laziness on lies and they get caught.

[burrowowl]

39. Kick

[WhiteTara]

40. I've begun telling those kind of people to stay home

and not vote because they are too stupid.

[kwolf68]

43. My daughter

Who is 20 casted her first vote for Biden and she got back with her idiot boyfriend who is a flaming nutjob. She broke up with him and took him back which is fine, he is good to her, but she basically said to her mother and I, "i don't care about politics".

My wife of course was like not having it. My youngest son just turned 18, he is a goober in a lot of ways so I am scared to turn him loose in a voting machine. He may say he's voting straight Dem, but could end up not. His views are immature to say the least, but at least he's got a little hostility toward religion, although he has made bullshit comments about Biden I had to correct. Not sure I can trust him in the booth. My daughter, if she votes it's Dem.

[Meowmee]

44. Good for you

I totally agree with you and I blame all of those people who didn’t vote or “couldn't” vote for HRC in 2016 for everything that has happened, because they should know better. That is really the worst problem in my opinion, even worse than the people who voted for fascism. If you don’t vote against fascism you are voting for it, and that includes not voting at all.

[Rhiannon12866]

45. Kudos for speaking out!

It's not always easy and we may not succeed in persuading those with closed minds, but thanks for taking part in this essential wake up call!

[Aussie105]

52. The aim of voting is to make things better.

If you don't vote, it's really a vote to make things worse.

If you vote for the wrong side, you obviously have some serious self-destructive tendencies and need to seek help.

Republicans are setting out to make things worse. Anyone with half a brain can see the evidence of that for themselves.

[ShepKat]

55. on the same page with you

and the list of people who have reached the same conclusion is growing.

[Old Crow]

58. I agree with your main point and I'm glad you said something.

That said, it's good to keep in mind Ben Franklin's admonition, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Attempts to publicly humiliate humans usually cause them to reject your thoughts. Pointed but polite disagreement probably changes minds a hundred times more often. Not immediately, mind you, but later when they reflect on the conversation and aren't filled with resentment.

[orleans]

59. yuck.

"both sides..." my ass!

idiots who say that crap have their heads planted firmly up their asses. they are too lazy to bother paying attention and too stupid to learn anything

[llashram]

60. so true

"Children" don't attack our Capitol and kill people. They are murderous insurrectionists intent on destroying our democracy. Children??? I can't understand her silly destructive apathy.

[Polybius]

64. How would you feel if she had said she was voting for Republicans?

Just curious, would it have made you more upset? Less? Or about the same?

[I_UndergroundPanther]

65. More disgusted

But still pissed and sad she's that fucking stupid. Would never ever be a friend to her because if she's that morally bankrupt I don't trust her at all with anything ever.
I would stop talking to her.

[treestar]

67. better than not voting

I actually think this.

[treestar]

66. the most idiotic thing ever

is to have this sense of superiority for being "above" politics.