Anyone else find it harder to tolerate so-called political ambivalence?

[belladonna]

Ten years ago, when someone told me they just didn't care that much about politics and didn't bother to vote, it still ticked me off but I'd mostly roll my eyes and say something to the effect of "Yeah? Well, don't complain when gas prices go up or your kid's school has it's budget slashed and you have to buy tissues and soap and gawd knows what else every August".

These days? Every time some idiot opens their mouth to tell me that "Getting all worked up about politics is a waste of energy" (Yes, that is a direct quote) or some bullshit about the Dems and Pugs being alike and, geez, it's not like my little ol' vote counts anyway, I just want to go off on a rant and tell them how fucking PISSED I am that people like them have allowed our country be raped by those bastards who currently hold our country hostage. :mad:

Honestly, how hard is it to take even 2 or 3 hours a week to at least TRY to educate yourself as to what's going on in our government? To go vote once a year is THAT hard? And what REALLY makes me fume is the fact that these are almost ALWAYS the same assholes that listen to that GAWD AWFUL Lee Greenwood Proud to Be an American BULLSHIT. You're proud to be an American? Oh really? Democracy is a beautiful thing and we should force it on Iraq??? This coming from assholes who don't give a flying fuck about their own democracy and can't be bothered to vote??? :banghead:

Sorry guys, I've been surrounded by stupidity for the last 4 days and just had to get this off my chest somehow before I exploded on some unsuspecting fool :blush: Thank gawd I have DU to get the rants out of my system every now and then :D:

Edited because I was too damn mad to spell right :blush:

[LeftyMom]

1. That's a great rant.

:yourock:

[belladonna]

2. Heh.. thanks!

What got me going was that I did some volunteer work over the weekend, trying to get the word out about this damn marriage amendment they're trying to slip through in Virginia this year :mad: I got SO many idiots who told me they voting anyway so it didn't matter to them one way or another or who had no frigging clue that this is even going to be on the ballot, and I've been doing a slow burn all weekend, trying to bite my tongue as much as I could. Yet, half of them had flags raised or stickers on their car of the flag or those yellow ribbons on their car. Yeah, I love America and I support the troops so much that I can't be bothered to vote... makes perfect sense to me! :banghead:

[LeftyMom]

3. Who could anybody in VA not be voting?

Even if they're comletely not paying attention, they've surely heard that Allen is a racist scumbag. Surely people'd want to show up to keep a racist out of office?

Right?

Right?

*sigh*

Room on that wall for one more? :banghead:

[belladonna]

6. Ahh, but how do you think the racist scumbag got in office to begin with?

George Allen? Oh yeah, he was our Governor for awhile! Can't think of anything good he did for the state of Virginia, but gee... he seems like such a down to earth guy! I think I'll vote for him! :freak:

[LeftyMom]

8. Just so you know, the following is not my rant, I stole it from another

DUer:

The uninformed middle don't vote based on issues. Thier vote is based on the marketing campaign which appeals most to the desires of thier demographic. To them it's not a vote about differing visions of our future, it's about who did a better job of validating thier desires and lifestyle.

That's why people in the square states voted for Bush. Not because they believed he'd make thier lives better or even that he wanted to, but because he had superior marketing to that demographic.

[belladonna]

9. Sadly enough, that DUer is absolutely right

Interspersed among the ambivalence, I found quite a few people who are voting this year BECAUSE of the marriage amendment... too bad they're voting FOR it :cry: God forbid those damn gay people have a chance to screw marriage up as badly as us straight people, eh? But vote based on how many soldiers have died in an illegal war? Nah, can't be bothered :nuke:

[mark414]

4. the iraqis should have every right to be as stupid and indifferent

as me!

[tigereye]

5. I was making a Dr. appt.

and I asked the woman on the phone if the date that she was offering was election day - she said she didn't know and that after the last election, she didn't think her vote mattered and she had no intention of voting. That was very upsetting!

I kept repeating that it was critical to vote. Finally she ignored me. It saddens me that people have become so lackadaisical and/or cynical about a precious gift that many people in the world do not have.

ps. I just got online and donated money for the tight Senate races....we desperately need a new Senator here in PA!

[belladonna]

7. I run into that all the time

How these people can crow about how great America is and they're proud to be a part of this great democracy, then not take advantage of the most basic right they have blows my mind.

[billyskank]

10. It's just words

It's just like following a sports team; in fact it's exactly like following a sports team. America is the greatest! Why? Because it's my home team, that's why! Phrases such as "this great democracy" and "land of the free" are completely empty of meaning; they are simply slogans that fire up the crowd. Just as a sports fan actually has no power to affect the performance of their team, so the 'patriot' does not intend to actually do anything to justify the claims made of his home team; i.e. exercise some liberties. They are mere supporters.

This suits the rulers down to the ground, of course.

[tigereye]

12. I was just explaining to my 10 year old

what a cliche was - I don't know if you read Opus, but this past SUnday's was quite funny and involved excessive sloganeering by the sloganeer in chief....

I also told him that voter disaffection and slogans like "let's clean out the barn" managed to get a pretty good vote count for 3rd party candidate Ross Perot in 92.

I guess I don't agree though, that land of the free and great democracy are meaningless - they have mainly been misused by the Reps and others to make people cynical about those concepts. I think many Americans (and many here) take those phrases very seriously and that is why many of us are so steamed.

I still think America IS a great democracy - albeit a young one - and we are lucky to have the right to vote, not a common thing around the planet.

[belladonna]

11. Have you seen the latest on Weldon???

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2564461