[thechat] US Elections. Today I am pissed.

[Erika Meyer]

Joe Crawford wrote:

>Those who claim that the national mood and opinion is one thing or
>another based on this election are full of beans. I think the nation is
>asleep -- and islamic terrorism, terrible schools, corporate/government
>corruption -- none of these appear to have woken the nation up.

well said.  I was experiencing the same observations.

You know, I know someone who has never voted.  This person is not
white.  This person is oppressed by da man.  This person doesn't like
to sign any piece of paper that relates to the government.  This
person does not feel like the government is his government.  So he
doesn't even try to participate.  Yet he suffers the consequences of
election results.

I wish I knew how to make elections real for people like that.  I
just think that if you don't have enough education to wade thru the
crapola slung about at election time, it can all become overwhelming
to that point of making someone just throw their hands into the
air... it all becomes a personality thing: "I'd have a beer with that
guy... no, that guy is a nerd..." etc.  Not to mention, voting takes
more effort than just watching candidates on TV (when they get TV
voting, watch out!).

I'm not making excuses for non-voters, but for the non-voting numbers
to be so high, there has to be more than a character-defect at
work... doesn't there?

I wonder how to convince people like this that they really need to
exercise their right to vote, that it matters.

Erika
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