Why the push to register to vote?

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jalanlong
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by jalanlong » Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:44 am

tomfoolery wrote:
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:39 am
I used to think the huge push to get people to register to vote was Democrats trying to get young people to register because statistically they’ll vote Democrat. Like MTVs Rock The Vote when I was growing up.

But now I’m starting to think it’s to avoid people calling the whole two-party gerrymandering electoral college system a sham. Which, of course, it is.

If we have these big voter registration pushes, then people are less likely to call it a sham, because the perceived opportunity to make a difference with your vote is there, even if you didn’t vote.

Harry Browne said he didn’t vote for the lesser of two evils because it would be implicit approval for that candidate. If we all vote for Trump as the lesser of two evils and trump gets 150 million votes, that will go to his head even more than it does now when he got 63M votes and 100M who otherwise dislike liberals stayed home and said screw it.

Imagine if everyone refused to vote for the lesser of two evils and only 1% of the country voted. Wouldn’t that send a strong message the system is screwed and needs change?

So my new theory is The whole “register people to vote” thing is based on wanting to avoid civil unrest and delaying the realization it’s all a scam.
I have had 2-3 friends (who dont know my political persuasion) randomly ask me in the last month if I am registered to vote. When I said no they started to lecture me on voting. So finally I said ok, I will register to vote and vote Trump. They then stopped for a min and said "ummm" I loved the way they thought if I voted I would just automatically vote the way they wanted.

I love this when Bill Clinton thanks the nation for giving him an overwhelming victory until he begins to narrow down exactly how many Americans actually voted for him:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live ... ica/n10912
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by glennds » Thu Oct 08, 2020 8:44 am

tomfoolery wrote:
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:39 am

Harry Browne said he didn’t vote for the lesser of two evils because it would be implicit approval for that candidate. If we all vote for Trump as the lesser of two evils and trump gets 150 million votes, that will go to his head even more than it does now when he got 63M votes and 100M who otherwise dislike liberals stayed home and said screw it.

Imagine if everyone refused to vote for the lesser of two evils and only 1% of the country voted. Wouldn’t that send a strong message the system is screwed and needs change?
Yes
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by pp4me » Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:07 am

tomfoolery wrote:
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:39 am
Imagine if everyone refused to vote for the lesser of two evils and only 1% of the country voted. Wouldn’t that send a strong message the system is screwed and needs change?

So my new theory is The whole “register people to vote” thing is based on wanting to avoid civil unrest and delaying the realization it’s all a scam.
I adopted the "don't vote - it only encourages them" attitude after GWB's first term and held onto it until the last election when I voted for Trump. So I get your point.

But today I have to ask how would you change the system to insure that we don't have to vote for the lesser of two evils? I haven't seen any changes proposed that would be better than what we have.

I read somewhere that the founding fathers feared a two party system but also thought it was inevitable in a democracy.
Simonjester wrote: my suggestion for a new two party system.. the limited government party VS the government efficiency party.
- the limited government party works tirelessly to reduce the size of government
- the government efficiency party works tirelessly to make the government we need get more done at a reduced cost...
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by drumminj » Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:12 am

tomfoolery wrote:
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:39 am
Imagine if everyone refused to vote for the lesser of two evils and only 1% of the country voted. Wouldn’t that send a strong message the system is screwed and needs change?
It may send a message, but it's a "someone aught'ta do something" message, which of course no one will. The political class won't go "oh, that's a a vote of no-confidence, we should fix the system".

It's a sign that something should be done, but that something must be done by the people...by running for office and reforming the system, and that requires folks going and voting for people who will in fact change the system to better represent the populace.

So, it may send a message to people who are paying attention, but it won't actually change anything.
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Xan
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by Xan » Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:21 am

I think the primary system is badly broken. Primaries look and feel like real elections but they aren't.

Back in the day, members of a party in a "smoke-filled room" would select their nominee. That was seen as undemocratic so now we have the primary charade.

What if we let any party nominate whoever they want, however they want? That would surely lead to more moderate nominees. I would hope it would also lead to more parties: if the Dems had just selected Hillary, why wouldn't Bernie & Co make their own party and nominate him? More choices in the general has to be good.
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by jalanlong » Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:36 am

Do you really think it would matter to a current politician if they won with 63 million votes vs 33 million votes or 3 million votes? The upshot is that they still win office and still get to rule over all Americans regardless. I cannot see any modern politician humbling themselves enough to say "Since only 10% of voters turned out and I only won about half of those 10%, I am going to greatly scale down my plans and not be so aggressive in implementing them."
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by Cortopassi » Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:44 am

I don't know why I vote because I am in a deeply blue state, so it doesn't matter.

I would push for a proportional allotment of electors like a couple states do. That would seem fairer.

I know people think, oh that means democrats will win forever then, right? Well then maybe that could allow third parties a chance, or more movement to the center from all sides.
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Re: Why the push to register to vote?

Post by Xan » Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:53 am

Cortopassi wrote:
Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:44 am
I don't know why I vote because I am in a deeply blue state, so it doesn't matter.

I would push for a proportional allotment of electors like a couple states do. That would seem fairer.

I know people think, oh that means democrats will win forever then, right? Well then maybe that could allow third parties a chance, or more movement to the center from all sides.
Would that necessarily favor one side or the other? I'm not sure that it would.

One snag is that electors aren't very granular. Multiply the number by 1000 and you could do it proportionally much more easily.

I think this is a much better idea than the "national popular vote compact" thingy: they should change that so that once "enough" states join, they all agree to do their electoral votes proportionally rather than the current plan to just all vote for the "popular" winner.
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