Most Libertarians do not identify with the Tea Party

[Mark@Sea]

People who 'game' elections really don't have a clue what the alternative to a fair vote looks like.  I'm certain that when the time comes, they won't like it.

[RobertNashville]

So if you lived in a Democrat safe seat, you wouldn't bother voting?

Of course I would and do vote; I don't just vote only if my candidate can win.

 

I've never missed an election in 60 years except for one or two spring elections where there was literally nothing to vote on. I vote because it's my duty as a citizen...if I'm not willing to inconvenience myself enough to vote then I don't deserve to be a citizen and certainly don't deserve to be complaining about the outcome of an election (sorry if that offends anyone).

 

What I don't do is delude myself into thinking that a third party that can't garner even 1% of the popular vote for their candidate in a presidential election is going to accomplish anything.

Edited October 31, 2013 by RobertNashville

[Guest ThePunisher]

Apathy is gonna be the reason one day when we won't get to keep enjoying our 2nd Amendment rights much less the rest of our Constitutional rights we've always known. Keeping liberty and freedom requires everyone to maintain vigilance against government tyranny. Instead of the people maintaining vigilance on the government, the government will be maintaining vigilance on the people.

When you wake up one day complaining about your lost freedoms, remember those times that you didn't care about voting b/c you thought your vote didn't mean anything, or that you were just too lazy to participate in our democratic process of governance.

[MacGyver]

Apathy is gonna be the reason one day when we won't get to keep enjoying our 2nd Amendment rights much less the rest of our Constitutional rights we've always known. Keeping liberty and freedom requires everyone to maintain vigilance against government tyranny. Instead of the people maintaining vigilance on the government, the government will be maintaining vigilance on the people.

When you wake up one day complaining about your lost freedoms, remember those times that you didn't care about voting b/c you thought your vote didn't mean anything, or that you were just too lazy to participate in our democratic process of governance.

I don't disagree with that at all.  The problem is, I just don't know how you're going to get the average person to care. 

 

Look at where we are today.  How much louder does the wakeup call need to be?

 

I do wish they hadn't agreed to back pay during this most recent shutdown.  It should have had some tangible consequences to get people off of holiday and maybe shake them out of their complacency.

[tnguy]

I do wish they hadn't agreed to back pay during this most recent shutdown.  It should have had some tangible consequences to get people off of holiday and maybe shake them out of their complacency.

 

Heck, McConnell, the minority *leader* even managed to come away from it with a nice fat piece of pork. If things don't get turned upside down in 2014, it's done (arguably it already is anyway).

Edited October 31, 2013 by tnguy

[Guest 6.8 AR]

You can't make a person care. They can only choose to. The more people who quit caring, the less chance of having

an election count for anything. We delegate, by default, too much power to the political class every time one more

quits caring and quits voting.

 

We probably are going down the hole, who knows when, but when it happens, there will be a lot of people who had no

clue it was going to happen. That same bunch didn't care when it did matter.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

What I don't understand is when someone wins a challenge in another state in a primary against a powerful pol, people

in this state may think that it can't happen here. Cruz won against Kay Bailey Hutchison in that primary. A newbie against

the old guard. Mike Lee popped Bob Bennet and another challenger in the primary in his state(Utah). It does happen.

 

Several others, like the contested primary in South Carolina, the upcoming attempt to unseat a Democrat in North Carolina,

which isn't going to be a primary but is noteworthy, and McConnell's primary challenger Matt Bevin are being tried and are

viable candidates who are all worth voting for. A couple more and the senate could easily change hands. Oh yeh, Tennessee

is another one, remember?

[mav]

You can't make a person care. They can only choose to. The more people who quit caring, the less chance of having

an election count for anything. We delegate, by default, too much power to the political class every time one more

quits caring and quits voting.

 

We probably are going down the hole, who knows when, but when it happens, there will be a lot of people who had no

clue it was going to happen. That same bunch didn't care when it did matter.

 

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Mav, that's enough of a reason. And it came from Plato, to boot!

[mav]

I am no longer as active in politics as I once was.  The reason I am not is I have come to realize that it is pretty much over; we have gone past the point of no return.  Things will not get any better until we have a massive collapse where everyone is affected (The Big Pain as OhShoot puts it).  When that happens, there is no guarantee that we will revert back to a system that has been proven to work.  We could very easily go the wrong direction and turn against each other, eventually destroying ourselves. 

 

That said, I will still participate in all elections, and voice my opinion from time to time.  However, I will no longer allow politics to be a big factor in my life.  I have chosen instead to focus my attention on more important things such as preparing, building/strengthening relationships, renewing my faith/spirituality, and just working on becoming a better person in general.

[JohnC]

I am no longer as active in politics as I once was. The reason I am not is I have come to realize that it is pretty much over; we have gone past the point of no return. Things will not get any better until we have a massive collapse where everyone is affected (The Big Pain as OhShoot puts it). When that happens, there is no guarantee that we will revert back to a system that has been proven to work. We could very easily go the wrong direction and turn against each other, eventually destroying ourselves.

That said, I will still participate in all elections, and voice my opinion from time to time. However, I will no longer allow politics to be a big factor in my life. I have chosen instead to focus my attention on more important things such as preparing, building/strengthening relationships, renewing my faith/spirituality, and just working on becoming a better person in general.

Disengaging from the fight ensures victory for the other side. It takes more than voting to win.

You have to be engaged in the fight on the ground, teaching the youth, and sharing your knowledge and opinions, etc.

The left loves the fight. They love their small progressive victories and they're starting to see the collective fruits of those victories.

Find a part of the fight you enjoy and go for it.

But the only way we win against such a well organized and funded left-wing is if we also fight collectively.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro v2.2

[mav]

Disengaging from the fight ensures victory for the other side. It takes more than voting to win.

You have to be engaged in the fight on the ground, teaching the youth, and sharing your knowledge and opinions, etc.

The left loves the fight. They love their small progressive victories and they're starting to see the collective fruits of those victories.

Find a part of the fight you enjoy and go for it.

But the only way we win against such a well organized and funded left-wing is if we also fight collectively.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro v2.2

 

I understand what you are saying.  However, we are way past the point of simply viewing this as left vs. right.  Try abolishing a lot of the entitlements, subsidies, etc... so many Americans currently enjoy.  You would see millions (if not a majority of the population), who I would classify as apolitical, start screaming that their benefits and such are being taken away.  They will become your enemy as you start taking things from them.  People in this country have lived far too long under varying degrees of socialism that they have become accustomed to it, and they have adjusted their lives around it.  The only way to rectify the situation is let it play out until it crashes because there is no way we would ever be able to get enough hardliners in office to make a real difference. 

[Oh Shoot]

...People in this country have lived far too long under varying degrees of socialism that they have become accustomed to it, and they have adjusted their lives around it.  The only way to rectify the situation is let it play out until it crashes because there is no way we would ever be able to get enough hardliners in office to make a real difference. 

 

'Fraid yer a preachin' to my choir thar feller.

 

Anytime I let myself slip from role of stoic contemporary historian to that of patriot, it's numbingly damned depressing, but neither does my best objective mode exactly foster much  serenity about the Great American Experiment either - which I do consider as a clearly failed one.

 

I can only equate my relatively close attention to the macabre fascination of watching ants slowly but inexorably kill a scorpion.

 

Oh "they call me a cockeyed optimist" Shoot

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Not really, on the overall picture. The Powers That Be figure on the  standard 35-55% participation rate in elections.

 

If all of a sudden 75% of eligible voters went to the polls and 25% of them voted neither Dem/Rep, would shake things up in a hurry. That's why I say the Tea Party needs to be a real party, rather than attempting to remake the GOP by minority infiltration.

 

- OS

I think that is a great idea, and I'll bet that has been talked about throughout most or all of the Tea Party Groups. The

trouble with that happening is that it takes a long time to get enough people to agree to come together, and money. It's

that "I know better than you do" how to get the game started that gets in the way. The Tea Party is off to a good start,

already. It will be a party before too long. Just look at the Karl Rove sentiment. A group in Houston is wanting to push

away the Karl Rove chalkboard and embrace new technology to get out the vote. They are wanting to push for real

candidates that are leaders, instead of compromisers. They aren't the only ones, either.

 

Every time Obama pulls out another lie, another group of voters looks at where things are heading. http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/11/obamas_lying_is_actually_cause_for_optimism.html Things like this still take money and time, Mac and the slow

thinking, low informed voter to see how things affect him. Wait until enough people see how much this ACA crap will

cost. There will be a large shift of the voting public after that.

 

I think it would attract the Libertarian and the conservatives because they mostly think about government from the

Constitutional bent. The OP is mostly spin from the media, as far as I'm concerned. The Republican Party lost it's

way when it decided to not put up good candidates decades ago.

 

If only the Rockefeller Republicans could be excised from the party we wouldn't have to put up with this. They are

the RINOs.

[whitewolf001]

I myself voted for Gary Johnson in this last go around and couldn't have had a more clear conscience. My mom and I had a debate over this very matter, I told her I wasn't going to vote for either Repub or Dem since, and especially in this go-around, they were the same exact thing but just repackaged. 

[Guest ThePunisher]

I've come to realize in my long life that voting does indeed have very serious CONSEQUENCES for Everyone in our Democratic Republic. And so does apathy. And so does voting for a third party candidate in a two party election. But heck, this is America for now, and you currently have freedom to vote for whomever you wish to vote for or not vote at all.

[gregintenn]

I myself voted for Gary Johnson in this last go around and couldn't have had a more clear conscience. My mom and I had a debate over this very matter, I told her I wasn't going to vote for either Repub or Dem since, and especially in this go-around, they were the same exact thing but just repackaged. 

I did as well, and most everyone here told me I wasted my vote. Well, had I voted for Romney, Obama would still be president. Wouldn't that have wasted my vote as well? At least this way both the S.O.B.s know there is a faction of people who don't want either of them. If more people would vote their convictions, we could do some good.