VertigoGal said:
umm.
imagine myself in a country where I have the freedom to vote but my vote doesn't count for shit.
those poor Iraqis under Saddam!
I should just be happy that I have the right to check a name...what happens after I do that is all details, I guess.
(and of course living under Saddam was worse than living here and the two aren't equatable blahdisclaimerblah)
*still shaking my head why voting is NOT compulsory in the states!*
I think this is the reason why most people don't want to vote....because you think it does not count and know nothing about the candidates.
The fact is your vote DOES count. It is extremely ILLEGAL to not count votes, now we all know (and you don't have to be American) that some ill-goings ons played out prior to the BUSH election ( we will hopefully discuss this in another thread sometime )
You do not have to be an EXPERT in government to make an educated decision ( The Governments including my own country's made that damn sure.... they make it blissfully boring, use un-necessary big words that even a linguist would need to consult her Oxford and make it so frikkin' complicated just so people like you go "You know what....I'm sick of this shit, i don't understand it, i don't give a crap as long as i am happy with my own little square box that i live in....who gives a shit what they want to do with my country, I 'm happy!"
But are you? What are the issues that face you everyday.....ask yourself what is pissing you off about what the current government is doing.....there is really no point asking parents or family members, they have weird views sometimes. You have to ask what is important to you.
Write them down, do some Google searches, watch the news, read your papers. Check out the candidates, they SHOULD have a list policies and PICK ONE!
If that guy does not win, it's a sad day, if they do Happy day....... but honestly the more people who vote (especially the Americans) the heads of Government and the Political Analysts out there would be spinning so fast they won't know what fucking hit them and HOPEFULLY they will wake up and do something constructive!
Hope that helped!