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So I just became a registered voter...

Discussion in 'General political debates' started by JesusCrust, May 18, 2010.

  1. QueerPunk

    QueerPunk Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Well I sent back the following letter to them...(AEC)

    Dear AEC worker,

    I received your letter in the post regarding a re-enrolment to be able to participate in the electoral process.

    I am writing to inform you that I must refuse enrolment on this occasion for an indefinite period of time as I find the idea of choosing between the puppet on the Left and the puppet on the Right to be a silly idea and to be honest if voting truly changed anything then it would have been made illegal many years ago by the government.

    The concept of suffering the leadership of politicians is bad enough as it is and I fail to see why I must have to choose between one and the other.

    This is not an irrational rant but a rather logical observation that I have come to realise to be nothing short of the truth since my original enrolment, 5 to 6 years ago. I was naïve enough to believe that politicians would carry out the will of the people who supposedly put them in power to the best of their abilities however it is self-evident that this is not really the case as politicians merely serve their own interests and the interests of multi-national corporations and foreign powers who line the pockets of our alleged “leaders”.

    These foreign powers, multi-nationals and other members of the ruling elite would rather have us working-people and those of the lower classes of the Western world believe that it is our “right” and “duty” to vote in elections and that we deserve a pat on the back for doing so. They tell us these lies and attempt to make them sound like the truth while they strip us of our freedom, rights and dignity and no amount of marching in the street will ever deter those at the top from acting in the manner that they do. Let’s face it, the system that we are supposed to believe to work is dysfunctional and rotten to the core and only serves the interests of the ruling minority and not communities and certainly not individuals.

    It is for the following reasons among many others that I refuse to re-enrol and I hope you can understand my position.

    Cheers!
     
  2. Anxiety69

    Anxiety69 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member Forum Member


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    I miss george, he had a unique view on many of life's subjects, his views on God maybe not being perfect were especially funny, if not just for the uproar it caused :)
     
  3. punkmar77

    punkmar77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Fuckin' loved him since I was a kid, had a couple of Carlin records along with Pryor and Cheech and Chong albums that I'm pretty sure are responsible for my sense of humor...was very saddened when he died. I'll never be able to get the image of his version of Jesus with the thumbs up in that Dogma movie out of my head :D

    sorry if I'm off topic
     
  4. JesusCrust

    JesusCrust Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Man, now I want a George Carlin thread, does one already exist elsewhere?
     
  5. testpattern

    testpattern Active Member Forum Member


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    Whatever, being registered so you can vote on local issues, for local government, and for local propositions and such is probably not going to hurt the Glorious Struggle any. I mean, theoretically voting and consensus building within federations and syndicates would be part of an Anarchist world, right? I mean, on a national level it's useless, and if you live in some cities it may well be useless, but I trust that you're aware if that is the case.
     
  6. SurgeryXdisaster

    SurgeryXdisaster Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Have fun convicting people
     
  7. Jake

    Jake Member Forum Member


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    A very good reason for not voting is that if vote you are essentially consenting to being ruled, and at the same time encouraging the government and that system, basically saying its ok. I think a mass boycott of voting would be more effective than voting and striving for reform that way. I think that the attention and questions a rapid and impressive decline in votes would bring about more change and questions than voting for a party who will never change any of the things that anarchists etc want to change.

    sorry this is vague and shit, i had to go. also sorry if its already been said.
     
  8. testpattern

    testpattern Active Member Forum Member


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    I think that a good analogy is the issue of fossil fuels. I don't like the petroleum industry. It's one of the most entrenched and evil faces of capitalism at work in the world today. The impact that petroleum exploration and coal mining have had on the environment are unforgivably dire. I grew up in Louisiana, so this is something that has recently been driven home to me in the worst possible way. And yet I take a plane when I cross the country. My wife and I rent a car when we need to go somewhere that we can't get to on transit. I will happily accept a ride from someone if it is offered. I'm not going to hide out in my house or never leave the city. I'm going to do my best to get by in the situation I currently live in and do the least amount of harm. If an election comes up where an issue that has meaning to me is at stake, I will vote. I may support a politician because I believe that they are sincere in dealing with one or another issue in a way that more or less agrees with me. Not because I agree with the system, but because we must use the tools we have at hand until such point that we have a better option. So if one of you non-voters has a magic spell that will place us all right now in an ideal stateless existence, I am all for it. Until then, I'm still going to wind up going to the polls, feeling like it's most likely a waste of time, sure. But I'll use the system that currently exists for the cynical, straightforward reason that it does indeed exist.
     
  9. Dianna

    Dianna New Member New Member


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    If you don't vote then the"rednecks" and uneducated masses will take over. And about jury duty, if you support a human rights group they can actually exclude you from duty because of your views.
     
  10. Anxiety69

    Anxiety69 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member Forum Member


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    Um, the "uneducated masses" have already taken over, hence the existence of government in the first place...
     
  11. Dianna

    Dianna New Member New Member


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    "The "uneducated masses" have already taken over, hence the existance of government in the first place". Well first off just because some one thinks differently than anarchism and wants some form of government does not mean they are uneducated. I am talking about ignorant people.Second: If you don't vote, then you will be walked on even more than you already are. And the "patriots" will be the only ones voting and so the world is mostly in their hands.For example, Citizens United court case just passed. It gives corporations unlimited power so they can spread their right wing propaganda. No one ever spoke out until it was already passed. :ecouteurs:
     
  12. Bentheanarchist

    Bentheanarchist Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    When I get I get older.
    I am gonna vote because its better to try to change things in this Capitalist system than it is to do nothing.
    I am goin to vote third party. They will never get elected but at least I will try.
     
  13. danzigmcfly

    danzigmcfly Active Member Forum Member


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    i don't find voting a useless exercise voting for local initiatives like they wanted to lower the age of consent to like 13 or something silly and while you always have a shit choice in candidates does anyone want someone like michele bachmann holding anymore sway? as for jury duty tell them you're an anarchist if you don't want to participate but if you do you may be able to right some wrong of the police state. i feel that we should be active in our communities get out there show people we exist and we aren't crazy's who build bombs in our basements that we are in fact real people of moral fortitude and intelligence, not pessimistic naysayers and terrorists
     
  14. nike

    nike Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    i agree that we should be active in local communities to achieve something for the people and to give an example how anarchism works - but this voting game has really lost it magicks to me.
    even on a local level and even with some practical success here and there too often "leading" activists, spokesmen and cheer-leaders/leftwing divas have evolved, especially within the very active "green" party in germany - eager and constructive first, then becoming power- & pr-conscious, in the last stage corrupted by cooperation with the authorities and preaching "real-politics":
    adieu green "alternative"... hello nuclear consent and kosovo-war!

    why should we work against our direct-vote principle and delegate somebody to work with the establishment we oppose?
    how should newbies realize the importance of responsibility and self-determination if both are taken from them again only to play the mini-version of the democrazy-game?
    we can have our own counter-society of a multitude of communes, collectives and syndicates dealing with the odds of our time the way the people involved want to, we can do everything we want to set something constuctive and beneficial to everyone against the grinding machine of the state and we should not give this power away.
     
  15. danzigmcfly

    danzigmcfly Active Member Forum Member


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    i do agree that the counter-society methods are a more effective tool than voting but i also feel we should use every tool in the box and all of our communities are different and some are more socially fertile than others. mine for instance needs a lot of weeding and tending before the seeds of such organizations may thrive and grow.
     
  16. danzigmcfly

    danzigmcfly Active Member Forum Member


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    for instance my state passed legislation making all anarchists groups register or face a large fine or jail time so that kind of scares people away from the cause, i have to admit as a father i have my own doubts about starting one and our numbers are to small to do anything about that ourselves so i see no other alternative than to reach out to the liberal community dems, greens, ect. for compassion and help in our plight i mean remember what Martin Niemöller said then they came for me and so forth.


    http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10631
     
  17. vAsSiLy77

    vAsSiLy77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member Forum Member


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    I wouldn't see it that pessimistic: There are lots of things in Pandoras box to make a neighborhood going counter-culture, maybe even becoming kinda counter society. Back home in munich we started with a neighborhood cooperative, just a handful of people doing repairs or neighborhood-help in the beginning, now a network of almost 200 activists and many more supporters and recipients.
    They're doing foodnotbombs, political discussions, movieshows and info-events, some organise protests and even instant-direct-action (non-violent) against harrassment by cops or unjustified arrests.
    I guess most of them won't ever call themselves anarchists, but they act like anarchists, still refusing to elect a managing board or executive committe and bravely discuss their quarrels untill some acceptable solution is found, no voting necessary, no minority feeling bad. A majority has immigration background, there are still ethnic troubles to overcome, but these long discussions, the mutual help and the shared success help alot to overcome stupid enmities. Progress is slow, sometimes difficult to achieve, but it's worth the efford.
    Personally I experienced the rise and bloody fall of the green party from the very beginnings in germoney, and I agree:
    The were eaten up by the system as soon as their activity reached serious issues - up to the point when the former "militant pacifist" joschka fischer became federal secretary of foreign relations and agreed to the nato-kosovo-war... zombies!
     
  18. skulldrix

    skulldrix Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    direct action>reforms

    Reforms accomplish absolutely nothing but depending on one person to try to fix all the bullshit that the previous idiots left behind, eventually you feel that person fails because they can't fix all the bullshit and in the process they just create more bullshit.

    FUCK EVERYTHING

    DROP OUT
     
  19. nike

    nike Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    ... or become an self-determined activist:
    [​IMG]
     
  20. punkmar77

    punkmar77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Yeah that worked wonders for the hippies....