Community | June 02, 2012 | 156 comments

Vote 2012

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jackhole
From time to time I bounce ideas off of CG---Today she brought-up a good topic getting people to vote---I think from what we came up we have two different game plans hers hands on and immediate, mine long term and abstract?

ClassicalGas:

Get out the vote 2012! Yay! Rah rah!

Ummm, okay - how?

Drag Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob with you to the polls? Put up an election sign in your yard, a bumper sticker on your car? Start leaving little stacks of electioneering pamphlets by the coffee pot at work? Hmmm, what else?

Go down to the campaign office of your favorite candidate and volunteer to knock on doors or make phone calls - okay, but time is limited and that's a lot of work.

Write letters to the editor of your local papers, post on local blogs, design and distribute flyers and business card sized motivators. Throw a barbecue, with your candidate available to schmooze. Host a house party. Stand by the water cooler and drop little bombs such as: "Dang, do you BELIEVE what that Romney fellow said about liking to fire people?"

Get your neighbors fired up about an issue that will get them to the polls. Organize a discussion group to discuss hot-button issues, bring lots of info in print - many people don't use the Internet to stay informed. It can be a simple get-together at your favorite coffee shop or watering hole for an hour or two, to chew over something on the ballot that is of local concern. Open a discussion about paper ballots vs. Diebold, while you're at it. See what generates interest. Remember, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid.) Bumper-sticker slogans will stick when the discussion is forgotten.

I remember one notable bit of theater back in Ohio, many years ago...A local group wanted to set up a debate between the candidates for a town council seat, but the candidates declined to grace them with their presence - so a proxy debate was set up, with a couple of locals playing the parts of the candidates. It was a hoot - informal, informative, and ended up generating some excellent questions that were then posed to the real candidates in an actual debate. It got a lot of people involved who would otherwise have stayed home. Bill it as a comedy night - it is politics, after all.

It is a lot of work, and there's a lot to be done. I'd like to hear from all of you, what would you consider to be the most effective ways to engage, educate and motivate the people in your area? Cities and towns, urban and rural - whatcha got?

JH

My first voting experience was motivated by pizza.

My old man wasn’t into quality time with us, other than for summer vacations; he went early to his shop and came home late. He was a creature of habit, always wore a suit and hat to work, ordered his lunch from the same nearby restaurant. If there were any passions in his humdrum world I certainly wasn’t a witness to them.

Tuesday, November 4, 1980 was an unusual day in the Household (*wink). That day the daily routine was broken, there was a since of urgency suspended in the air—it was palpable thick as lemon meringue pie filling. That morning the old man told me to come home from school, put on some nice clothes and wear a tie and to meet him at the shop, we were to “hang” that evening.

Inconsolable, I was, at the thought of missing my after school shows but there was the promise of something rare as a unicorn---an early week pizza dinner! (Something reserved for the weekends) All day long adults were abuzz with anticipation. They seemed to be bothered about something to do with a bad actor and the President or maybe it was that the President was a bad actor; I couldn’t care less, I was about to land some pizza and root beer---hell fucking yeah!

I got home and followed the old man’s instructions. I felt like a total dork having to wear a tie to go out and eat dinner. It took me a little longer than it normally would because no sooner than I got home my asshat older brother began to tease me about my date night (unknown to me at the time he had a similar evening with the old man years before) with the old man, so we got in a fight.

Once in the shop I had to deal with old people complaining about taxes, the issues and a million other things I knew nothing about nor cared for. It was clear from the reverberations in the room that someone bad may become president. Dad closed the shop about three hours earlier than normal, and began some speech about civil obligations. Glazed eyes and nearly catatonic, some of what he said sounded right and must have taken root in my brain that day.

At our polling station dad stood tall in that gymnasium; for him, besides electing his candidate, it was the experience that mattered. It was about a Democratic continuity from the first election to now. To him elections were Open to All Americans.

I didn’t know it then but I was witness to something special---that day I saw the peaceful transition in government, from one party to another, it's democracy at it’s finest. Too many people around the world still feel the boots of autocrats at their throats; totalitarian regimes will stomp down democratic elections like vermin. The past few years we have seen people rise up and fight for something many Americans take for granted.

Things have changed, the old man is long gone, I no longer love pizza in fact I detest it. The old shop has become many things over the years; I no longer get into fistfights with my older brother though he’s still an asshat. What hasn’t changed is the proud feeling I get when I vote. It won’t be marred by ideology whether my choice for President has or doesn’t have a shot at the White House, the issues are still the issues and taxes must be paid but every four years citizens of the US have a chance to be part of something bigger than themselves. Who knows maybe this year I will wear a dorky tie, as I stand proud and vote; maybe I’ll take my wife for some (I shudder) pizza but the evening will be about continuity, it will about being an American.

http://www.democrats.org/

http://www.gop.com/getconnected/getconnected.htm

http://registertovote.org/index.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&ut...**General
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  2. tags:
    Vote,  Election 2012,  GOTV
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156 comments // Vote 2012

  • freehit
  • nanac
    • +2
      nanac  

    • I was shocked to learn that the majority of Americans are too cheap to donate money to political campaigns. If you care about who controls your country, you will donate. You don't have to donate a large sum of money, especially if you can't afford it. Just give something! Make a sacrifice for once in your life. Instead of buying that fattening pizza or your favorite bottle of wine, donate!

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -1
      Mishima [removed]  
    • nanac:

      I have donated quite a bit to political causes, even to the point that my wife got a bit upset. It was to the following:

      Heritage Foundation

      Rick Santorum campaign

      Tea Party (the most here)

      Scott Walker (wife stopped me from donating more on this one....)

    • 12 months ago
  • nursediesel
    • +6
      nursediesel  

    • Make sure you are registered to vote. Do it at least 2 months before so do it in August or early September. Then have your photo ID if your state requires it. Don't miss your privileged opportunity to vote your vote.

    • 12 months ago
  • OlBlue
    • +3
      OlBlue  

    • Due to the uphill battle against Citizen's United, tea party groups, and voter suppression, unless something drastic happens, I would put money on Romney and Walker winning and the repubs taking the Senate. Of course I hope I would lose that bet and I will try to make sure every one I know who is likely to vote Democrat actually votes. If I win the bet, no one reading this will ever see the country return to anything resembling democratic values in their lifetime.

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
  • Mishima
    • -3
      Mishima [removed]  
    • OlBlue:

      There is no voter suppression, and Walker will win. The Left is on the losing side, and it wants to have an excuse to claim that it actually did not lose. It will also use this myth to urge riots and revolution in the streets. The Left will claim that the corporations have fixed the votes and press the OWSers to destroy property and uprise against the "fascist state" that simply does not exist except in the minds of Left-wingers.

    • 12 months ago
  • Leen61
    • +7
      Leen61  

    • I see good points in Jack's and CG's thoughts. Here in WI, we are doing it GOTV style. This is how we are combating the flow of lies and misinformation spread by the Citizens United legacy. Tuesday, June 5th, will be the most important vote for me, ever. Here in WI, we do not use Diebold. We use paper ballots.

    • 12 months ago
  • SFirman
  • Leen61
    • +3
      Leen61  
    • SFirman:

      Thanks for the moral support, SFirman. Huge voter turnout is key and if it clears 65% the advantage will be Tom Barrett's. A major concern is the voter suppression and the election fraud that is rife in especially Waukesha County, home of Kathy Nicklaus who will STILL have her hand in this election despite handing in her resignation. Does that make my blood boil. She was going to be REMOVED and then played this ploy to stay a part of this crucial election despite her past record of election malfeasance. She should not be near any other elections, but here we go again.

    • 12 months ago
  • SFirman
  • Leen61
  • JanforGore
  • ClassicalGas
  • PepeLepew
  • Vic_Romano
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  

    • Vote. SUPER PAC money doesn't matter.

      Of course, I'm being cheeky. We all should vote... I already knew that. Afterall, it's worked so well for us to this point. The only votes I really care about right now are the Congressional seat in my state and following the California vote on GMO labelling.

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
  • nursediesel
  • deane
  • JanforGore
  • crabbyoldguy
    • +4
      crabbyoldguy  

    • Myself, if a Madonna spot on the MTV (between condom commercials) encourages someone to vote that hasn't paid any attention to politics for the past x years I consider that to be an insult to the right to vote.

      Getting involved with the political system starts at home, with kids listening to their parents discuss the issues of the day on the local/national/global level around the supper table. Why they support this guy over that.

      So I propose that society work toward building cohesive families as a start, you know the kind of family that actually eats together in one room, sans media input.

      Then perhaps some education on the Constitution and the political process and reeducate folks to understand the politicians work for us and that piece of paper is our last chance to keep them in line.

      Then I'd go fishing.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
  • nursediesel
    • +2
      nursediesel  
    • crabbyoldguy:

      I agree.
      And you are so right about rebuilding the importance of the family.
      Kids need to know that love and cohesiveness during their formative years. Someone who is behind them, helping them to make informed not forced decisions. Backing their children through the child's choices in life.
      A family gives the child the foundation to do well by themselves and for the betterment of their community

    • 12 months ago
  • youngdebater
  • kubaa434
  • fiberbundle
  • fiberbundle
  • cztheday
    • +7
      cztheday  

    • One of the most persuasive arguments I have used with friends and colleagues is to tell them that voting is not just a right but a privilege - a privilege that brave people all over the world are trying to obtain for the people of their own countries, often at the cost of their own lives. Think about how desperately hundreds of millions of people around the world wish that they and their fellow citizens could have the privilege of electing their own government - a privilege so many of us take for granted.
      Regarding the discussion of Kent State lower down in this thread, there is an interesting article by a professor emeritus of Sociology from Kent State that describes the complexities of the situation and raises a number of provocative issues about the event. I was, for example, interested to learn that while the guardsmen were initially found to be not legally responsible for the killings, on appeal a new trial was ordered because of threats made to one of the members of the jury - finally ended, as I understand, in an out of court financial settlement. The link is: http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
    • +8
      ClassicalGas  
    • cztheday:

      Excellent point, cztheday - that's one of the best arguments to be made. Kudos.

      Thanks for posting the link - I hadn't seen that report. It's consistent with the first-hand reports I got that day and week, for the most part. It's a good read and a competent report.

      I have heard a couple of different answers to his 5th question, but inasmuch as they are hearsay I will not address them here. Let me just say that there were people in town with their own agendas, and that fact made it difficult to keep it non-violent. It never should have happened. Not in this country.

      Never.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -6
      Mishima [removed]  
    • cztheday:

      "One of the most persuasive arguments I have used with friends and colleagues is to tell them that voting is not just a right but a privilege"

      Could not agree more, and would like to relate a very simple experience.

      I have lived abroad quite a bit, and think about what one has to do to vote:

      Get an envelope, find the address where to register to vote, and address it.

      Write a letter requesting registration.

      Go to the local post office and usually get in a line. This is to send a letter requesting a mail-in ballot.

      Get the registration form, and go back to the PO and do it all again.

      Get the ballot in the mail.

      Fill it out, and go back to the PO, get in line.

      Every American I have seen who has done this has stated what you just did.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -6
      Mishima [removed]  
    • cztheday:

      The Left-wingers focus only on the incident itself. I traced back the events that were over a full year, including the destruction of university property, threats and destruction outside of the campus, the locals being incensed, and on and on.

      My friend who was a student there did not participate either way. She wanted to study. She said that there were constant disruptions and it was extremely difficult with the radicals interrupting normal campus activities.

      She also said she was appalled at what the students were doing, not only on campus, but more so in the town. She said that there was constant badgering of students like her to "join" the activists.

      I did not want to refer to this, because the Left-wingers will refuse to accept either what I wrote or what that woman said. She is an honest and sincere person, and she did not lie. And it was not just her political view, either. She gave an accurate assessment. I preferred to let the FACTS - and I wrote only FACTS - stand by themselves.

    • 12 months ago
  • MSII
  • cpad
  • ClassicalGas
  • gump
  • PepeLepew
  • ClassicalGas
  • PepeLepew
  • jackhole
  • PepeLepew
    • +8
      PepeLepew [removed]  
    • jackhole:

      The thing I'll never forget about that election was a debate in which some woman asked the three of them how the recession had personally affected them, and GHW Bush answered first and said something to the effect of "...I don't understand your question." Then Bill Clinton and Perot both gave great answers, Perot got a standing ovation for his ... and you knew right there and then the election was over, Bush had lost it.

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
  • jackhole
  • PepeLepew
  • PepeLepew
  • ClassicalGas
  • ClassicalGas
  • PepeLepew
    • +4
      PepeLepew [removed]  
    • ClassicalGas:

      And to think I actually toyed with voting for him!

      I listened to him for a while and he said some things that made sense, but I grew more uneasy with the "cult of personality" that surrounded him. You didn't dare question anything about him around his supporters -- Reminds me a LOT of Ron Paul fans.

      The turning point for me was he had some weird meltdown in another debate where he claimed Bush was spying on him and his family and was spying on his daughter's wedding from helicopters. Man, the guy was a crank.

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
    • +4
      ClassicalGas  
    • PepeLepew:

      I know, I gave him a good hard look, too - and I remember that meltdown. Wow, bring out the straight jacket!

      I agree concerning the level of fanaticism of their supporters, it's eerily familiar.

    • 12 months ago
  • MSII
    • +4
      MSII  
    • PepeLepew:

      "Bush was spying on him and his family and was spying on his daughter's wedding from helicopters"

      but Pepe, considering the Bush's, hell they probably were spying on him! how's that old saying going, you're only paranoid if they -aren't- watching you? Something like that....

    • 12 months ago
  • cpad
  • jackhole
  • CounterPoint
  • cpad
  • coolplanet
  • jackhole
  • ClassicalGas
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • ClassicalGas
  • cpad
  • HarukoHaruhara
    • +4
      HarukoHaruhara  
    • cpad:

      Neil Young invented feedback, you know. Before Neil Young, a guitar was like, "♪♫ twang, twang, twang ♪♫" and after Neil Young it was like, "♪♫ FROOOOOOOM!!!!! ♪♫"

    • 12 months ago
  • cpad
  • ClassicalGas
  • remanns
  • ClassicalGas
  • Mishima
  • Mishima
  • ClassicalGas
    • +12
      ClassicalGas  
    • Mishima:

      I was a scant few miles from Kent on that day, and I had several friends there as observers, so I have many eye-witness accounts from different viewpoints. Please do tell me your rationale.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -10
      Mishima [removed]  
    • ClassicalGas:

      First of all, living nearby has little bearing on this. If that were true, then people in the surrounding 2 mile radius of the Zimmerman-Martin incident should be consulted in order to help the jury in the upcoming case.

      I also have a good friend who was a student at the time. But that is another story.

      The shootings resulted not from that one gathering of students, but from a spate of rioting and violence. This rioting and violence happened at a series of campuses - Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, etc. In Cornell, guns were smuggled into the buildings overtaken by radicals. At the U of Wisconsin, a professor was MURDERED by a bomb planted by "anti-war" students.

      Ever heard of Mark Rudd? Look him up. He called for students to FIGHT to shut down the ROTC program, its crime labs, its law enforcement training classes.

      This continued for a year - repeat, ONE YEAR. The radical students took over a building on campus. The leader was Robert Franklin. Look that one up too. They occupied the building by breaking in.

      On the day of the incident, the students actually burned a copy of the Constitution and draft cards. They set fire to a building. One student tried to photograph this, and was beaten. His camera was robbed. The firemen arrived, and were attacked. They could not put out the blaze and it burned all night.

      The radical students went into town and burned buildings. They actually attacked and beat the police - WHO DID NOT WANT TO USE FORCE! Locals appealed to the governor - repeat, LOCALS CONTACTED THE GOVERNOR - to declare a state of emergency!

      Nothing was done. The next day, another building was burned on campus. This spread to the president's building. Then, guess what these "students" did? They went back into the town and smashed up stores. This rioting increased to over 2,000 people. At a local airstrip, a truck was stolen, six planes attacked, and another fire was set.

      The National Guard came. Finally. The ringleaders of the student formed a tight circle of students around themselves. The Guards tried to disperse the students. Up to 50 - repeat, FIFTY - students threw rocks at the Guards. One student actually threw a parking meter off a building roof at them!

      The Guards got caught in a chain-link fence. The students were attacking.

      But the following does not get reported: A student named Terry Norman pulled out a gun. He pistol-whipped another student. He pointed the gun at the Guardsmen and started running towards them.

      The firing started.

      The liberals claim that this "Norman" was really an FBI agent.

      The four students were innocent bystanders. The Guardsmen were not prepared or well trained or experienced with such a thing.

      But there is an element that wanted to use the deaths of these students to paint a picture of something totally different than what actually transpired.

    • 12 months ago
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • ClassicalGas
  • ClassicalGas
    • +10
      ClassicalGas  
    • HarukoHaruhara:

      And, I have met and talked to some of the people he referenced, and some of their friends.

      Somewhere out there, there's a picture of me with one who was on the wanted list for a great long time. An innocent meeting, but nonetheless.

    • 12 months ago
  • ClassicalGas
  • jackhole
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • ClassicalGas
  • ClassicalGas
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • ClassicalGas
  • msbadger
  • jackhole
  • gump
    • +10
      gump  
    • Mishima:

      If you don't care about Kent State then what is it that you care about? Maybe your position on your one man debate team? where do you want to be at the end of your years of shouting? Do you ever have visions? Connected to real life prosseses? What do you want to be? How are you going to get there?

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -11
      Mishima [removed]  
    • gump:

      "If you don't care about Kent State then what is it that you care about?"

      Please articulate how you concluded that I "do not care" about Kent State in light of the fact that I found all of that information and made the effort to post it.

      Thank you.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -12
      Mishima [removed]  
    • gump:

      "Maybe your position on your one man debate team?"

      On this forum, I am somewhat isolated, of course, except for the ray of sunshine and reason with people like the nurse, ahiguy and JohnA
      . But Conservatives outnumber Left-wingers by 2 to 1, so I have plenty of company in the real world.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
    • -12
      Mishima [removed]  
    • gump:

      "where do you want to be at the end of your years of shouting?"

      Well, in just three days, it will be opening a bottle of wine, celebrating the heroic Scott Walker's victory that will set off a movement sweeping the country.

      And in just five months, another celebration when the Republicans take the presidency and the Senate.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
  • Mishima
  • Mishima
    • -12
      Mishima [removed]  
    • ClassicalGas:

      No, I cited facts. My friend who was a student there confirmed them. But you can check and confirm the burning of the buildings, the destruction of property in town, the attack on the airfield, the townspeople petitioning the governor for help, the attacking the national guardsmen, and the firebombs.

      Tell me which you deny and show me evidence.

      Kent State was USED by the Left - the New Left, to be precise - to advance their cause. The lied about what really happened. LIED.

    • 12 months ago
  • SFirman
  • ClassicalGas
  • nanac
    • +5
      nanac  
    • Mishima:

      That's another Right Wing lie/myth/propaganda. If that was true, they wouldn't need to prevent young people, Latinos, Blacks, elderly, and Democratic voters from voting.
      It seems as if the Democrats would be engaged in voter suppression schemes, just like the Teabagger/Republicans thieves.

    • 12 months ago
  • Mishima
  • gump
    • +7
      gump  
    • Mishima:

      You should have some connection to real life. But that is in serious dought to people who read your crazy rants. Have you survived anything that left you knowledgeable about anything in a deep rooted way? Is there some thing you care about? Are you into understanding some aspect of the cosmos? If not then maybe you could read a book or go on some walk about to gain experience. Get out and meet some one you like. Just makeing up special history and pretending to be debateing on internet makes you look sadly empty. People want to like you. But you keep shouting uglies as if being a strange prickly cactus like caricature of a right wing devotee is all you ever will be. Come on out and make some connections. Real life is all around you. Have some adventure. If nothing else maybe you could listen to some up with people songs. Let some joy into your heart.

    • 12 months ago
  • CounterPoint
  • HarukoHaruhara
    • +4
      HarukoHaruhara  
    • gump:

      "Nooooo ... I'd rather spend 12 hours a day on a Website going WAYYYYY out of my way to annoy people as much as humanly possible because it's just so emotionally fulfilling..."

    • 12 months ago
  • MSII
  • MSII
  • MSII
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