We should all stop voting

[leftofthedial]

The ruling junta will continue to cheat and steal election after election anyway.

But if we all stop voting, they'll stop cheating because it will no longer be necessary.

Then we can all vote when they least expect it and catch them with their vote fraud pants down!

[Randi_Listener]

1. Bad idea

Next.

[leftofthedial]

15. well that was pretty abrupt

you sure you don't want to discuss it first?

[Minimus]

2. My 66 yr old Mom voted for president for the first time ever this year

she wanted bush gone so bad, and she is so upset about the outcome and election screw ups I don't think she will ever vote again.

[leftofthedial]

9. why did she wait so long to start voting?

she blew her chance. There is no voiting now.

[Minimus]

20. she was always apolitical

Dad was in the Navy and we moved every 2-3 years. He was gone on many many long deployments and she was the sole caregiver of three little girls (me and two sisters).

Even after he retired and they stayed in one place the whole family tried to get her to vote. Unfortunately she just never paid attention. Until bush... and boy does she despise him. She was so excited to vote and wanted him to get the boot. She is still in shock. She says that if even she, someone so unknowing about politics and such, is able to see how bad bush is, then it should be blatant to the rest of the country.

[leftofthedial]

21. I hope she keeps fighting for what she believes

I also hope we fix the broken voting system

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. No sale. We have to proceed as if our votes count, still.

Plus, if they have to work at cheating, they could be potentially caught at it.

[leftofthedial]

4. so you don't like the sneaky approach

you know. lull them into a false sense of security and then, maybe in 2020 or so, jump out and go "Boo!"?

Oh well.

How about this . . .

We all stop voting and then use the totally wacked percentages as "proof" of fraud?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. If it's as bad as you are projecting (total one party control over the

elections), other measures than what you are advocating would probably be required.

[leftofthedial]

10. that's pretty much my point

Don't tell anyone, but I agree we need to keep voitng in order to catch them.

I just wish I believed anyone really would or could catch them. I fear it is a lost cause.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Enough people have been trying that for quite a long time.

Doesn't seem to help.

[leftofthedial]

12. interesting observation

seems to be a pretty effective strategy for one side

why not the other?

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Lots of people don't vote. No one knows which side they're on,

and more importantly no one cares.

That's the point.

[leftofthedial]

25. the prevailing wisdom is actually that the repukes DO care

and they want more people to join them

Although with Diebold's help it may no longer be true that high turnout favors Democrats.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. if we all stop voting, they'll stop cheating?

Yeah, and if I stop picking my nose little helper monkeys will fly in and do it for me. :eyes:

[leftofthedial]

13. what color are your little helper monkeys?

mine are green. Makes them harder to spot.

Why would they continue cheating if the results were perpetually 100% - 0%?

Or are you saying they'd be clever enough to always cheat so that they win by about 51% to 48%?

Hadn't thought of that! Those diabolical thems.

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. the helper monkeys always cheat

can't trust those damn monkeys! :D

[leftofthedial]

18. but as long as they help you pick your nose . . .

you should keep them around.

[leftofthedial]

17. sorry for responding to myself, but this is the Las Vegas

"house" strategy. They rig the outcome, but also rig the results so that the marks (the gamblers) are given the illusion that the game is always close, thus that they always have a chance, when the truth is they have zero chance. This way, the marks think of it as a "game" instead of what it is, a "con."

Here "they" means gamblers in the collective.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

23. LOD this is EXACTLY the feeling I had watching the FLA returns, then OH.

Down by 200K? But we have heavily Dem Miami-Dade coming in! (Fingers Crossed) OK, Miami-Dade coming in with 70K plus for Kerry? Great! What's this? Bush's lead actually INCREASING, with his margin increasing more than Kerry's margin from Miami-Dade, with MORE than 70K plus votes "trickling in" from multiple other districts?

(Tears up losing ticket with Kerry to win in the 9th race) Darn, he was SO CLOSE!

[NoPasaran]

8. Too bad we didn't all vote for Bush* this year

That would have really fucked with their heads

[leftofthedial]

26. a saddam-style or stalin-style "election" victory

I wonder if the BBV machines are rigged to manipulate outcomes based on actual outcomes (for example, convert every fifth Dem vote to a repuke), or if they have false totals hard-wired in somehow, or if they cheat different ways in different locations.

[St. Jarvitude]

11. Haha, good one.

This is a joke, right ... ?

[leftofthedial]

14. not any more

I'm beginning to think it just might work.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. They wouldn't stop cheating though. In fact, they would just make sure

the vote totals were like 58 percent Repub 42 percent Dem so it wouldn't look quite so ridiculous as the 99 percent Saddam type returns. They'd ADD votes to our side if it helped make it look more plausible.

They would just decide on what the appropriate totals would be beforehand, and not pay any attention to what the actual vote was.

[leftofthedial]

22. true.

The Las Vegas effect.

Keep the suckers playing the game by tricking them into thinking it is close enough that they have a chance to "win."

[TrustingDog]

27. I'm inclined to agree... after all, votes haven't counted lately...

the façade of democracy needs the cover we have given them. As long as we pretend and believe in the easter bunny, they will benefit, not us, them.

Your vote doesn't count... GET IT?

[leftofthedial]

28. do you think it would be more effective to expose the fraud

by continuing to vote or by choosing en masse, and perhaps with zero fanfare about it, to not vote.

(Jeez, I can't believe I would even suggest not voting--me, who has voted in every election including dogcatcher for 30 years now. But that's how fed up and cynical I have become.)

[TrustingDog]

30. the fraud will not be exposed. (how wrong I would like to be)...

whose gonna sing it? Paula Con, or denutted Dan Rather? Accept the fact that we'll only get a blip or 3 on the media compared to Bush's onslaught of misinformation and propaganda in the hundreds of ads they play for him, free, everyday.

How you vote is with your dollar and your voice and how you live. Election Booths don't count anymore - Dems are slow learners because we Want to Believe in the goodness (good packed up a few decades ago... hell, centuries ago)...

Speak up and support your local businesses that are not repugnant - don't even try bringing down the big ones like McShit and McWalmart - you're just banging your head against a wall(mart). Do Good, be positive, make a difference to real people; those megacorps predators are not real people. Pay a buck or two more because your mom and pop store can't ship in cargo loads to compete.

[leftofthedial]

32. voting machines are chosen and purchased at a state level

or even more often at a county or township level

A grassroots, somewhat media-independent effort can work on such a local level. It may be unnecessary to leverage the repuke propaganda media to change the voting method.

But you are so right. "Vote" every day with every dime you spend and with every choice you make.

[Baja Margie]

29. Not me,

and I urge all of you to work hard to get rid of these machines or implement safeguards.

Stop voting ???? You might as well kiss your goodbye.

[leftofthedial]

31. I agree. Step one MUST be to require paper ballots everywhere

That will not happen in time for the 2006 midterms.

I started this thread as a bit of a midday lark, but in this and other discussions, such an idea has been discussed seriously as part of a strategy to expose the fraud in any election that takes place with the electronic voting machines.

I suppose if one believes the electronic machines are not rigged, this approach would not make any sense. But if you believe that any vote involving electronic machines will almost certainly yield a repuke win, this approach might make sense. Or would it?