"If Voting Made Any Difference, it would be illegal" - - Jello Biafra

[Taverner]

And every day this quote becomes more and more true...

Voting makes no difference, it seems.

Sad - democracy sounded like such a great idea...but Marx was right: its unsustainable.

[NNN0LHI]

1. I think if I wanted people to take me seriously I would change my name to something other than Jello

For starters.

Don

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. His name is Eric Reed Boucher.

[arcane1]

6. and "Biafra" comes from the country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafra

[Taverner]

9. The name was meant to be ironic. Jello, because its food without nutritional value

And Biafra, because they are starving to death.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. hi

:hi:

[arcane1]

21. Hola!

:hi:

[newtothegame]

7. His name was Robert Paulsen. n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jello_Biafra
:shrug:

[anigbrowl]

15. It's a fight club in-joke.

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. Ach! One day I gotta sit all the way through that film.

If only to for the pop references. Thanks for the cluebat.

[frylock]

25. some of the greatest social commentary of our time

[City of Mills]

13. ROFL!

Awesome :thumbsup:

His NAME...was Robert Paulson.

[asdjrocky]

33. His name was Robert Paulsen.

[zinnisking]

40. lol!

OMG!

His name was Robert Paulsen.

[omega minimo]

16. Like "Don"?

People have been taking Biafra seriously (and not) for 30 years.

[asdjrocky]

32. Yeah, that's what really matters.

Do you even know who he is?

[jobycom]

2. If voting didn't make a difference, Republicans wouldn't buy elections.--Joby-O BiComfra

[Gold Metal Flake]

3. They didn't make it illegal, they made it invisible.

[Echo In Light]

5. "Burn, baby, burn!" K&R

[anonymous171]

8. Voting does make a difference. But only when you vote for candidates that support good policy

Voting for someone just because they are the "lesser of two evils" is fucking stupid. Vote for your guy in the primaries and if he doesn't win don't vote for the guy who beat him unless you support their policies too.

[RebelOne]

10. I have a T-shirt with that slogan,

but I got it years ago from the American Indian Movement. I sent them a $25 donation. It originally said that "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal."

[omega minimo]

14. He also advocates -- and rocks hard -- for people voting and being active

:thumbsup: I've been thinking about him too, as people -- including me -- question our voting power.

[lxlxlxl]

17. its emma goldman...not jb.

[Taverner]

20. Really - cool! Loves me some Emma G!

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

27. I used to really admire her

though the more I read, the more it hit me that while she was great with rhetoric, she was horrible with specifics and/or practicality.

[Taverner]

29. Well yeah she was all theory, no numbers

Although at least she didn't try her hand at specifics like Marx did, which somehow became the excuse for Lysenko-ism

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

36. Reading a collected work of her essays and speeches, as well as her autobiography

is what really turned me away from anarchism. She had a lot of heart, which I definitely still admire, but it's hard to organize a society on slogans and catchy quotes...

[Taverner]

37. Like any Political Philosopher from the 19th or 20th century - I agree with a lot...

I disagree with a lot

About the only Political Philosopher I agree with 100% from this time period is Hannah Arendt

She knew the enemy - which is important. If anything her philosophy could be considered 'anti-fascist' - which is a good yardstick in today's climate

[anonymous171]

23. Oh god that makes it even worse. nt

[kenny blankenship]

18. I could swear Dick Gregory said that

but it turns out it was Emma Goldman.

[Jello Biafra]

22. Couldn't agree more...n/t

[Taverner]

24. HAHAHAHAHAHA - I just noticed your DU name!

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

26. That from a guy who ran for elected office, eh?

Love the Dead Kennedys, but not sure Jello is the wisest fellow on some things.

[EndersDame]

28. I think that voting on local issues for sure has more of an impact

[shadesofgray]

30. Good one, but I would change the "illegal" to "very, very expensive."

[asdjrocky]

31. One of the best things he ever said.

Check out the Ice T album, Freedom of Speech, Just Watch What You Say The first track has a voice over from Jello. It's perfect.

[paulsby]

34. lol. anybody who claims "marx was right" is living in fantasy world

seriously. on the one hand, people decry the results of such popular votes as Prop 8, and then claim voting has no impact

the cognitive dissonance is staggering

[Taverner]

35. I beg to differ with you...

Marx was wrong on so many issues

But Marx was RIGHT on so many issues as well

Yes, Labor Theory Value is dead wrong.

And the kind of thinking that led to Lysenko-ism was dead wrong - in fact you can chalk up the Great Leap Forward's mass casualties to that kind of thinking.

However, thinking that society evolves (a novel concept at the time) and the idea that capitalist democracy is not the apex of human achievement was right as well.

There are many other areas he was right as well - but that would take pages. As well as all the times he was wrong.

[paulsby]

38. well, we can't ever know

what system is the apex of achievement. you can't ever know if you've reached the apex.

i LOVE capitalism, but am open to the possibility that a better system may be developed.

my point is that voting works. for good and bad (e.g. Prop 8)...

[Goldstein1984]

39. You're confusing a voting for a popular referendum

with voting for an elected representative.

Voting for a referendum is purely democratic and has a direct result.

Voting for a representative isn't the same thing. Especially when the representative turns into a corporate whore as soon as they settle into office.

But it does make a difference, to one degree or another, even if the difference is the post-election feeling that you wasted a perfectly good vote and fifteen minutes of your life.

[blindpig]

41. The LTV is at the heart of Marx's work

If you think that is wrong then ya can't find much right in Marx's work.