Does voting even matter anymore? Is it all one corrupt system at the beckon of whom ever is in charge?

Question

The one of the proudest days of my life was when I turned 18 and voted for the first time. I continue to vote but it seems meaningless.....does any one else feel like this.....is the corrupt two party system able to be fixed?

I vote in every election except primaries, because I am not a member of either party...
and I am tired of hearing the lesser of two evils crap.....

Answer 1

A couple years ago we had a 'special election' in CA, specifically to pass a few ballot initiatives that would have possibly somewhat reduced the level of corruption in our state government.

Special interests, including public employee unions, and /both/ the Republican /and/ the Democratic national parties spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat the measures. Every one of them was defeated easily.

That event drove home to me that fact that democracy is dead in America. I can't tell you exactly when it died, but it is certainly deceased.

The Amnesty bill is, I think, teaching many of my fellow citizens that same lesson, today. Others, like yourself, aparently, have noticed the lack of meaningful difference between the two parties. That's been true for a long time.

Answer 2

The short answer to your question is: yes, but only to the extent that you can keep the lesser of two evils out of power.
The central problem of our electoral process is that it is geographically based. When the constitution was drawn up, geography was not only a sensible means of determining electoral interests, it was the only practical means. The founding fathers did what was right then without knowing that someday telephones, airplanes, automobiles, TVs and the Internet would make that system as antiquated as the transportation and communications system it was originally built around.
When combined with the one man, one vote principle, our geography based system has locked us into a two party system. Many pragmatic voters use their votes to make sure the candidate they DON'T want doesn't get elected. Rather than using our hopes and dreams to determine electoral choice, we are swayed by our fears. Rather than having a government that most represents our views, we have a government that is the lesser of two evils. So who or what does our government represent? I’ll leave that as a rhetorical question for the reader to answer.
There are other electoral systems that insure that the legislature consists of a more representative government. For instance, proportional democracy gives each voter the same number of votes as are legislators from their geographic area, and then lets them spend those votes any way they see fit. A voter in that system could cast all their votes on a single candidate if they see fit. In that way, if a ten per cent of the population is of a particular political affiliation, and there are 10 legislators, that group can cast all their votes on a single candidate and insure their election.
Such systems will never arise in this country because the Democrats and Republicans control the electoral process at every level of government, and they and the people they really represent don’t want to lose power.

Answer 3

It's more than just party lines. I think the popular vote is the most democratic way but we don't elect presidents with the majority rules.

If the Electorial college is the ultimate say on who the president is, then how does your vote count?

Some also seem to think that everyone in New York, California and other large states are hapless drones who are all incapable of independant thought and must vote as a whole.

As of July 1, 2006, the estimated population of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the other insular areas of the United States was 303,755,930.

All of these people are individuals whose voice should be heard. In california it only takes 18,228,787 votes to win all 55 electorial votes. California has a population of 36,457,549, that means 18,228,761 votes no longer matter. Is that fair? If you were of the latter tell me how your vote counts?

The losers combined make up 4 other states whose total electorial vote only comes in at 24. Add that up and now your up to 36 million more people whose vote no longer counts. That's 4 1/2 states that don't matter. Texas with a population of 23,507,783 has 34 electorial votes, only need 11,753,925 votes to win all those votes. That leaves another 11,753,857 out in the wind, and that adds up a little more than that of 8 other states. So we are up to 13 states whose vote don't count. That's almost 60 million people whose vote doesn't count. Last timeI looked 60 million was far more than 30 million.
Are you seriously telling me that 30 million people are matter more than 60 million?
How is the Electorial college fair again? How does it balance things out?

Answer 4

I am not sure if our vote completely counts, or not, but one thing I am SURE of, is if we stop exercising our rights, not just in voting, we will lose them all. The vote is just one way Americans can make noise, and speak our minds to our elected officials. If we stop voting, they can't hear us, and America will be controlled.
I doubt any corrupt party can be fixed. Any person in power if not already corrupt, will be tempted to be, because usually, they can get away with it. It is not the party itself, but the individual persons. Getting a new party will make not a difference, at all. People are people, and with power comes corruptness, in most cases.
I cannot think of one politician in the history of the world that was completely honest.

Answer 5

it is corrupt because no one votes. it is very easy for a "group" to influence an election when all the moderates stay at home because they feel their does not count. extremist get control because they are the ones out there getting people with their same narrow minded point of view to vote. if we, as Americans, want to change,WE ALL NEED TO VOTE. even if it is the lesser of however many evils.i think if you know someone who doesn't vote, tell them to stop complaining. they are their own victims. and the pride should still be there, just remember the lives that have been given for that right. go vols.

Answer 6

Those people we elect work for us. We have to make sure that happens. Casting a vote on one day a year and then forgetting it does not accomplish anything. Democracy requires work and representative democracy such as ours requires even more work. We have to constantly be in touch with those who represent us or they will go with those who do contact them such as lobbyists and special interest groups. Send emails, call their local office or Washington office, send snail mail. Keep doing it. You won't get everything you want, in a democracy no one ever does, but the majority rules and we sometimes need to remind the politicians of that fact. Complaining to those of us who can do nothing about it doesn't help either. With all the flap about Cindy Sheehan, whether you agree with her or not, she was doing more for democracy than most anyone else. She took part in it. She let her ideas and opinions be heard. She used a variety of methods to get her opinion noticed by the politicians, and as long as it is non violent it is fine to use whatever one wants, but she said something. How many people who complained about her actually wrote or called their reps to give their opinion. I'll bet it was a percentage in the single digits.

If we are going to take back our country from the special interests and the corporations we need to start now by constantly contacting our reps. Then vote Democratic in 2008 and hold them accountable for their actions. If they don't solve the nation's problems just like the neocons didn't solve them, than throw them out too until we get a Congress and president that moves this country foreward.

Answer 7

i'm afraid you are correct. voting simply does not matter anymore due to the corruption in the SYSTEM. we must affect change in that and then, maybe, we can move forward again. the special interest groups and lobbyists are in charge of our politicians now and have been for some time. it used to be that the politicians would at least pay lip service to their constituents and 'pretend' they were listening, now, they don't even have the courtesy to do that. if the illegal alien and global warming issues don't illustrate this point clearly, then your simply not paying attention.

Answer 8

I agree...it is getting harder every day to tell which party is the lesser of two evils. I will also continue to vote, but with low expectations.

Answer 9

If you want a third or fourth party we will have to take corporate person hood from corporations they are not human and should not have any part in elections. John Edwards is the only candidate that looks good to me because he don`t take money from corporations and has a great health care idea.

Answer 10

It matters, the system is only corrupted for as long as we let it be. Civic responsibility goes beyond voting- get more directly involved. Vigilant voters make honest politicians.