Do you realize that elections for president in America are a farce don't you?

Question

Before you ignore what I write and just put "that's retarded" at least read what I say.
1. Only rich upperclass people can run for president de facto since it takes huge amounts of funding and connections just to run a campaign
2. In the actual election you can only vote Democrat or Republican, there are only 2 choices. Some selection. I find it doubtful that the views of all people in a country fall into one of two categories.
3. The ones really voting are in the electoral college. They're "supposed" to follow the will of the larger population, but it is not uncommon at all for them to go against it. Basically one person in the electoral college decided that all those other people didn't know what they were talking about and cancelled their votes.
4. If you vote democrat or republican, if your state generally votes the other way it won't matter since all of the electoral votes of a state go one way or the other. No democrat in texas has ever really voted.

not all states work under the system where all the electoral votes go one way or the other. I guess I should have been more specific, but I was basically just covering the exceptions

I KNOW there have been third party candidates and that you can write in... but do you seriously expect them to win? give me a break.

All third parties can do is sap votes from one of the two large parties. As for thinking for myself, you are the one who is blindly accepting that the current voting system is such a great thing and you never stopped to inspect whether it is really accurate to representing the people's opinions

No I do not intend to vote since I feel it won't matter. What can I choose from? the one republican or the one democrat. Since I live in texas either way I vote I know that texas will give its votes to the republican candidate. None of you have shown me anything to the contrary on this point. Basically my vote does not matter.

Answer 1

It's really no surprise. All the candidates say what we wanna hear, then do whatever they want when they get voted in.

Nothing new about it. It's the priviledged class promoting themselves into a position of power.

We need a strong independent party who's stable and funded, permanently!

Answer 2

Responses:
1) I'll give you that, it does take a lot of money to become president but I think connections are necessary because we have such an expansive gov't for a large population.
2) There are other parties out there and no one is forcing anyone to vote Dem or Rep. Just look at what Nader did in 2000 or the countless third parties on the ballot or, if you're willing to look further back, what Debs did with the Socialist party.
3) Exactly how many "faithless electors" (I assume that's what you mean) have there been since 1948? Only 9, and not since 1912 has there ever been more than one faithless elector in a single presidential election.
4) There are bills in place asking that exact question right now. States will decide for themselves how their votes are to be given. You could also look at the systems that Maine and Nebraska have in place

Answer 3

All your points are shared with my people... but I'd like point out that this year there is an exception for your point number 1... Mike Huckabee is not a wealthy man, nor does he have much financial support (at least until recently), which goes to show that he has no big oil backers etc. As for point #3, the electoral system was designed to give a level playing field between urban and rural areas to help support farmers. Two states (Nebraska and Maine) actually can split up their electoral votes between their congressional districts. If every state did this, Presidential races would be a much different environment.

Answer 4

Point 1. True, it takes a lot of money to run

Point 2 False, there have been 3rd party candidates and you can write in a vote

Point 3 True, but name 1 instance when the college has not followed the votes of the state results

Point 4 False Your vote countd the same as the next persons. I f you live in a state where you are in a clear minority politically, your vote still counts, but the majority will most likely prevail.

Answer 5

1. That's pretty much true.
2. You can vote for any of a number of third party candidates in the general election. Have you ever voted? Have you ever heard of Ross Perot or Ralph Nader?
3. It is very rare, but occasionally an elector votes in contradiction to the state he represents. Ronald Reagan got one electoral vote in 1976, even though he wasn't nominated. But it's very, very rare.
4. This statement is, in fact, retarded.

Vote for Rudy!

Answer 6

Your third and fourth points contradict. According to point four, all the electoral votes of a state go one way or the other. However, in point three you state it is not uncommon for the members of the electoral college to vote how they choose...so which is it?

Answer 7

I do hope this means you won't bother to vote. For some reason I doubt you have ever actually bothered to register. Do you accept anything that is spewed at you without question? Think for yourself, don't let others do it for you. Of course, being informed would be helpful.

Answer 8

The only farce concerning elections is that people whose forefathers died for the right will delude themselves into believing it's somehow noble not to exercise it.

Answer 9

I agree with you...considering my president should have been Al Gore...need we look further?

edit...y'all are obviously missing the point (and if my thumbs down are b/c GB is your hero- then you must be functionally retarded)....our votes ARE meaningless in the presidential election....where they are NOT meaningless is within our state elections...which is why our electoral system doesn't work- people as a whole think in the here and now...they don't consider who may or may not be running for president in the next election.

Answer 10

Google "electoral college", read about it, you might change your mind. It actually works.