Inbox: What about refusing to vote as a form of protest?

I know this is a position some advocate and yet that's not really how I would look at it. If I want to protest within the confines of 'the system' then I will vote for candidates who are outside of the establishment. I will vote against incumbents and vote in ways that practically enforce term limits.

Of course the way the political structure operates, anyone who is term limited is basically ineffective. Executive positions like governors and presidents are still effective, but congressmen and senators whether on the state or national level have no power unless they've been in office for some time.

When 'outsiders' run and say they're going to get into Washington and make a difference, they're either being deceitful or flaunting their ignorance. Freshmen congressmen and senators can't do much of anything. They vote as they're told and hope eventually to get appointed to one of the influential committees. Apart from a host of staffers and lobbyists they're not going to be able to write any legislation that would pass the scrutiny of a committee and for that matter not only will the chair of the committee likely ignore their bill, but the speaker or senate leader will also ignore it. You have to 'play ball' for quite some time before you're going to even have a shot at drafting legislation. If you're a real outsider, then forget it, you're marginalised.

Only a wave movement like the Tea Party can have some clout but even today some three congressional elections and a senatorial term past their initial wave some six years ago, what have they accomplished? Not much. They've obstructed and that's about it.

My posture regarding non-voting is basically intended not to protest but to dismiss the system. There are those that believe that by non-voting you can destroy the political mandate.

I don't think so. It's really already destroyed but no one seems to notice. Only around 50% of the eligible electorate votes in most elections. That means these candidates that supposedly have a 'mandate' in reality only got about 25-30% of eligible voters to select them. That's not a mandate.

The system is a joke. Protest voting is in the end an irritation to the Establishment but probably a waste of time. They're not going to give up the empire because some people voted in some kind of 'outsider'. Even when they do, the powers that be can quickly subvert that person or destroy them.

Non-voting won't harm them either. The public is too brain dead to figure out what's going on. I wonder how low could voter participation go before it generated a crisis? We've been there for the better part of a century. The media and voter registration drives continue to work to get people involved. The campaigns are incredibly intrusive these days. They've got comprehensive lists and are aggressive about getting people to the polls.

For what? To vote for one of two candidates that represents the same forces, the same system? They're trying to generate legitimacy. More than anything that makes we want to refuse to participate.

The media ignores or denigrates any third party candidates. The Electoral College is a travesty and guarantees no one but the establishment politicians have a chance.

And as the floodgates have opened to the money, money that we can no longer follow, the game is now officially over. In a media/technology world those who aren't backed by billionaires don't have a chance. 2008 wasn't all that it has been made out to be. McCain was a poor candidate, with a polarized running mate and he was technologically inept and unaware of the cultural changes afoot. He had this misfortune to run at a time when his message would not be heard. We can be thankful that warmonger didn't win.

Obama would have never won in 2008 if it had not been for the animosity generated by George Bush. He won, and then for the most part continued all of his policies. The way his administration has played out has proven very telling with regard to how the system functions.

I'm glad I didn't vote for Obama. I have never voted for either of the major parties and never intend to, if I ever vote again at all. I didn't at all from 2001-2009. I voted in 2010 and 2012 but I doubt I will again.

I would say non-voting is just simply a principle of rejection. All this talk of 'stewardship' is pure nonsense. Today I heard voting tied in with 'Dominion' and the garden. And just as Adam and Eve were to 'steward' the garden, we show our stewardship by voting. Well, I'm afraid they missed the part about the Fall, the flaming sword, being barred from Eden etc...

It's utter nonsense. They've adapted the theology to their idolatrous lusts. America is most certainly not the garden!

Democracy itself is highly problematic. If I did believe in Constantinianism then I would be adamantly against Democracy. The Catholic Church always was until the last 50 years or so. The very notion is anti-Christian. I would probably be a Monarchist or Theocrat or something along those lines.

But thanks be to God, I'm not a Constantinian. He rescued me from what would have been (considering my background) an almost certain path.

And whether these dreamers wish to admit it or not, the Democratic- Republic model of the United States is flawed. There were irresolvable tensions present at the beginning and the synthesis doesn't work. Instead what we've got is an oligarchic plutocracy masquerading as a dynamic republic that tries to remain very sensitive to democratic impulse. This doesn't mean the plutocracy capitulates to the public. They do a dance, they throw bones, and they manipulate. The democratic aspect is largely an illusion. It could be argued that our participation just perpetuates the whole degenerate model. The country founded in 1776 didn't last more than a generation or two. We have a government built on narratives and symbols but it is in truth something wholly different than what was envisioned.

I'm sure in Nabonidus' day the old men shook their heads and said, "It's not like it was in the good old days under Nebuchadnezzar."

Static sociological models are pure mythology.