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Do you live in the United States? If you do, remember to vote on November 2, this coming Tuesday!

All you should need to do is to show up at your polling place and vote on Tuesday. If you don't know your polling place, take a moment to find it using this Google Maps feature.

Are you not yet registered to vote? Well, you might be screwed, but if you live in any of the following states, you can still play!

These states (and DC) have same-day voter registration:
* Idaho
* Iowa
* Maine
* Minnesota
* Montana
* New Hampshire
* North Carolina
* North Dakota--actually, North Dakota has no voter registration at all! Just show up and vote!
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming
* Washington, DC

Have no idea who to vote for? Well there are many political quizzes out there if you want to choose a party, but if you want to learn about individual candidates, check out Project Vote Smart, where you can find out incumbents' voting records, candidates' funding sources, interest groups' ratings, and much more.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

My wife's a political science graduate...I would be thrown out of the house if I didn't vote.

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

trismegistus, you're lucky that I don't talk politics much here at CoN--I could give you mouthful after mouthful about various races across the country, being an elections geek that regularly reads Swing State Project...yeah, I know a bit too much depth about places totally far away from me.

Trust me, observations like the fact that Joe Miller and Ken Buck want to repeal people's right to vote for them for the very seats they're running for (i.e. the 17th amendment) is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, if y'all want me to start telling all sorts of hilarious stories from the political world, including numerous epic fails...sure!

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (trismegistus @ 29th October 2010 14:17)

My wife's a political science graduate...I would be thrown out of the house if I didn't vote.

I wonder why your wife has told you about the investment theory of politics. Just wondering.

Anybody who's excited about voting, just thought you'd want to read about that.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Oh, I know that my vote doesn't really count for much, I am a bitter intellectual after all, but just because corporations control the process, it doesn't mean one shouldn't vote. Even if all it accomplishes is self-expression, at least you're being true to yourself and your ideals.

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

Ah right. I've been waiting for a topic like this to come.

Don't bother: It won't make a difference no matter who you vote for; Politics is completely random. Representitives didn't read the health care bill, nor did they read the Homeland Security act. If people don't know what they're voting for what difference does it make?

An uninformed decision couldn't possibly be a well thought out one. If people vote blindly, be it you, the representatives you vote for, anybody they can make things even worse. Bonus points for unforseen consequences.

Also as long as I'm here, I'm hedging my bets against Obama since he doesn't seem to be quite the superman he promised to be. I mean sure, he got his weird health care reform scheme passed and I hope that works out. However he really lagged behind on getting the troops home, the U.S. economy is still in the gutter and he seems to be more of the same waging yet another war on the middle east. I don't think any of the people who voted for real change will be very happy with the incumbency.

Then again it's not like that matters either. Most people just pick a party they like and try to stick with it, reasoning that there's no other practical option, which quite ironically is why there seems to be no other practical option. Did I mention how much the two party system sucks by forcing people to go with two packages of polarity? What if you're for both gun and abortion rights? It'd seem like you're very much screwed either way since the democrats are for stricter gun control but the republicans are anti-abortionists...

Politics: We might as well save everybody the trouble and just simply flip coins.


Alternative version: Write in Josh Alvies for President of Shinra! A more competent leader has never been known. Erm... why yes, he is a CoNner just like the rest of 'em but at least he'll admit it.

This post has been edited by Tonepoet on 30th October 2010 23:11

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Role reversal at its finest.

Politics is random, but so thus is the world. Maybe it seems useless but, like I said, at least in the end you're staying true to yourself. Your choices are the guys who got us into this mess, the guys who haven't gotten us out, or the guys who will never, ever win. I throw my hat in with the third lot, maybe I'm throwing my vote away to others, but to me I'm standing up for my beliefs.

I do agree that Obama's got to really work hard to fix his image, which is unfortunate since he hasn't really done anything WRONG, yet. He just hasn't done anything terribly right. I hope it works out because, as a poet, I respect a guy who is a really good orator.

And Tone, you don't want to be Shinra prez. Look at what those guys have to deal with...terrorists sneaking in all the time, Lovecraftian aliens sneaking OUT, creepy guys on the payroll mating girls with dogs, in-the-pocket mayors obsessed with dumb logic games, spiky-headed antagonists who shrug off a shotgun blast to the face...too much trouble I say.

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

This is somewhat exciting for me, actually, as this will be the first opportunity in which I can vote.

It's also somewhat unexciting, though, because I'm a libertarian. So no matter what happens, my party doesn't win I'm still excited to support the party, however.

Of course, this means I have free reign to complain, regardless of which party is in control

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Quote (trismegistus @ 29th October 2010 17:47)

Politics is random, but so thus is the world. Maybe it seems useless but, like I said, at least in the end you're staying true to yourself. Your choices are the guys who got us into this mess, the guys who haven't gotten us out, or the guys who will never, ever win. I throw my hat in with the third lot, maybe I'm throwing my vote away to others, but to me I'm standing up for my beliefs.

It is not random. Politics is deliberate: groups acting in their own interests; and that includes us. This is the key to fighting against elite interests. It always has been, and it always will be. We must organize to push Obama to enact more progressive legislation. All progression in our country has been through us organizing, speaking out, and letting our opinions be known, even by small numbers.

The Abolitionist movement pressured Lincoln. The civil rights movement pressured Johnson. The worker's movement pressured FDR. This is always how it has been.

My point is, that voting is important. But the most important is for us to remain active, even in a small capacity.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (Tonepoet @ 29th October 2010 13:37)

Don't bother: It won't make a difference no matter who you vote for; Politics is completely random. Representitives didn't read the health care bill, nor did they read the Homeland Security act. If people don't know what they're voting for what difference does it make?

An uninformed decision couldn't possibly be a well thought out one. If people vote blindly, be it you, the representatives you vote for, anybody they can make things even worse.

Dude. I'm so tired of that stupid line about the health care bill. They spent a year on health care reform. A YEAR. This was not the PATRIOT Act. It was not hurriedly written and passed in a matter of days. They read it, re-wrote it again and again, and argued endlessly about everything that was in it.

And no, politics is not random. It is the result of interactions between many powerful forces, which can APPEAR random if you make no effort to understand what's going on. Unfortunately, many people don't make that effort, which is the philosophy you seem to be supporting. True, an uninformed vote is worthless or even dangerous. That's why you inform yourself, and try to inform others. That's why you vote. Not informing yourself and not voting because it might "make things even worse" and believing it all to be random chance is ignorant, dangerous, and against all of our founding principles.

If the public doesn't keep informed and vote for candidates who know what the hell they're talking about and truly want to serve the public good (they're out there, trust me), then you'll find out just how NOT random politics can be. The very small majority controlling most of the power and money in this country will have even more control, and they'll be able to direct the course of politics even more carefully. But there are a hell of a lot more of us than there are of them, and that's all we've got. When I see someone suggesting that we give up even that advantage, it makes me sick.

Quote (Reod Dai @ 10th November 2010 16:47)

Dude. I'm so tired of that stupid line about the health care bill. They spent a year on health care reform. A YEAR. This was not the PATRIOT Act. It was not hurriedly written and passed in a matter of days. They read it, re-wrote it again and again, and argued endlessly about everything that was in it.

And no, politics is not random. It is the result of interactions between many powerful forces, which can APPEAR random if you make no effort to understand what's going on. Unfortunately, many people don't make that effort, which is the philosophy you seem to be supporting. True, an uninformed vote is worthless or even dangerous. That's why you inform yourself, and try to inform others. That's why you vote. Not informing yourself and not voting because it might "make things even worse" and believing it all to be random chance is ignorant, dangerous, and against all of our founding principles.

If the public doesn't keep informed and vote for candidates who know what the hell they're talking about and truly want to serve the public good (they're out there, trust me), then you'll find out just how NOT random politics can be. The very small majority controlling most of the power and money in this country will have even more control, and they'll be able to direct the course of politics even more carefully. But there are a hell of a lot more of us than there are of them, and that's all we've got. When I see someone suggesting that we give up even that advantage, it makes me sick.

Man, it's good to see you poke your head in here again. Also, thanks for writing what you just wrote - it's a well-spoken argument that falls in line with something that I feel is a vitally important part of civilization, even as screwed up as our civilization is. I couldn't articulate it the way you did.

I feel that it's the uninformed, partisan, and lazy who elect the partisan and the lazy. That's not random, and it happens in all the major political parties. What's the fix to that? I don't know, to be honest, and if I did I wouldn't be here, I'd be a campaign manager.

I don't see any reason to believe that the fix is to simply ignore the process, though. Even if someone does that in the belief of taking an intellectual high road, all you're doing is leaving your city, your state, and your country in the hands of those who don't know any better. How does that solve anything?

I did vote, by the way. I wasn't going to, mainly because I don't expect to be living in the same city or state by the time any of the people who ran this year take office. What got me to the polls was, frankly, a ballot measure to place new restrictions on puppy mills in Missouri. I may have not voted on every office or issue on the ballot, but I certainly did vote my conscience on the issues that I was able to research and on which I felt a moral position that needed to be spoken.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

See, ideally, everyone would be informed about every ballot issue and every race. However, no one has the time to do so--even an elections geek like myself hadn't even heard of the Republican state senate candidate in our district, for example. Well, I knew his name because I'm an elections geek, but I knew nothing more than that.

Party affiliations are a crude first step. Especially these days, with the increasing polarization of the nation, the two major parties tend to have lined up on ideological grounds on various issues, so there's a decent chance that you can pick out which party you agree with more. However, issues are of course fairly complicated in real life, and additionally, individual candidates may or may not be like the party line, or worse yet, the party stereotype--e.g., not all Democrats are hippie tree-hugging lib'ruls.

The website I found is probably another useful resource to the uninformed voter.

One useful idea I've found is to do this: "Trust no one; listen to everyone." You don't take anyone at face value immediately, but you figure out who they are, and why they might be saying what they're saying. If they're bad-mouthing candidate X, are they doing it because candidate X is just that bad, or because they're a supporter of candidate Y, or because they're a single-issue wonk who only cares about issue A on which X disagrees with them?

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th November 2010 06:26)

Man, it's good to see you poke your head in here again.

I try every few months or so, especially since FFG went away. I really should do it more often. Good to see you, too.

Glad you voted; did that ballot measure pass? I frankly wasn't that concerned about how things were going to go here in California as far as who won (although our Attorney General race did end up being extremely close), but I WAS concerned about the statewide Propositions on our ballot. Rightfully so, as it turns out; those didn't go so well, though we did win a major victory against one which would have suspended CA's air pollution / global warming initiative. And of course I was concerned about what was going to happen with the rest of the country, but there wasn't much I could do about that (though I meant to volunteer to make some calls for Russ Feingold, but ended up not having the time). I've been trying to become more politically and socially active, but it's difficult to figure out exactly how. I've found that I'm actually pretty good at phone call campaigns, but I don't really enjoy making phone calls and don't think that they really do all that much. I'm more interested in grass-roots volunteerism, actually getting my hands dirty and accomplishing something tangible.

I've actually been in touch with my town's political party committee of the party of my preference, and went out canvassing before election day.

It was nice. Didn't win against a three-term state rep incumbent, but oh well. At the very least I got some exercise and brushed up on my "repeat the same thing over and over again to person after person who doesn't know you and probably doesn't want to talk to you" skills.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Open Source Party next election guys!

If one is not in your area, demand they put one in! lol

In Netscape (now Firefox) vs Internet Explorer, open source Firefox rocked...

In Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Linux vs Windows, again, open source code/transparent by it's very nature/design, was awesome.

I just figure the ideals of open source code can port/convert over to our real world politics.

I also believe that voting is worthless, only to justify the theft of your city, state/province, nation for another term.

"but just because corporations control the process, it doesn't mean one shouldn't vote"

Yer right, we SHOULD vote, directly, on health care bills, on HST being pulled from British Columbia Canada's newest tax no one voted in....

...oh, wait, those "we" voted in all voted, unanimously, for it (big surprise)

If 360 million North Americans all voted for themselves, under our "elected" (rigged) leaders, well, the stats generated could compare what society wants vs what we are being handed....sorry, force fed.

Now don't get me wrong, we got a good system, it's just not GREAT!

I also believe 20% of the taxes generated by the individual should be spent on approved multiple choice topics to know what the society wants...let the government waste the other 80% as normal.

my .02

Loved all the comments here, passionate about voting, as I am, if it's effective.

Voting for someone who then votes alongside his team...by the time the vote goes down, it's NOTHING what "the people" wanted.....