What A Person Who Isn't Registered To Vote and Hasn't Voted In The Last Two Elections Thinks About The US Presidential Election
After being apathetic toward politics for several years this election cycle is hard to tune out. As a person that is usually somewhat up to date on current events I surprisingly didn't know some of the candidates. Mainly because when it comes to politics I have pretty much known that it is rigged to some capacity so I just tune it out. My friend @steve-mcclair texted me in late March saying how he was at a Bernie Sanders rally. I didn't even know what party Bernie Sanders was apart of and what his stance was on anything. So I didn't even see the irony of my friend @steve-mcclair being there. He ultimately got kicked out for having a sign that was trying to promote $1,000 / hour minimum wage on live TV. He did a post here to explain the situation. It is pretty funny. https://steemit.com/bernie/@steve-mcclair/how-i-got-kicked-out-a-bernie-sanders-rally So let's back up to explain where I'm coming from.
Why Didn't I Vote In The Last Two Elections?
I moved to Arizona in 2008 so basically I was going to have to register to vote here or do an absentee ballot for Indiana. I didn't really care about it for the most part but I ended up missing the deadline to register in Arizona and also missed the cutoff to send the vote in for Indiana. I really didn't care though.
Some people are probably going to be mad at me for this post which is fine. They might even say, "I'm the problem with this country." I can see how they would maybe get upset that I don't care at all. Some countries don't really get to vote or the corruption is way worse than it is in the United States.
When it came around to the 2012 election I still hadn't registered to vote. In my mind this was the reason I hadn't ever been selected for jury duty. Since I still didn't care about the election I never registered. In reality if you have a vehicle registration in Arizona you can be selected for jury duty so it had nothing to do with not being registered to vote.
How Did I Become Disenfranchised By The Election Process?
It all started when Ross Perot ran for president in 1992. Ross Perot was a Texas Billionaire that was running as a 3rd party candidate. Both my parents voted for him that time around. I was way to young to know anything besides how to tie my shoes. If you don't know Ross Perot got 18.9% of the popular vote, approximately 19,741,065 votes (but no electoral college votes). I would later research into this process and come to the conclusion that it is a broken system.
When 1996 rolled around I remember my parents talking about potentially voting for Ross Perot again. By this time I could tie my shoes, throw the baseball around, and shoot baskets. There was a lot of drama surrounding Ross Perot running that year and he ended up entering the race late. My dad ended up voting for him again but my mom had determined that voting for a 3rd party candidate was a "wasted vote." Bill Clinton won both the 1992 and 1996 elections.
The 2000 election rolled around and there was a ton of drama over that election because the race was so tight. George W Bush ended up winning despite the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote. Even though I thought Al Gore was an idiot and knew that he didn't invent the Internet I still thought it was ridiculous that more people voted for him in the United States but he didn't win.
At this point I was old enough to do some studying on the Ross Perot situation and found it very interesting. I didn't like the electoral college process that could allow a person who lost the popular vote to win the election and I didn't like the fact that there seem to be two choices for the most part locked in. I thought what Ross Perot had done was very interesting thing and after the 1992 election was over a lot of people admitted that they would have voted for him if they thought he could have won. It became a self fulfilling prophecy that he didn't win.
This was the foundation for feeling that our political system was broken.
I'm STILL Not Registered To Vote
Man....I'm probably going to get some hate for that but that is ok. Leave your comments below! In a lot of ways I care but I don't care. Yeah I want what I feel is right for our country and the world but I really hate hearing the campaign mud slinging and even the local elections make me want to throw up. You don't even know what people stand for half the time. Their whole campaigns center around throwing the other candidates under the bus.
Finally, What I Think About The 2016 US Presidential Election
It's terrible! It would be pretty tough to have two worse candidates in my mind. It is funny because around 2010 I was reading a lot of books by famous Entrepreneurs. I really look up to a lot of successful entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. I read one of Trump's books and it was awful. Everything he said was so arrogant. It was hard for me to finish the book. I didn't like the way he acted on TV at that time either. I just was never a fan. Then it has came out that he has been named in over 3500 lawsuits mainly from situations where he doesn't pay contractors and employees. Then he won't even pay the lawyers who represent him in these cases that wouldn't even happen if he just paid the bill. Another tactic he uses is just paying 75% of the bill. He knows he has enough money to crush almost anyone in legal fees if they try to take him on. That is sad and in my mind that is what is wrong with this country.
With Hillary Clinton, she is a not so sneaky liar but seems to get away with anything. Nothing sticks with the Clintons. It really shows you that some people in a position of power and influence can do and say anything and nothing bad will happen to them.
That leads me to the 3rd party candidates. I hate the fact that someone would almost have to have billions of dollars to run as a 3rd party candidate and gain traction. They would almost have to be in the public eye already as well. A guy like Mark Cuban. But right now we have Gary Johnson running as a Libertarian. He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. You have Dr. Jill Stein with the Green Party who is popular with Bernie Sanders supporters who don't trust Hillary Clinton.
These are my opinions of what would need to happen to have a 3rd party candidate.
- Bernie Sanders would need to rescind his support for Hillary and join the Green Party and try to run as President with Jill Stein as his vice presidential running mate.
- Gary Johnson almost needs the backing of some very wealthy billionaires that hate Trump.
- Mark Cuban would need to say enough is enough "I'm Running For President Baby!!!"
Am I Going to Vote?
I'm still not registered but you just have to register by October 10th in Arizona so I could still do that. I can't vote for myself because I'm not old enough to run and that would be a waste of my precious time. I haven't researched the 3rd party candidates enough but I can already tell you that in about 2 minutes they are higher on the list than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Those two aren't even on my list. I'm not voting for them.
Do you think a 3rd party candidate can win this time?
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Oh man, this is a mess.
You don't care enough to register... twice. Yet, you care enough and know enough to say with certainty that neither mainstream candidate deserves your support? That's odd in itself. Better, your concern with Trump is that you didn't like his book? There are many better reasons to be concerned.
Honestly, it's probably best if you don't vote. You wrote an entire political post without once referring to an issue or position. It's clear that you have little interest in politics, only interest in telling us how bad everything is. You might not be wrong, but that's not a reason to go exercising your political rights without thinking about it first.
To answer your question: no, this is not the year a third party gets in. The third parties have neither the funds nor the organization to seriously compete. The best they can do is draw votes from one of the two main party candidates, like Perot drew support from Bush Sr. in 1992. If you want a Clinton presidency by all means support Johnson. If you want a Trump presidency by all means support Stein.
Hahha, Well I appreciate your comment but then you missed the point of the post. The reason for the post was to answer my the thoughts on the entire election as a whole and I named vaguely a few issues with the main canidates but that wasn't the point of the post. Yeah I could go into how Trump just makes up stuff and passes it off as fact and list the scandals the Clintons are involved in and put a whole laundry list on the post about how she lied to the FBI. That wasn't the reason for the post. It was an over all view from someone who had checked out on politics for several years and the reasons why I checked out. I also didn't create a laundry list of what Gary Johnson or Stein was about either. I wasn't trying to take a stance other than the fact that Trump or Clinton are terrible and I think that most Americans would agree with that.
But thank you for answering your thoughts on the last questions about 3rd party candidates.
Johnson pulls equally from both sides. If he wins Utah or his home state of Arizona and trump wins fl and Ohio and New Hampshire no one wins. I think there is a chance that trump only does one debate and it may be Johnson Clinton in the second debate. Johnson appeals to conservatives who care about fiscal issues and democrats on social issues. He is a little boring though( could be a good thing this year)
I never understood this USA concept of having to register to vote. Why doesn0t this right come automatically with your resident address?
You are not a problem. You are the solution. If nobody voted politicians will simply fade to oblivion.
It is not broken. It is rigged.
No, not this time. And no, not ever. A coin only has two faces. It doesn't matter how you flip it. When it lands it is still a coin.
Disclaimer: I am not an US citizen. Lucky me :)
Thank you for your response @ervin-lemark I never liked the idea of "registering" either. I always feel like they are wanting to track us. I really do feel like it is a rigged process. And not enough people feel like they can speak out about it. I feel like these elections can affect the entire world. It is scary stuff when these kind of people are in charge.
Thank you for your reply.
I think that having to register is intentional too. This way many people simply don't register to vote. You can well guess what a demographic survey of non- registered would tell you...
Don't worry. The outcome doesn't matter The same people control these two puppets.
I could totally talk your ear off about politics LOL. I could write several posts about it. Probably should. I'll just share a few things here:
I met Gary Johnson on two different occasions. The first was when he was governor of New Mexico. He seemed alright then. The second time was when he spoke at a local event. That time he seemed off somehow. I'm not sure if he was hiding something or if it was just that at that event his whole focus was on legalizing pot. I could see the point in the legalize pot movement but didn't want to vote for a guy who was so focused on it. He turned me off, and I was open to considering him. After all, my guy Ron Paul had gotten cheated out of the Republican nomination by the GOP. I ended up writing in Ron Paul, and sure, call it a wasted vote, but I could go to sleep with a clean conscience.
I mentioned that Ron Paul was cheated out of the nomination by the GOP in 2012. I'm not saying he would have won; I'm saying any chance he might have had was taken away by underhanded tactics. I left the GOP after that. My state was one of the worst for fraud, and more of the same happened this time around but I wasn't involved.
I was planning to sit it out this political season, and I did as far as the primaries were concerned. But it's turned out to be one of the more interesting political seasons ever. The first thing I noticed (after a friend got me more interested in Donald Trump) was that the chickens really came home to roost in terms of the GOP machine. Lots of false conservatives and party elites with Globalist leanings were exposed for what they really stood for. The so called "conservatives" going apoplectic over Trump made it clear that the reason they were so upset was not because Trump wasn't conservative (he actually is remarkably conservative and consistent, if you listen to enough of his speeches), it was because Trump wasn't Globalist. He wanted to actually do things that would be good for American interests, and that made all those profiting from the Globalist interests mad as all getout. I'm told there's a lot of money at stake. But it's been really satisfying seeing all that, even from a distance.
As for the cheating and worse on the Democrat side, it looks like that is coming into the light as well. The DNC is in complete disarray and there's even talk about people doing a citizens arrest on Hillary during her speech, because she has committed so many crimes and even her supporters know it. I'm tempted to tune in just for that... but I think I'd rather be on Steemit (LOL).
The summary is that right now both parties seem to be in the throes of some MAJOR EPIC housecleaning. This seems to have been largely instigated by Mr. Trump, so say what you want about him, a lot of good seems to be coming out of just the fact that he's running.
I would say look into it further, and go ahead and register to vote. Being registered doesn't mean you actually have to vote. But I bet if you register and start digging into it a little more, you might decide that this time it's worth your time and effort.
Hope this helps :)
@wiser Thank you so much for this well thought out response! It was great to read it and I would love to see some people try to do a citizens arrest on Hillary during her speech!!!! Hahahah I will get out a bucket of popcorn for that! Also great insights on Gary Johnson. I don't smoke pot but I think it should be legalized and regulated for recreational use like it has been in Colorado, Washington, Alaska....etc. I also think the people in prison for petty pot charges should be released.
I get what you are saying about Trump. That he has been mixing it up and pissing off the career politicians. I think that is a good thing but there are so many inaccuracies in what he says. That is why I feel like a guy like Mark Cuban would have a much better chance than a guy like Trump. He is smart, speaks his mind, but doesn't piss off the general public when he does it. For the most part I feel like a guy like Mark Cuban is more well received than Trump. Thanks again for your comment!
I don't know anything about Mark Cuban. Last two elections I voted third party and knew all about the different candidates. This time I decided to support Trump because while imperfect I can see he is a man of good will, I like his policies, and he won the GOP nomination fair and square, unlike Romney, who was very underhanded and deceitful and was a globalist shill. It is true that Trump can get people riled, but he often does that on purpose because he believes all press is good press. I'm fortunate this time in that I can support one of the major party candidates. But I say everyone should vote for who they genuinely believe is best, not just who can win. Don't let anyone talk you out of voting your conscience.
@wiser Mark Cuban is pretty interesting and he is a no nonsense type of a guy but he does it in a way that doesn't really make everyone mad. There are many issues I see with Trump but my main issue is that I view him as a dishonest business man. A lot of issues have came about because he tries to pay 70% of the bill or will try not to pay it at all. Just recently he was threatening to not pay. http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/26/politics/donald-trump-hotel-air-conditioning-roanoke/ Ultimately he has been named in over 3500 lawsuits mainly for this type of stuff and his first response on a lot of things is to sue people or companies. I just see that as a major problem with this country. He feels like he can over power anyone legally because he has the money to pay for lawyers indefinitely. I'm not going to bat for anyone else. I feel that Clinton has just as many problems if not more but of a different nature. And I just don't know much about the other candidates that are 3rd party. Thank you once again for your input. It is much appreciated.
Gary Johnson will do well if he makes debates. If he wins Utah he could win whole thing
Being in the debates is a huge deal. I agree. Ross Perot was kept out of some of the debates back in the day which hurt him. He was able to buy a lot of airtime to tell the American people what his stance was on different issues. If Gary Johnson or another candidate was able to launch a massive YouTube ad campaign Tai Lopez style I think they could really gain ground. It could take millions just to run those ad campaigns alone though.
Gary Johnson is not a libertarian! He has said the government should make a Christian baker bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Voting for anyone but the 2 main candidates is throwing your vote away.
Vote against the person most likely to destroy the country.
I will vote for the massively successful businessman that wants to enforce the laws, over the lifelong lying criminal politician.
Clinton Cash Documentary
Hillary will start World War III.
Hillary Clinton Is A Threat To All Of Humanity
If one single scandal in either of those videos is true, the choice is easy.
Thank you for your comment. I don't want to vote for the shiniest of two turds.
Then a nice shiny turd will be selected for you! :)
We have the same situation here in Slovenia. We don't vote for a candidate to win. We vote against the candidate so that he or she doesn't win.
Yeah it is crazy to think about. Thank you for your comment!
I love how you say that it is throwing away your vote. The two party system is currently voting for a main stream candidate just so the other candidate will not win. Now that is throwing away your vote, 130 million people throwing away their vote.
Thanks for the post!!