Aside from complain, what have you done?

What have you done to educate others on the issues? What have you done to identify and encourage quality candidates to run for office? What have you done to engage with existing office holders to share your concerns and support their efforts?

If you think things need to change, stop complaining and do something.

^^^^ Dang straight!

I will discuss politics if asked. But, I don't usually press the issue in my day to day personal affairs. There are more important things in life. On this board I've advocated a new approach is in order. What needs to be broken is the geriatric control of the gated institutions of this country. The political leadership of this country are all approaching 80 or above. Enough. Retire already. You've made enough money.

What I do personally is participate in Republican primaries. I vote for the challenger. New ideas and people are badly needed.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
… Enough. Retire already. You've made enough money…

Beyond a certain point it is no longer about the money. It is the power and control.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
… Enough. Retire already. You've made enough money…

Beyond a certain point it is no longer about the money. It is the power and control.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Yup. It's that simple.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
What have you done to educate others on the issues? What have you done to identify and encourage quality candidates to run for office? What have you done to engage with existing office holders to share your concerns and support their efforts?

I have always known this, but this election really brought it home.

Most Americans really don't give a flying fuck about elections like WE do here at Sigforum. MOST AMERICANS.

Look at the turnout in many of these states, 50% and less of registered voters. I fully realize it is a midterm, but this one was an extremely important one in a crucial period of time. Half of Texas registered voters stayed home. Less than half of registered voters in New York voted. 3.5 million PA voters did not vote. Etc.

The reasons are various- too lazy, they don't give a shit, or the one I think made a difference- pure 100% apathy and disillusionment in the election process, maybe something concentrated with Republicans.

Given the math and averages, the majority of the 8 million registered Texan voters that did not vote are Republicans.

Trump knew. A couple of days ago, he was out in the rain, pleading with people to get out of their fucking houses and vote. For me, this is where our election process fails- too many people don't care.

We can do better as conservatives to get others to give a shit and vote.

I agree with the above 100 percent.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
I will discuss politics if asked. But, I don't usually press the issue in my day to day personal affairs. There are more important things in life. On this board I've advocated a new approach is in order. What needs to be broken is the geriatric control of the gated institutions of this country. The political leadership of this country are all approaching 80 or above. Enough. Retire already. You've made enough money.

What I do personally is participate in Republican primaries. I vote for the challenger. New ideas and people are badly needed.

Be careful what you ask for.
The "squad" is the new younger ideas and people leading one side and the other side is catching the disease......

I leaned the solution from the super computer in that movie "War Games".

"The only winning strategy, is not to play".

I have disconnected completely from politics, news, and society as much as I can while still socializing with select people and only about common interests, philosophies, and hobbies. I don't vote, don't have any delusions that my involvement or lack of has the slightest repercussions in the grand scheme of things, and if it did I don't give any of my precious fucks about it. Let it burn. I will be worried about my lawn, learning Dragon Force songs on my guitar, and finding the perfect suspension set up on my dirt bike.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I have disconnected completely from politics, news, and society as much as I can while still socializing with select people and only about common interests, philosophies, and hobbies. I don't vote, don't have any delusions that my involvement or lack of has the slightest repercussions in the grand scheme of things, and if it did I don't give any of my precious fucks about it. Let it burn. I will be worried about my lawn, learning Dragon Force songs on my guitar, and finding the perfect suspension set up on my dirt bike.

I voted this time around, but aside from that I'm also in the anti-social mode.

What I think would have a genuine, non-violent, effect is to disconnect money from politics as much as possible.
If candidates for major office couldn't receive ANY donations, the cap on campaign finance was, oh I don't know, say a million dollars and the job itself didn't make them any wealthier than civilian life (especially no lobbyist money), maybe we'd have less of a swamp.

I was very active in the local politics (helping local candidates, running/participating in the caucus) but found the "echo chamber" mindset here worked to drown out all dissenting viewpoints.

Maine (Southern ME even more so) is generally a very moderate political base. The issue I tried to raise with the Republican party here was to focus on the fiscal and social-economic issues, and leave the moral issues to the back burner.
I was ultimately shunned as a RINO and shut down... so I got tired of the fighting and walked away.

The GOP lost ground in Maine, and yet they have the audacity to wonder why. I fear that if they continue to double-down on this hard line approach, they will only drive themselves deeper in the hole, until we all suffer.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I leaned the solution from the super computer in that movie "War Games".

"The only winning strategy, is not to play".

I have disconnected completely from politics, news, and society as much as I can while still socializing with select people and only about common interests, philosophies, and hobbies. I don't vote, don't have any delusions that my involvement or lack of has the slightest repercussions in the grand scheme of things, and if it did I don't give any of my precious fucks about it. Let it burn. I will be worried about my lawn, learning Dragon Force songs on my guitar, and finding the perfect suspension set up on my dirt bike.

Dude, I'm right there with you on personal choices, use of your time, associations, etc, but we could REALLY use your help! If you (and the MILLIONS like you!) would just show up and vote your conscience on Election Day, well, we wouldn't be having this thread...

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Aside from complain, what have you done?

Complain? Not so much. More offer observations and plan how to mitigate against the stupidity of the general voting public.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
What have you done to educate others on the issues?

I used to do that. Or try. I don't do that anymore. I've generally found people have become so convinced what they believe to be true is true that all attempting to educate or inform them accomplishes is to piss them off, shut them down, and have them avoid you. (That last of which is generally ok by me.)

Besides: I have very few acquaintances, and no actual friends, that aren't already on the same page as I, anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I leaned the solution from the super computer in that movie "War Games".

"The only winning strategy, is not to play".

I have disconnected completely from politics, news, and society as much as I can while still socializing with select people and only about common interests, philosophies, and hobbies.

That's pretty much where I am.

About the only socializing I've done, these last few years, other than friends, acquaintances, and neighbors, was at my gym. That closed and now I'm working out at home, so I won't have even that, anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I don't vote, ...

I still vote, but I no longer regard it as a particularly useful expenditure of my time. Not in Michigan. I used to encourage others to vote. I don't do that anymore. How can I convincingly argue for it when I believe it more-or-less a waste of time, myself? Now it's "I don't vote," to which I reply "I don't blame you."

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Let it burn. I will be worried about my lawn, learning Dragon Force songs on my guitar, and finding the perfect suspension set up on my dirt bike.

Yup. Except, for me, it's the lawn, golf, shooting, and fitness.

I looked at the results of this last election, thought "Idiots," and carried on with my life. Lost not a moments sleep over it.

I will say this about Republicans: They appear to be nearly entirely toothless, and about as clueless as they come, as a party. E.g.: One big issue in Michigan, in this last election, was a proposal for a change to Michigan's Constitution to permanently enable the kinds of mechanisms that led to questions about the integrity of the vote in 2020. The left pelted the airwaves with pro-Prop 2 adverts. Complete with misleading information.

Not. One. Counter-advert. Not a single one

quote:

"The only winning strategy, is not to play".

The only problem is you are playing. Too late, you're already in the game. You're just not making any moves.

quote:

If candidates for major office couldn't receive ANY donations, the cap on campaign finance was, oh I don't know, say a million dollars and the job itself didn't make them any wealthier than civilian life (especially no lobbyist money), maybe we'd have less of a swamp.

And what's more likely to get what you want up there accomplished? Complaining about it, or getting involved and changing it?



I have always voted, but outside of that was never involved. After all of the Covid nonsense at our public school my eyes began to open. Things were wrong, they needed to be change, and if I'm not willing to do it then who will?

So here's what I've done in the last year:

Ran for school board. Unsuccessfully, but myself and another concerned parent pulled 46% of the vote having never done anything like this before. No idea what we were doing, and we lost to a pair that had been on the board for a combined 48 years. I considered that 46% a win, and a clear shot across their bow.

Ran for my county's Republican Central Committee. I won, beating another man with name recognition that had been on the committee previously. Members of the committee then voted me to be vice chair. At 46, I'm one of the youngest members there. If you want the opportunity to be exposed to those in or running for office, this is a great way of doing it.

I attend every informational event that I can. If we have somebody speaking about a ballot issue, I want to know everything I can about it so that I can share that information with others.

I attend every meet & greet that I can. Same reason as above. Not only can you hear about what they have going on in their position, but you can ask them questions and share your concerns.

I will stand at a polling location if I'm available. I can then take everything I've experienced from the previous two opportunities I mentioned and use that to answer questions voters may have.

I will knock on doors for those I have met and believe in who are running for office. I will walk in parades with them. I will share their posts on social media.

I am not a political junkie. I didn't begin to do these things because I lived and breathed politics. I do them because if I expect anything to change, I know that it's up to me to do something about it. And you know what? It works.

My County turned completely red this year. We got a fellow father and business owner who was fighting for our rights during Covid elected as a state senator. We got a 47.93% voter turnout in our county.

Getting involved may not give you every win you want, but it will give you more wins than complaining about it will.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

Dude, I'm right there with you on personal choices, use of your time, associations, etc, but we could REALLY use your help! If you (and the millions like you!) would just show up and vote your conscience on Election Day, well, we wouldn't be having this thread...

Why?
1. I don't believe voting does anything. It's just a suggestion box for the consumers.
2. I don't think there is a difference between the r candidate and the d candidate. They both say what their constituents want to hear then when elected do whatever the fuck they were going to do anyway.
3. I think the system everyone supports by participating is SICK. It's a fucked up, dysfunctional mess and by playing the slightest part I feel I'm enabling.
4. I believe my participation makes no difference so why would I inconvenience myself in the slightest to take precious time out of my day for it? I have more important shit to do.
5. How many times do we have to get our hopes up that elected assholes will actually do anything real to improve our quality of life? How many times must we be let down. To continue on would be EXACTLY the same as a beaten wife thinking "this time he said it will be different. This time he really changed".
Fuck that.
I'm very happy having taken the red pill and seeing the matrix for what it is.

I'm where Ryan is but I still voted.

After yesterday I do think this last election was as shit-rigged as 2020.

Fuck this all.

I'm just gonna keep praying all the C-words in the swamp get afflicted by horrible accidents and rare sudden debilitating ailments.

Term limits are needed at every level. That's the only solution because thinking idiots will vote idiots out obviously hasn't been working. President has a term limit, why don't the others?

An incumbent who has taken years and years to build a war chest is nearly impossible to vote out. They have so much money and buy so many votes it's impossible for honest people to overcome.

I’m actually very seriously considering running for office myself. I’ve helped others, voted reliably and have had rational conversations with people when the topics came up and did my best to understand their positions while articulating my own position. I’m thinking that maybe it’s time for me to enter the ring myself though. I’ll definitely let this forum know if I decide to take that plunge, and probably ask for help from whomever would be willing to pitch in.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
What have you done to educate others on the issues? What have you done to identify and encourage quality candidates to run for office? What have you done to engage with existing office holders to share your concerns and support their efforts?

I have always known this, but this election really brought it home.

Most Americans really don't give a flying fuck about elections like WE do here at Sigforum. MOST AMERICANS.

Look at the turnout in many of these states, 50% and less of registered voters. I fully realize it is a midterm, but this one was an extremely important one in a crucial period of time. Half of Texas registered voters stayed home. Less than half of registered voters in New York voted. 3.5 million PA voters did not vote. Etc.

The reasons are various- too lazy, they don't give a shit, or the one I think made a difference- pure 100% apathy and disillusionment in the election process, maybe something concentrated with Republicans.

Given the math and averages, the majority of the 8 million registered Texan voters that did not vote are Republicans.

Trump knew. A couple of days ago, he was out in the rain, pleading with people to get out of their fucking houses and vote. For me, this is where our election process fails- too many people don't care.

We can do better as conservatives to get others to give a shit and vote.

Given how much a hassle it is to vote, I am surprised that the number of voters is as high as it is. The inefficiencies’ of the process are mind boggling. Imagine going to the DMV to vote without the negative consequences of getting caught driving without a license. No wonder people do not vote, the hassle is too much compared to the perceived benefit.

I live in North Carolina, which compared to Arizona is advanced in its handling of elections; the was counted and entered in 97 out of 100 counties by midnight, and two of those counties were Wake and Mecklenberg, highly democratic and wealthy (don't know what their problem was, probably trying to find a way to manufacture more democratic votes). However, considering I went early in the morning it was still a frustrating process. Once I got in the building it split into 3 lines, Lord help you if you got in the wrong line, which I did. The person working my line was taking around twice the amount as the one next to her. Plus once I got to the front, I had to wait for them to type in my name, verify my address and print a form for me to sign. Then I had to take that form to another line to get a ballot. It is no wonder that many people do not vote. The perceived benefit is not worth the effort. I agree with voter ID laws, not only to prevent fraud but to streamline the process. Most states have barcodes on your license with your name and address. If would be extremely simple to scan the id pull up the voter registration and automatically verify if it is correct. The person could then sign with a signature capture pad or thumb pad (you could also use the thumb pad to verify identity like an iphone), etc for audit purposes. Wham bam, less than 20 to 30 seconds a person. If there is a problem you go to another line to avoid holding that one up. It would drastically reduce the lines encouraging more people to vote and reduce potential fraud.