05-24-2016, 05:48 AM
By the way, as the election season approaches....I think it is very important to note...
The President of the United States or your state Senators and Congressional Representatives may have something to do with how your police are armed, how your city is equipped and how well it is (or is not) supported and maintained by federal dollars. This...is true. It is also true that the system is stacked SO radically in favor of incumbents (look up The franking privilege as just one institutional aspect of that stacking).....at the NATIONAL LEVEL.....that I can understand and even come to agree with people who say our system has become or is getting to be outright rigged.
However......
I can see and I can understand, down to the mechanics and the necessary corruption with where it has to happen, just how national elections are stacked and, yes, outright rigged at times.
I CANNOT see (and I've been a voter, and watcher of the process my entire adult life) how you could rig the National races (at least 2, and usually more for every state, every general election, without exception), *AND* the State elections for statehouse senators/reps, *AND* the Governor's race, *AND* the 100,000's of thousands of little races around the nation, which are all on the same ballots and would add complexity beyond comprehension to meddle with and pass muster in even cursory count checks or further looks.
No...Our National system is first rigged by sheer apathy and the carefully nurtured appearance of something less than entirely open at the caucus level. Then...it VERY well MAY be jiggered in countless little ways, by countless individuals across the system, for contributing to rigged outcomes.
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Bottom line after all that? Voting matters ...because The President, your 2 Senators and your gaggle of Representatives don't set direct tone and policy, as well as select and hire the personnel that enforce your laws at the level YOU see it on a daily basis. Your Mayors do. Your city council's do. Your school boards do.
These are all elected positions, and before anyone says all those races can be rigged? Lets recall something else. You....and yes, I mean you, if you're American. You...can be a poll watching volunteer. You and your friends can pool your numbers to effectively watch a majority if not ALL of the polling stations, from an accepted and official position of doing so, across the entire area which matters for city/county leaders. ....The people who actually DO set daily tones...policies...fines...and the aggression levels of those who enforce it all.
Vote...because it always matters on the local level. So few do, that every vote in THAT frame of measure and that level of looking at things *DOES* matter.
! ! THIS is why it is CRITICAL that people VOTE ! !
The President of the United States or your state Senators and Congressional Representatives may have something to do with how your police are armed, how your city is equipped and how well it is (or is not) supported and maintained by federal dollars. This...is true. It is also true that the system is stacked SO radically in favor of incumbents (look up The franking privilege as just one institutional aspect of that stacking).....at the NATIONAL LEVEL.....that I can understand and even come to agree with people who say our system has become or is getting to be outright rigged.
However......
I can see and I can understand, down to the mechanics and the necessary corruption with where it has to happen, just how national elections are stacked and, yes, outright rigged at times.
I CANNOT see (and I've been a voter, and watcher of the process my entire adult life) how you could rig the National races (at least 2, and usually more for every state, every general election, without exception), *AND* the State elections for statehouse senators/reps, *AND* the Governor's race, *AND* the 100,000's of thousands of little races around the nation, which are all on the same ballots and would add complexity beyond comprehension to meddle with and pass muster in even cursory count checks or further looks.
No...Our National system is first rigged by sheer apathy and the carefully nurtured appearance of something less than entirely open at the caucus level. Then...it VERY well MAY be jiggered in countless little ways, by countless individuals across the system, for contributing to rigged outcomes.
----
Bottom line after all that? Voting matters ...because The President, your 2 Senators and your gaggle of Representatives don't set direct tone and policy, as well as select and hire the personnel that enforce your laws at the level YOU see it on a daily basis. Your Mayors do. Your city council's do. Your school boards do.
These are all elected positions, and before anyone says all those races can be rigged? Lets recall something else. You....and yes, I mean you, if you're American. You...can be a poll watching volunteer. You and your friends can pool your numbers to effectively watch a majority if not ALL of the polling stations, from an accepted and official position of doing so, across the entire area which matters for city/county leaders. ....The people who actually DO set daily tones...policies...fines...and the aggression levels of those who enforce it all.
Vote...because it always matters on the local level. So few do, that every vote in THAT frame of measure and that level of looking at things *DOES* matter.