politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
Nothing will change until we start asking why people don't bother to vote, instead of fruitlessly balling our fists, shitting our diapers, and whining that it's not fair that so many people choose not to vote.
You can moan all you want about non voters, but brow beating people will only drive them away from your side faster. The truth is non voters don't vote for real reasons, primarily because they don't think either side represents them. You can whine and moan that people need to think more strategically, but no amount of crying will change the fact that a good chunk of the electorate simply doesn't share your values and approach to voting. Some people vote strategically, some only when they feel they can truly support a candidate. Screaming at people, "you simply have to approach voting the way I do!!!" won't convince anyone.
People have different values and priors, and they do not owe you their votes. In a democracy, saying "I can't stand either of these monsters. I don't care what happens, I'm not participating, a pox on both your houses!" is a perfectly valid choice. A core principle of democracy is that we're allowed to believe different things, and brow beating people will not get them to support you.
Don't blame non voters. It's intellectually lazy and a cop out meant to prevent Democrats from making the hard changes necessary to actually appeal to this population of non voters. Trump managed to mobilize millions of non voters. He didn't do so by whining at them and telling them to vote strategy. He did it by inspiring them and convincing them he was looking out for them. It was all lies, but it worked. If you want to mobilize non voters, you need to find ways and policies that actually appeal to them. Simply complaining about non voters will not work, just as it hasn't worked for the last 40 years.
And while I'm sure you're already typing a comment telling me it's my fault Trump got elected because I didn't vote, you're wrong. I did hold my nose and fruitlessly vote for the Cheney lover, for all the good that did. I just have enough humility to realize that those who don't vote have very good reasons for doing so.