I have voted every election since 1978 when I turned 18...

[rateyes]

I have voted a straight Democratic ticket every time. I have worked and contributed time and money to get Democrats elected. For 34 years I have hoped and dreamed of a day when we would get a Democratic majority big enough to get things done...

I was so excited 2 years ago...

Now....


I don't give a damn anymore.


I'm tired.

I can't keep doing this.

I'm going back to sleep, and hope that the recurring nightmare is better than the reality we are now living in.

[Dawson Leery]

1. There is no way in HELL I am going to let that damn carnie

Linda McSteroids represent Connecticut!

[rateyes]

2. Good for you. I have a blue dog representative. Won't be voting this time.

[Gman]

5. You're no help at all, are you?

You just lay down and quit when you don't like the outcome, do you?

[rateyes]

16. I lay down and quit after I've been beaten.

I've been playing the game for a long time. For me, the game is over. The score has been recorded in the books. Game.Set.Match. The corporatists have won.

[BzaDem]

31. Oh, you'll be back. It's simply a matter of time.

There's only so much political pain you can inflict upon yourself before your survival instinct takes over. You will be running to the polls to vote Democratic -- it's just a matter of when the survival instinct kicks in. Perhaps it won't kick in when Republicans end unemployment insurance, cut Medicaid, and make the tax code more regressive. Perhaps it will take them voucherizing Medicare. But at some point, you won't be able to take it anymore. It's just a matter of time.

If you think it is bad now, you don't have a clue. Not a clue.

[rateyes]

39. I have a clue.

Democrats won't stop any of that.

[BzaDem]

41. My point is that you DON'T have a clue, your assertion to the contrary notwithstanding.

Democrats HAVE stopped ALL OF THAT while they have been in office. The only way they wouldn't stop that is if they didn't have the votes to stop that, which is EXACTLY what you want to happen.

[demosincebirth]

18. Don't vote, don't complain. nt

[emilyg]

3. My first vote was

for JFK. Always straight D - until now.

[Aramchek]

4. are you waiting for someone to play a violin for you?

[rateyes]

7. No.

I'm way beyond feeling sorry for myself, and even the country. I really don't give a damn.

[DJ13]

6. I think wearing down the base is what the party wants

They would prefer to see a GOP revival because the party is controlled by the corporate wing (DLC/New Dems), and they wanted to shift right after the election.

The base just gets in their way.

My idea is to vote (straight ticket Dem) out of spite, dont let them wear you down.

The greatest revenge is to keep the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, which will slow them from moving right.

I guarantee THAT would piss off our party leadership more than not voting and seeing the GOP take control of one (or both) houses of Congress.

[Dawson Leery]

8. That would piss off the DLC gang.

No question.

[Individualist]

11. It would piss off the DLC gang, but we'd still be stuck with a DLC controlled party.

It's a lose/lose situation.

[rateyes]

10. I really don't care about pissing them off. i don't care about anything

it doesn't matter who is elected. We live in an oligarchy and it's not going to change. I used to believe a revolution was going to happen in this country. I don't believe it anymore.

[RadiationTherapy]

26. I agree with you. I will vote, but mainly to not listen to others complain.

I do not think there are any non-violent solutions, but I am not violent.

[rateyes]

35. That's it.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Wow, such cynicism

But I can't argue with you. Their tactics make it hard to believe otherwise.

[Dawgs]

9. You wouldn't have posted here if you didn't give a damn.

I feel sorry for you.

[rateyes]

13. Save your pity.

It's a waste of emotion.

[brooklynite]

14. If you started voting in 1978...

...then you were voting in 1980 when Reagan beat Carter....

...and in 1994 when the Newt Gingrich took over the House of Representatives....

...and in 2000 when GWB beat Al Gore.....

You can argue that you're unhappy, you can argue that changes haven't been fast enough, but you cannot argue that Republicans coming to power won't be profoundly worse.

[rateyes]

17. It will be worse. No doubt.

And, I still don't give a damn.

Regardless of who wins...the poor are going to get screwed, because the rich will be in control.

Doesn't matter which party screws us....we're still screwed.

[proteus_lives]

15. No vote, no voice.

[rateyes]

19. yeah, i used to say that, too. Now, I say

vote or no vote....no voice. Where was my voice during the health care negotiations? Obama? No. Democrats in Congress? No. Democratic Senators? No.

We voted them in....still didn't get a voice.


To hell with them.

[proteus_lives]

20. Your choice.

But you've lost the right to bitch, remember that.

[rateyes]

24. Not going to

bitch. I don't give a damn.

[Individualist]

28. When was the first amendment abolished?

[BzaDem]

33. Just because you have the right to speak does NOT mean you have the right to be taken seriously.

It also doesn't mean you have the right not to be mocked and laughed at when you feel the consequences of your own actions.

[proteus_lives]

47. Hasn't been.

But I'll turn away when he says something. If he doesn't care and won't fight, then nothing he says matters.

[JNelson6563]

21. So you're not going to vote?

and you're promoting that here at DU?

[rateyes]

22. I'm not promoting it. I'm not telling you not to vote.

I'm just telling you why I'm not voting.

[Individualist]

27. What a cheap shot!

If you've read his posts, you know very well he's talking about his vote, not encouraging others to not vote.

[JNelson6563]

69. Maybe your tears will heal his wounds

[DCBob]

23. Surprised you werent more upset a few years ago during the Bush/Cheney regime.

I sure was. Now I feel incredibly relieved except that now I am beginning to become worried that we could easily fall back into an even worse Republican nightmare especially when people even in my own party have such short memories.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. I get it, I understand it

but I still cannot join you and trust me I am the worst cynic ever.

I still see this as a duty... so I will vote. What I will not do is work for anybody...

Oh and as to the Revolution it is happening. It started in 1948, the counter revolution to the New Deal... I don't know what it will take for that counter revolution to this one to start. But that is the rhythm of US History.

[rateyes]

29. Glad you understand.

Glad you are voting.

[Mz Pip]

30. Are there no

State or local issues that are important to you? None? Even our local city council election will get me to the polls.

[rateyes]

32. i would ALMOST go to the polls to vote for Roy Barnes...

...because of his stance on education. But, as long as Arne Duncan is Ed. Secy. there's nothing much he can do.

[rucky]

34. What was the last straw?

if there was one?

[rateyes]

36. Arne Duncan and Race to the Top...

on top of all the other capitulation of Democrats.

[BzaDem]

38. If you think Arne Duncan and Race to the Top are bad, you should just wait until you are forced to

reap what you sow, and Republicans take power. Not Bush style Republicans, who will enact No Child Left Behind and then stop. Republicans who cut funding by orders of magnitude more than funding is getting cut in the current Recession. Republicans who institute voucher programs that ACTUALLY end public schools as we know it (as opposed to the nonsense claims that this is happening now).

[rateyes]

43. i'm a school teacher.

It's happening now. And, Obama is for it.

[BzaDem]

44. Again, the mere fact that you are SAYING it is happening it now is proof that you have no clue

If you think that it is NEARLY as bad now as it will be under the next Republican, you do not have a clue by definition. Whether or not you are a school teacher or a cop or a firefighter does not change that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. All your bashing will not get that poster to the polls

in her view things ARE THAT BAD and are being enabled by Democrats in power.

She is correct by the way... they are being enabled by the conservadems...

But hell, whatever.

This public shaming ain't helping. Instead you should ask the question you will not... WHY? After all our wonderful voting ratios are the lowest in Western Democracies. Have you ever asked WHY?

You just got an answer, but go ahead... demean and make fun.

[BzaDem]

54. Oh, I don't suspect it will. Only one Palin enactment after another will do that.

I do ask why, but for a different question. Why do we continue to coddle posters like the OP? They openly admit they want to take an action that aides and enables Republicans. So why don't we simply say "don't let the door hit your *%$ on the way out?"

I don't see people here defending Republicans. Why defend Republican enablers? How are they ANY different than Republicans, in terms of damage to our country?

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. I ain't coddling anybody, except in your imagination

Chew on this, cause you ain't helping



?w=327&h=289



For the record, I don't expect you to see in the OP the immense cynicism that is now part and parcel of the US political system... that is of interest to Political Scientists, not partisans.

[rucky]

48. So sad that the people who've been in it the longest

or working the hardest are falling by the wayside. Active and caring citizens are burning out one by one.

I still have some fight left, but I can't say I blame you. In the back of my mind, I'm wondering what's going to happen to make me say "fuck it".

[saltpoint]

37. Order two Feingold bumper stickers and call us

in the morning.

His state or your state -- makes no difference.

Some of us would urge you to give a damn.

[BzaDem]

40. Why do you try to coddle or pamper people who openly admit they will aide and enable Republicans?

I never got that. People who will withhold their vote (aiding and enabling Republicans) should be treated no differently than people who aide and enable Republicans from the right. They are doing the EXACT SAME damage to the country.

[rateyes]

46. Yet, when Obama enables Republicans by caving in to them??

[BzaDem]

49. The problem is that what you just said is completely false.

Every major bill passed the Senate with the minimum number of votes required, and not a vote more.

But don't let facts get in the way of your bullshit narrative.

[rateyes]

55. And, yet, he kept giving away stuff to try and make the bills bipartisan...

but, don't let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.

[BzaDem]

56. Except, as usual, your post is the exact opposite of the truth.

He "gave away stuff" to get enough DEMOCRATS to vote for it for till to pass.

The idea that he gave away stuff to make the bill bipartisan is just as much of a falsehood as the idea that Obama was born in Kenya.

[rateyes]

60. And, that is bullshit. He had the votes for the public option in reconciliation...

he had promised it away at the beginning of the negotiations. Again, check your facts.

[BzaDem]

64. The public option would not have passed the HOUSE the second time around, let alone the Senate.

Too many house members who originally supported the House bill with the PO voted against the bill, and not enough PO supporters made up for their defections. The House made the Senate promise IN WRITING not to add any provisions to the reconciliation bill.

And in any event, the PO would have been whittled down to nothing once the Republicans challenged provisions of it with the Byrd rule.

But of course, looking at these nuances requires actual thinking and analysis (as opposed to you just peddling a false narrative).

[rateyes]

62. Oh, and I suppose it was Republicans who came up with that winner

of an idea of making states compete for education funds.

[BzaDem]

65. Oh, today's Republicans would have just turned off federal education funding entirely. n/t

[saltpoint]

51. Uh, I agree.

Who is it you think I'm coddling?

I've put up one or two posts on this site in fairly strong support of Democrats and am not especially known for my love of the GOP.

I simply called on the OP to give a damn.

[BzaDem]

53. Sorry, my bad.

Replied to wrong post.

[saltpoint]

57. We're cool, BzaDem. We live far away from each other

but I hope you'll let me buy you a figuartive cold beer this election night in November.

And here's hoping we have a huge turnout, too!

:thumbup:

[BzaDem]

58. Here's hoping. :) n/t

[meow mix]

42. i have a similar record, and ive never been so sickened with my party.

this whitehouse is shit.

regardless i guess im voting, i suppose...

[Tatiana]

45. As tired as you may be, you've got to keep pressing on.

Trust me, as an educator, I may be school reformed out of my own job by the leadership of my own political party.

That's a really depressing thought.

However, I still have a civic responsibility to elect the best possible candidates out of the options presented. It's bad now, but it can and will be worse if we sit back and do nothing.

We should still work for change... starting at the local level and working our way up.

[rateyes]

50. As a 7th grade school teacher, I feel your pain.

I've worked for change. Was promised change we can believe in.

Got shit.

[Tatiana]

63. Hey, we still have to fight.

I fight for my kids -- and to preserve a system that gives them a shot to make something of themselves.

We can't just throw in the towel and give up. That's not an option. That's what the other side is counting on. Teachers unions across this country, AFT and NEA along with other organizations are going to have to unite to elect more progressive candidates and beat back privitization attempts.

We can do this. We just have our work cut out for us. I always try to remind myself that there really are more of us than them. We just have to mobilize.

:grouphug:

[pintobean]

61. I respect your decision

I'll vote, but haven't decided if I'll vote in every race.

[Monique1]

66. I will be voting in Novembeer for sure

and I will vote a straight Dem ticket. There is no way in hell that I will allow giving a vote for a repuke.

[TheFarseer]

67. Yes, I understand this sentiment

and decline to elaborate for fear I'll say something I'll regret.

[Ter]

68. 1978 and 1992 were big majorities

Maybe even bigger. Why does it disappoint you now and not then?

[ecstatic]

70. Are you leaving DU or

will you stick around to spread pessimism? Oh, and it's funny how so many "democrats" who have been democrats their "entire life" are having a change of heart now that Obama's in office.