- Joined
- Feb 28, 2011
- Messages
- 3,580
- Reaction score
- 24
Ok, I have to give some intro quickly or the moderators will lock and banish this thread, and I apologize up front to the mods for making your life difficult.
So here it is. I am the epitome of an independent -- this is not a political statement but more about the administrative act of voting. I voted Republican (2x), Libertarian (2x), and Democrat (2x), and I won't tell you where I am leaning right now because it doesn't matter. I am not voting. This is not about politics, but the administrative transaction of voting. I actually worked in elections and spent a good chunk of my life encouraging and helping people to vote. I've been on TV and radio telling people to vote, talked with politicians to encourage get-out-the vote, and spent years of my life caring about the minutiae of voter registries, electoral fraud, and polling day activities.
Three years ago I gave that up. I don't listen to the news or vote any longer -- and I have stuck to it. The amount of anger and frustration it takes to sort through the crap on the airwaves every two years was not worth it for me. In its place I found more happiness with family, friends, and even a strange little corner of the forum world where people are really crazy about knives.
In other countries it is a common practice to protest misguided democracy, autocracy, and idiocracy with not voting. And in some countries it is the strongest form of expressing your will. I encourage everyone to act according to your needs and will, but don't be ashamed if instead of voting you choose to sharpen a knife, discuss a custom with Devin, or do some window shopping at Japanese Knife Imports.
Cheers,
k.
So here it is. I am the epitome of an independent -- this is not a political statement but more about the administrative act of voting. I voted Republican (2x), Libertarian (2x), and Democrat (2x), and I won't tell you where I am leaning right now because it doesn't matter. I am not voting. This is not about politics, but the administrative transaction of voting. I actually worked in elections and spent a good chunk of my life encouraging and helping people to vote. I've been on TV and radio telling people to vote, talked with politicians to encourage get-out-the vote, and spent years of my life caring about the minutiae of voter registries, electoral fraud, and polling day activities.
Three years ago I gave that up. I don't listen to the news or vote any longer -- and I have stuck to it. The amount of anger and frustration it takes to sort through the crap on the airwaves every two years was not worth it for me. In its place I found more happiness with family, friends, and even a strange little corner of the forum world where people are really crazy about knives.
In other countries it is a common practice to protest misguided democracy, autocracy, and idiocracy with not voting. And in some countries it is the strongest form of expressing your will. I encourage everyone to act according to your needs and will, but don't be ashamed if instead of voting you choose to sharpen a knife, discuss a custom with Devin, or do some window shopping at Japanese Knife Imports.
Cheers,
k.