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John Wright's avatar

The "slap in the face" aspect of winning the popular vote is an excellent point. As long as a candidate wins only the electoral college, but loses the popular vote, there is an appearance that the people don't support the president (or didn't choose the president). Hopefully with Kennedy, Gabbard and Musk we will see a tidal wave of support and perhaps the country can rally, instead of bicker, after the election?

There really are two messages from not voting:

1) Apathy

2) Protest (refusal to support / participate in the system)

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Barbara Wegner's avatar

Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it. I believe that people who do not vote, choose to not vote because they refuse to support or participate in the system. My point in this article is that the elected officials don't take it that way, they take it as APATHY or ACCEPTANCE and will not work with those people's best interests in mind because they figure they don't care enough to vote against them.

I'm not saying it's moral, or right, etc. But that's the way it works. The politicians will not receive message two from a non-vote.

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John Wright's avatar

Yes, the "message" isn't being received!

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Barbara Wegner's avatar

Part of the reason I wrote this was because I think those people who don't vote should re-consider their decision since a non-vote doesn't get "heard" by the politicians. Their "protest" actually doesn't protest anything.

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John Wright's avatar

Yes! I really appreciate this train of thought. I'm frustrated by friends that advocate just "dropping out". Certainly I understand their viewpoint and I largely agreed with them before 2020. But when the tyrants directly attack my freedom, health and income - well, that's when I start trying to do everything I can to fix this disaster!

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Barbara Wegner's avatar

The four boxes of liberty is a 19th-century American idea that proposes: "There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge. Please use in that order."

We maintain order in this country if we feel like we can speak (soapbox), then speak through the ballot box otherwise. This is how to speak back, or strike back when people come to destroy your liberty. It gets bad when we don't have the jury box. I know that's not doing so well in a few cases. But another reason to vote for Trump is possibly getting a better Supreme Court Judge pick.

Feel free to share this article or these thoughts with others.

It's a great important conversation.

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John Wright's avatar

Let's put those "boxes" to use! (except the last one unless absolutely necessary!)

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