US Geekhackers, remember to VOTE today!!

[demik]

Just reminding you guys to vote.

Please don't set this country back 50 years by electing a flip floppin liar.

[trentva]

check

[fohat.digs]

It would be hard for me to imagine a greater act of treason than someone obstructing an American citizen's right to cast a vote and have it fairly counted.

Unfortunately, I am afraid that there are people who would do exactly that, and still imagine themselves to be "patriots" .....

[demik]

That is my biggest fear for today.

Being a left leaning liberal, it would hurt if my candidate lost. But I would be okay if it was fair.

But having the Romney camp invest in voting machines in swing states and having the GOP go through a ton of trouble trying to lie to voters (robocalls telling people the wrong location and wrong day/time) is ****ing scary.

[m00nshake]

I voted early last Saturday.

[precarious]

That is my biggest fear for today.

Being a left leaning liberal, it would hurt if my candidate lost. But I would be okay if it was fair.

But having the Romney camp invest in voting machines in swing states and having the GOP go through a ton of trouble trying to lie to voters (robocalls telling people the wrong location and wrong day/time) is ****ing scary.

hadn't heard about anything like this personally, but i was wondering if it would happen.  people truly are insane and that man is a psychopath if ever there were one.

[demik]

That is my biggest fear for today.

Being a left leaning liberal, it would hurt if my candidate lost. But I would be okay if it was fair.

But having the Romney camp invest in voting machines in swing states and having the GOP go through a ton of trouble trying to lie to voters (robocalls telling people the wrong location and wrong day/time) is ****ing scary.

hadn't heard about anything like this personally, but i was wondering if it would happen.  people truly are insane and that man is a psychopath if ever there were one.

Head on over to /r/politics on reddit.

Romney and his son have invest in voting machines in Ohio.

GOP *****ing about voter fraud when they are purposely lying to Americans. Not wanting to register democrats.

It's disgusting. And if Romney wins I hope people revolt against this broken system.

[iMav]

Please don't set this country back 50 years by electing a flip floppin liar.

So, you must be advocating for a 3rd party candidate. 

[Lanx]

you guys could be registered as republican and never be hasseled, i've been one for 15 years, never voted for "my" party. Plus all my friends are dems or indies, it's cool to be the only repub.

oh yea and

'Merica!

[metalliqaz]

Head on over to /r/politics on reddit.

Romney and his son have invest in voting machines in Ohio.

GOP *****ing about voter fraud when they are purposely lying to Americans. Not wanting to register democrats.

It's disgusting. And if Romney wins I hope people revolt against this broken system.

http://factcheck.org/2012/11/does-tagg-romney-own-ohio-voting-machines/

[The_Beast]

Please don't set this country back 50 years by electing a flip floppin liar.

So, you must be advocating for a 3rd party candidate. 

Ron Paul?

[demik]

Head on over to /r/politics on reddit.

Romney and his son have invest in voting machines in Ohio.

GOP *****ing about voter fraud when they are purposely lying to Americans. Not wanting to register democrats.

It's disgusting. And if Romney wins I hope people revolt against this broken system.

http://factcheck.org/2012/11/does-tagg-romney-own-ohio-voting-machines/

Companies owning voting machine companies investing in ANY candidate doesn't sit well with me. And shouldn't with anybody.

[fohat.digs]

The Electoral College itself is a ridiculous pre-Industrial-Revolution relic.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer put it very well when he said that the US Constitution is one of the greatest documents ever written, but that its fabric has become threadbare and needs to be stitched up in several places.

Archaic election and voting systems are clearly one of those places, but, unfortunately, as things become more virtual and electronic, they are even more susceptible to tampering.

[xsphat]

metalliqaz, good man. Trust nothing you hear. With 7 billion people on the sphere, info cannot be transmitted without being colored by someone along it's path.

BTW, no one should believe any conspiracy blindly. Books, TV and movies have made society very suspicious of anything the gov't does, any celebrity and all rich people. If there were people secretly controlling the world, do you really think we would know their names? Really?

[metalliqaz]

Well, yes.  Koch, Murdoch, Cheney, etc... But it's true you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

[xsphat]

There you go, killing all my hope. No one secretly controls everything.

[jdcarpe]

I just voted. My ballot was less a vote FOR Romney than it was AGAINST Obama. I voted for Libertarian candidates in most other races, not that I really think any of them have a chance at winning, but simply a statement of my ballot reflecting my beliefs.

[demik]

I just voted. My ballot was less a vote FOR Romney than it was AGAINST Obama. I voted for Libertarian candidates in most other races, not that I really think any of them have a chance at winning, but simply a statement of my ballot reflecting my beliefs.

Regardless who you vote for, it's good you went out.

There are other things to vote for other than who should be president.

Legalizing gay marriage, pot. Keeping/getting rid of the death penalty etc etc.

[xsphat]

I voted for Libertarian candidates in most other races, not that I really think any of them have a chance at winning, but simply a statement of my ballot reflecting my beliefs.

Then you stayed true to yourself, which is all we can ask.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Guess who isn't voting today?  THIS GUY!

[xsphat]

No man, remember? I'm voting for you!

[tipo33]

Lets not forget that Puerto Rico is voting to become the 51st state!

[xsphat]

That'd f-up our flag.

[fohat.digs]

In some existential sort of way, I have a very positive feeling towards Libertarian ideals, but the reality is that the US is so deeply locked into the 2 party system that 99.9% of the time, any vote outside the 2 parties is simply thrown away.

I would love to see a small number of additional viable political parties here, but with our society so deeply polarized yet so equally divided, there is simply no space for anything else to get a toehold.

[hashbaz]

In some existential sort of way, I have a very positive feeling towards Libertarian ideals, but the reality is that the US is so deeply locked into the 2 party system that 99.9% of the time, any vote outside the 2 parties is simply thrown away.

I would love to see a small number of additional viable political parties here, but with our society so deeply polarized yet so equally divided, there is simply no space for anything else to get a toehold.

I was hoping that the tea partiers would turn into a new, legit, libertarian-flavored third party, but they seem content to remain a subsect of the GOP.  The parliamentary model of proportional party representation in congress seems on paper like a better way to achieve political diversity than our system, though I'm sure it has its drawbacks too.

[fohat.digs]

A pro-war, anti-abortion party is, by definition, anything but Libertarian, but I would welcome any viable new party onto the scene.

Republicans and Democrats could easily split into 2 new parties each, since their internal ideologies and demographics are schizophrenic.

[hashbaz]

I said libertarian flavored.  Tea partiers are generally minimalist, small-government types.  I don't think they're particularly pro-war or anti-abortion, as a group.

[xsphat]

Huh, and here i though the tea party were a bunch of good, hood-wearing  clansmen.

[fohat.digs]

There is little that I find more infuriating than radical right-wingers who are self-righteously pro-war, anti-abortion, anti-drug, climate-change-denying, and whatever else, claiming to be "Libertarians" purely on the basis of not wanting to pay their fair share of taxes.

Every religion on this planet teaches tolerance and compassion as preeminent core values.

People with great wealth possess that wealth because the society to which they belong make it possible for them to accumulate it.
 

[xsphat]

Every religion on this planet teaches tolerance and compassion as preeminent core values.

What? That is a joke, right? Pllleeeeaaaassssseeee tell me you don't actually believe that crap.

[fohat.digs]

Did you miss the word "teaches"?

[sth]

did you miss over 6000 years of human history

[xsphat]

You are being all inclusive. So even teh fringe religions like voodoo and Catholicism teach love? The Catholics have attempted genocide for f ucks sake. Voodoo tells you to sacrifice goats so you can fall in love and do I need to say the twin towers? Yeah, they teach good Leave it to Beaver style values.

The core of Christianity is that if you believe you will go to heaven and all who don't believe will burn in hell. Sounds like love for all of mankind.

Read history. Learn about the people who invented your god.

(I warned you guys to not get me on religion)

[sth]

when did catholicism become a fringe religion? the church claims over 1 billion served members.

[xsphat]

when did catholicism become a fringe religion? the church claims over 1 billion served members.

Since I said so, lol. Catholics are inherently evil and I will fight them until I can't.

[fohat.digs]

Perhaps you miss my point.

I think that the existence of a "God" is one of the most preposterous theories that the human race has ever fabricated.

However, a large percentage of people do look to "religion" as a repository of moral values.

And "voodoo" is not a religion, in my opinion.

[alaricljs]

Are they counting every baptism?  I was baptized, but I never once believed in that story, not even when I believed in Santa. 

[MMB]

I am of the opinion that 'when I see it, I will believe it', otherwise it's pure horses**t.

[xsphat]

Voodoo is a religion, it's just about as archaic as the gods of Olympus.

Religion served it's purpose, we aren't all rapists and we don't hump our mothers, so now it's time for something new to believe in. 

[hashbaz]

The way people practice religion is related to, but separable from, its teachings.  You're conflating the Catholic church as a political entity with its ideals and doctrines.  In addition to the sin and redemption thing, Christianity has a lot of stuff about loving and serving God and others.  Turn the other cheek, love your enemies, etc.  It would be unfair not to think of these as core values.

[xsphat]

Then color me unfair because i wont love god.

[hashbaz]

There is little that I find more infuriating than radical right-wingers who are self-righteously pro-war, anti-abortion, anti-drug, climate-change-denying, and whatever else, claiming to be "Libertarians" purely on the basis of not wanting to pay their fair share of taxes.

I'm not sure they claim that for themselves.  I claimed them to be libertarian flavored because they are for self-reliance and minimalist, low-interference government.  Sounds like a libertarian position, wouldn't you say?

[hashbaz]

Then color me unfair because i wont love god.

You don't have to love God to be fair to others' positions.

[sth]

but that's really not the rallying point of the tea party. we can hem and haw all day about how the tea party was founded on libertarian ideals but realistically that is not what it represents anymore. the voting bloc that constitutes the contemporary tea party votes in favor of religiously-influenced legislation, corporate welfare and racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic interests -- in many cases to their own detriment. 

[hashbaz]

Fair enough if that's the case, I haven't been following them recently.

My point was that back when they emerged in 2010, I was hoping they would form a real third party based on at least some libertarian ideals.  That would make things more interesting politically in this country.

[sth]

I would tend to disagree with you as far as them making things more interesting, but I have some rather... inflammatory views of libertarianism that aren't really relevant to a keyboard forum

[hashbaz]

Well we've already covered religion and politics in this thread.  Don't hold back, man.

edit: I am actually genuinely interested in opinions (read: not trolls) on this topic.  I find myself attracted to ideas in both libertarianism and modern progressivism, which is puzzling.

[sth]

libertarianism is predicated on an often-intentional ignorance of inequality and systems of oppression that would not necessarily become moot were there mainstream support for it. it ignores real issues of socioeconomic disenfranchisement in favor of what i call the 'bootstraps' mentality.

i also don't hear of much talk of libertarianism in a non-capitalist economic sense, and since some form of government is going to exist for the foreseeable future, i'd rather it protect and serve people and populations, not contracts and companies. sorry if that comes off as slogany

[hashbaz]

It comes off like change I can believe in.

[sth]

well maybe I didn't make myself clear, but i have a dim view of most of capitalism and libertarianism aligns itself almost exclusively with concepts like anarcho-capitalism (holy lol, don't get me started) and free markets.