Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for October 15, 2014

If only it worked that way in real life, on an individual basis…

Nobody was using it anyway, so no loss.

I’d be more willing to vote if it wasn’t so obviously rigged.

Doesn’t help when you take classes from professors who show you exactly HOW they rigged elections – and proved it.

But it sure does make entertaining theater!

Orion

You should vote. Your vote counts as much as somebody that knows what they’re voting about.— David Letterman

So does this mean I’m English now?

When did cartoon-boy get all political? Anyway, I adhere to Douglas Adams’s philosophy of politics – vote to prevent the wrong lizard from getting in.

This has already happened, too few people read about politics. Too many don’t care about politics. too few vote.Then there is all the people who watch fox, thinking it is real news. Whitch it isn’t, but they don’t do any fact checkingThen you get radical evengelical types who say we need religeious freedom. We HAVE religeous freedom.But they want to hate gay people and are no shades of gray, just black or white on abortion, not even for incest for very young underdeveloped girls.We Have freedom of religieon,,,, do we want forced religeion?

Repo? As if that’s necessary.

I have a theory that all this “left vs right”, “democrat vs republican”, etc, is just a smokescreen designed to keep us mired right where we are. Everyone is too busy blaming the “other side” to focus on actually effecting change. The weak minded masses buy into it, and readily vote against the “other side” instead of looking for real answers. Meanwhile diluting the voting power of those who actually THINK.

Good one, Stephen….

“If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice.”

local votes count, but some states and national, we actually voting so that other people can choose who goes to electoral college, and those are the ones who select officially who is the winner, in the old times, it was not certain how they end up voting, but now-days it is pretty much just a formality after the electorates are selected

I get all of my political information from reading comments posted by random strangers on gocomics…

As a Boy Scout, I was taught that voting was a responsibility more than a right. So I now see why certain demographics of people want scouting eliminated.Such a bad thing to teach one to be: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, law abiding, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent and honest.

And wabbit is ignorant!

When fascism comes to this country it will be wrapped in denims and a leather biker vest and carrying a ballot box. Who knew?

I hope all you who are annoyed that voting is difficult will remember when November comes around that the reason is because in some other election the opposing forces of craziness did not go out to vote. It was too hot, too cold, such a long line, such a problem. Before the crazies passed laws to prevent as many people as possible from voting, you had the luxury of getting through that line in 1/2 an hour or less, or sending your vote by mail, or going on the weekend, voting up to a month before the election, or registering and voting on the same day. Now, not so much of any of the aforementioned luxuries. Some people will stand for hours in the weather, to cast their ballots on one of the three machines their State has allowed to be used at their precinct. Some people will be challenged when they go to vote and find their name has been struck from the rolls in some pre-election purge. Some will have to wait in lines where toilets have been closed (Miami/Dade Florida). Some will be asked for identification they don’t have, and have no other reason to have. And, if they give up and go home, the people who get elected will make it even harder to vote the next time. If you want to have a Democracy, you have to research who passed the laws to require you to stand in line, you have to stand in line, and you have to vote for people who will make voting easier for you the next time. Yeah, it’s hard, but what do you think they plan to do to the Middle Class if they don’t have anyone voting against them?All this came about while you were taking that delightful nap instead of voting last time you had the chance. Do not ever think your vote doesn’t matter. Vote yourself and spread the word to everyone you know. These insidious governments did not come about by accident and they will take your freedoms from you one by one and you will laugh and say they can’t do that and yet here we are and they are doing it. Don’t be the one who allows this.

Our problem is that too many people vote without having any idea why. “Cast a ballot, any ballot” could be a national rallying cry. The triumph of the ignorant, voting the way daddy taught them.

I am a registered voter and I vote faithfully; I only vote on the proposals because the candidate ballot never have a space for the Irishman None O’Above.

Sheeple will adjust to the New Reality with scarcely a notice that anything is gone. The few who do notice will not be able to make a difference.

I’d be glad to vote for anyone who runs as long as they’re actually qualified to hold the office they’re after..But I’ve only been eligible to vote since 1977, so I haven’t had the opportunity yet.

Wanting to run for office should be an automatic disqualification.

Very good satire on the same subject – in German:http://www.der-postillon.com/2014/09/demokratie-in-sachsen-50-prozent-hurde.html

(It basically claims that after a local election with a turnout below 50%, Democracy was abolished in that state, complete with all laws and public services.)

By all means Vote—there may be nothing to vote FOR, but there’s ALWAYS something to vote against. (Robert Heinlein)

you don’t know what you had,until it’s gone…you better start missing it now.

hey! do you realize how annoying that damn pic of yours is? Yeah, I figured you were crying for attention, WELL, STOP IT!

Ouch.

All too true.

Thanks, Steph. We needed that.And to all the folks who think that the two parties are identical: there’s some truth in that, but if you look hard enough, you can find differences. For instance, one party tends to be a lot harder on the environment, a quality we don’t particularly need at this time.

From “Carpool Tunnel Syndrome” one day, to repossessing our right to vote the next. That is why this is the best comic strip in print. Thanks, Stephan!

The goal of a republic is to foster the illusion that the masses actually have a hand in screwing things up. The goal of a democracy is to make that a reality.

We don’t need a third political party. We need a second one.

We need a political party tha will govern and quit trying to tell the states and voters what they can and can’t do and how they are supposed to think.

I am as cynical about politics as anyone, but if we vote we earn the right to be cynical…and maybe do something about the mess we find ourselves in.

“When you don’t vote, you are not making a statement, you are surrendering.”

It is NOT a DEMOCRACY – it is a republic. Recite the pledge and remind yourselves. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Haven’t we already lost our democracy if you get the same government no matter who wins elections? If we’ve learned anything from the transition from Bush to Obama, it’s that only the names and the faces change, not the policies.

One reason I follow comics is the escape from what politics are now. However I realise that we need to explore and use every and any source of info to tell and warn just what these louts are up to in regard to our freedom, what’s ever left of it! The locked box should have read “Constitution” not the mob rule Democracy

Boo hoo.

xxx

Here’s are some real dangers no one has talked about yet. Voting for a candidate is ONE thing, but the voting that the candidate does once in office is ANOTHER. What do I mean, I am talking about the bargining, bantering, flee market trade off politics that goes into getting legislation signed. We rejoice that the bill to stop, or start something beneficial to the general public is passed; but we rarely take a look at what was tacked onto the bill as padding. Alot of freedoms that are now under attack had their precursors tacked on to something else. Therein lies the snake in the hay. Slight of politico hand, hell yes.

Then, after you vote for someone, it’s like they lose their momentum because they are now and forever will be covered under the best healthcare and retirement plan on the face of the earth. No Social Security for them no siree.

So many of our rights were compromised with the passing of the Patriot Act. We, the citizens couldn’t undo it even if we wanted to. Abortion, gays, Civil Rights, religion….smoke screens for something far worse. What is that line from J.R. Toilken’s (spelled wrong) poem in Lord of the Ring “and in the darkness bind them.”

Just sayin.

Sad but true. People get the government they deserve.

Democracy (if history has taught us anything) is just the start-up phase of corporate oligarchy. You’ve got to build something good before you can choke it to death with greed and repression. And when the society dies, the survivors say “We won’t get fooled again!” Thank God for humor!

I can only speak for my state, where I can get a registration form at the Post Office, any library, any county or city clerk’s office, veteran’s offices, or elections office, probably more. They are pre addressed and post paid, don’t require ID as far as I can tell. I’ve moved and changed my registration to my new address three times in 12 years and never had a problem when showing up to vote. The Elections Offices seem to be able to communicate effectively with each other in my state.

Nothing is true if you don’t verify it yourself, and you will not do so.So no. I made that up. I must have.Being registered to vote is not the same as voting. Registering on election day without and ID and having your ballot entered without verification of ID is fraud even if you actually are a legitimate voter.There is a town in Florida where they don’t even want to purge the voter registration of those who have moved or passed on, claiming it is voter suppression.Rather than make spurious claims, let’s just make it the responsibility of government to supply IDs and to know that their voter registration rolls are accurate and up to date.There was a proposal to check voter registration against DMV data to make sure that the people who have residence in one area are not registered to vote in another, but the dread specter of Voter Suppression was again invoked.If only the people voting illicitly were required to provide ID, it would be really easy to prove that they were not voting legally. But then they wouldn’t do it, and the people who believed that their votes don’t count anyway might turn out to the polls.And we don’t want that!Legitimate votes might suppress the RIGHT votes.

Bravo

So that’s where it went.

The greatest mistake of many democracies was allowing the privilege to vote as opposed to being required to vote.

Old Man Pastis shakes his fist at you young’uns for not voting!

What I want to do to dumb people.