Is America Still a Democracy? (USA #1 ???)

http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• election
• 2012
• rick
• perry
• ron
• paul
• mitt
• romney
• united
• states
• democracy
• voter
• participation

[Rhal95]

There is also the belief that registering to vote makes you a target for jury duty. I suppose that may apply in some states, but one way or another fear of jury duty must stop.

[Ralphdraw3]

@Rhal95 This is turn out of registered voters, I believe (which is bad enough, especially in non presidential elections). Not the percent of voting age population. There are a lot of ex-felons who can't vote by law and people who never bother to register at all.

[Rhal95]

@Ralphdraw3 Ya. But I also get the feeling that voting doesn't do much good. The same corporations pay hundreds of millions in campaign funds to both parties, and time after time, both parties act against the will of the people and do what the corporations want :(

[Ralphdraw3]

@Rhal95 You are right that corporations have too much power, especially after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision (5 to 4, Republicans with the slim majority) But this just means that the people should demand a Supreme Court which protects the interests of the people instead of corporations. I have made numerous videos here at Youtube about corporate power and the plutocracy. Do people watch them? No, not really. I bet a majority of Americans don't know Citizens United decision

[tomitstube]

voting apathy is one thing, but it has always been a mission of the white right in this country to pass laws making it harder to vote.

we have the largest incarceration population in the world, most of which are banned by law from voting. almost all violations now are super charged to "felon" status and now the most common thing to do is to "plea bargain" for less time. thus creating millions of people ineligible to vote, mostly of color.

this has always been a strategy.

[Ralphdraw3]

@tomitstube you're right - The Republicans in states like Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona are making it harder to vote - by requiring voter ID cards, prohibiting ex-felons to vote, no early voting or absentee voting etc... I personally think election day should be a holiday - national holiday.

[BobCubTAC]

I find it an extremely sad and all-too-telling fact that India's voting percentage is far higher than ours is. I mean, My God, WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING TO OURSELVES???

[tomitstube]

@Ralphdraw3 ~ that's an excellent idea, make voting day a holiday. but first we need to make sure every citizen is eligible to vote. there should be an amendment to the constitution, protection from a politicized penal system that disenfranchises large segments of the population. it's the new jim crow, the stupid drug war, etc. it should be outlawed that any criminal conviction is a license to deny people the right to vote. period.

[lurch394]

Great, but the purple background and yellow font was almost unreadable on my very good monitor.

[Rhal95]

@Ralphdraw3 "Do people watch them?No..." Heh, you need to be heard. Put the picture of a cute girl at the halfway point of your video so that shows in the preview link. That'll get the viewcount!

[themw2montager]

@therealcharismatron my generation is now of agw, new and more voters will come! :D

[therealcharismatron]

. . . and it's only going to get worse. While in Canada the voting population is higher, virtually every politician in power always says "Canadians don't like to vote; Canadians are too busy to vote; Canadians don't want to vote on every issue . . . " and so on. The constant oft' repeated message is: YOU DON'T WANT TO VOTE! It's terrible.