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Does Voting Matter?

Jeff Pope begins an article titled “Does Voting Matter Anymore?” with “Since President Obama’s inauguration” and then proceeds to give a litany of various awful things have happened as a consequence of the change in administrations.

Asked and answered.

via Glenn Reynolds

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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I think the implied question was "Does voting matter when I'm not the one who wins?"

Posted by Michael | March 12, 2009 | 11:34 am | Permalink
 

Is there anything in the linked piece that even warrants discussion by reasonable people?

Posted by Rick Almeida | March 12, 2009 | 11:51 am | Permalink
 

Is there anything in the linked piece that even warrants discussion by reasonable people?

Hey, it was linked on Instapudendum's site--asked and answered.

Posted by sam | March 12, 2009 | 11:58 am | Permalink
 

don't get me wrong, our form of government should be more responsive to the interests of citizens (citizens, not corporations)outside of the election period, thus i agree with him on the charge of arrogance (although apparently he feels this problem is confined to the democrats only). but without offering anything else than the thinly veiled threat of revolution because he doesn't get his way strikes me as unproductive. (akin to the accusations of voter fraud after the 2004 elections, from the dem. side.)
and then there's this:

The act of voting itself has been degraded not only because incumbents are rarely defeated, but more because arrogant people in government act with impunity even when the will of the majority is both clear and overwhelming in its disapproval.

see, its bits like this that make me believe that parts of the right are going off the rails. there were elections in this country and their side lost. i really don't know what majority he is talking about.

Posted by nevrdull | March 12, 2009 | 12:03 pm | Permalink
 

Not in Illinois, it doesn't!
BTW.... did anyone see the name "David Axelrod" on the ballot for president?

Posted by Floyd | March 12, 2009 | 12:32 pm | Permalink
 

Voting is for yellow-bellied liberals.

Posted by Triumph | March 12, 2009 | 12:43 pm | Permalink
 

Is there anything in the linked piece that even warrants discussion by reasonable people?

So suddenly, a litany of various awful things have happened as a consequence of Obama's election isn't a valid topic, even though a litany of various awful things have happened as a consequence of Bush's election was.

What an interesting list of thing liberals consdier 'unreasonable' anymore. Add that to discussions of Obama's actions and their constitutionality, I guess.

Hmmm. Now that I look at it, there seems a trend, here.

Posted by Bithead | March 12, 2009 | 01:22 pm | Permalink
 

Ah James, what a delectable sense of irony you have in raising the question of Does Voting Matter? Linking to Jeff Pope’s article in Pajama Media was absolutely brilliant.

The short answer is Yes and No.

Yes, voting matters, because we got rid of the most incompetent Administration know to the living and breathing American population (I go back to Roosevelt, when I first started breathing).

No, voting does not matter, because the Republican Party has lost credibility among voters and has be come a regional party. And a capital NO, for you have lost the future, the youth vote.

There is hope, for a leader may arise from the ashes who will recognize that facile personal attacks on spending such as “Nancy Pelosi’s Mouse” rather than a reasonable discussion on San Francisco Bay wetlands will just infuriate the educated class.

But then, if you are a conservative ideologue, you really do not need an educated class. All problems and policy are solved by ideology, and neither intellectual capacity, nor credentials are of importance. Thus we get Jeff Pope who seems to be a tad bit paranoid, to wit:

Jeff Pope owns a manufacturing business in the Midwest and would like to know at exactly what point he became one of the evil people the president seems determined to destroy.

Posted by Our Paul | March 12, 2009 | 02:51 pm | Permalink
 

Jeff Pope owns a manufacturing business in the Midwest and would like to know at exactly what point he became one of the evil people the president seems determined to destroy.

Shorter Jeff Pope: This SOB is gonna raise my taxes!

Posted by sam | March 12, 2009 | 04:38 pm | Permalink
 

So suddenly, a litany of various awful things have happened as a consequence of Obama's election isn't a valid topic

Like retaining enemy combatants without habeas corpus at GITMO East (Bagram)?, "enhanced interrogation" (with loopholes for the CIA should the need arise)?, rendition?, wire taps?. That's just the "mostly over there" stuff that comes to mind that was once the root of all hatred towards the US...lowered our standing in the world and whatnot. While I certainly don't see any praise from the left about those issues...there's certainly less opposition now.

Posted by markm | March 12, 2009 | 07:01 pm | Permalink
 

Sam, my man, I admire your attempt to parse Mr. Pope’s writings to reach insight into why he has become a tad bit paranoid. Have no fear, sooner or later he will be in the emergency room, and will utter the fate full words that he just cannot understand when he became one of the evil people the president seems determined to destroy. That lack of reality will be enough to put him in the bobby hatch…

Posted by Our Paul | March 12, 2009 | 09:22 pm | Permalink
 

So stupid I can't even formulate a response. Mr. Pope apparently believes that only Republican votes count, or something like that.

Posted by Geek, Esq. | March 12, 2009 | 11:41 pm | Permalink
 

No, voting doesn't matter, but not for any of the reasons Pope cites. It's just a matter of statistics. Your vote doesn't matter, and you won't win the lottery.

Posted by Joe R. | March 13, 2009 | 01:20 am | Permalink
 

Like retaining enemy combatants without habeas corpus at GITMO East (Bagram)?, "enhanced interrogation" (with loopholes for the CIA should the need arise)?, rendition?, wire taps?. That's just the "mostly over there" stuff that comes to mind that was once the root of all hatred towards the US...lowered our standing in the world and whatnot. While I certainly don't see any praise from the left about those issues...there's certainly less opposition now.

What we're seeing there is confusion. Obama is, as I suggested he would, retaining 90% of what Bush was doing, including Rendition, etc. This is Obama reacting to the reality of the task. I found this a fairly easy prediction to make.

The confusion is on the part of his supporters, who have yet to tackle the concept of reality.

Posted by Bithead | March 13, 2009 | 09:06 am | Permalink
 

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