Funny you should say that, I really expected him to say, "I am the law."

I don't really see voting changing much when this sort of mentality is symptomatic of the whole US political system. That said, I agree that it is silly to just sit around and complain. And obviously Republican politicians are more explicitly evil.

"You may have noticed that there's one thing I don't complain about: Politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says, "They suck". But where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. No, they come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and they're elected by American voters. This is the best we can do, folks. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out.

....I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don't vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain", but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created."

George Carlin

George is partly right, the people who vote in these scumbags are responsable for the shit they do. The solution is not to stop voting, it's to start voting for good people, THE RIGHT people.

Yeah, George kinda lost me there. If you don't vote you really can't complain because you haven't even exhausted the limited means of control you've been given. Let's say that one year, somewhere, in a democratic system, no one votes. Is that going to place the competent people (whoever they are) in charge? I'm thinking no flippin' way.

Partisanship kills any meaningful discussion of reigning in the power of the executive branch.

Sure, Dems hated how George W. pissed all over the Constitution but fuck if they are going to water down the presidency now that their guy is the one pissing all over the Constitution.

While I see your point there are people on both sides of the fence that care more about doing the right thing than being a member of a party.

I hope so, but I don't believe you.

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008)
RIP
Three years dead and still trollin!

"The solution is not to stop voting, it's to start voting for good people, THE RIGHT people."

I would gladly do that if there was anything that looks like "the right people" getting into politics. Even if they do, the system will just eat them and spit their remains.

You know you can VOTE without VOTING for anyone, right? If you care enough to show up but don't like the candidates, don't fill in any of the bubbles. That way, you demonstrated that you will put in the effort to get off your duff for an hour every year but that you don't like the candidates. Or, better yet, become a party committee-person. If you don't like the candidates, that's where you get a say in picking who runs. Or you could just be a jaded turd who thinks voting is for nerds and will wonder what happened in a couple decades when the baby boomers have doomed us all.

The reason it's a limited means of control is that nobody votes.

Also, in my experience, someone who says "they're both equally bad" hasn't looked at the candidates beyond catching a TV ad here and there. You wonder how these people fare when ordering fast food.

What if i don't like neither candidate and neither political party? Also, say what you want about not voting being a silly posture, but thinking that voting for one guy is going to change things in a drastic way sounds far more silly, naive and absurd to me. I respect people that believe in voting, i would like to see equal respect for the rest of us who don't believe in the charade of politics and voting.

Vote independent?

You've got 364 days out of the year to write letters to your respresentatives, campaign for better politicians, and try to get your friends and neighbors engaged in better politics. But on day 365, it remains your job to go into the voting booth and decide who is going to hold elected office.