like or dislike NRA, the following is worthy of attention

[alan]

The following is excerpted from latest NRA Grassroots Alert

REGISTER TO VOTE OR REGISTER YOUR GUNS--
The Choice Is Yours

In 1994, a race for the U.S. House was decided by four votes. In 1998, a U.S. Senate race was decided by 400 votes out of 400,000 cast. In 2002, an anti-gun candidate won a state primary in Arizona by five votes. Last year, a pro-gun State Senator in Virginia was re-elected by less than 100 votes. And of course, in the 2000 presidential election, 537 votes in Florida elected George Bush U.S. President over Al Gore.

Think one vote doesn't count? History is replete with examples such as these that demonstrate the importance of every single vote.

No doubt, many elections this year will be determined by the slimmest of margins. Will your vote make the difference? To ensure that pro-gun candidates prevail, NRA-ILA has launched an aggressive voter registration drive.

 

[bikerbill]

Hear, hear ... not voting is a serious mistake, since there is always a choice, no matter how odious you may find it ... I'm not a huge fan of our Republican choice, but I'm certainly going to vote for him if it means we won't have to deal with Billary or Obama ... Please .. go the polls ... I voted early in the Texas primary and while I had to grit my teeth at some of the choices, I did it ... if my vote Thursday or my vote in November helps send Democrats back to looking for honest work, I've done my job ...

 

[homefires]

How Many times have you heard someone say "My Vote Don't Count"...:barf:



WHEN YOU DON'T, IT WON'T!

 

[LightningJoe]

Everybody who agrees with me, get out and vote.


Everybody who doesn't, just stay home. That'll show'em.

 

[azsixshooter]

I have a friend who is a big gun enthusiast, but he doesn't vote. I get on him all the time about the importance of voting, but he always just says that it comes down to a corrupt electoral college in the end and they make the decisions, not us. I've yet to read up on this thoroughly, but is he just being paranoid or plain ignorant about this?

Thanks for any help in understanding his perspective, if I can get him to the polls it will be another pro-gun vote, that much I can guarantee.

 

[LightningJoe]

is he just being paranoid or plain ignorant about this?

Both, I'd say. States elect the President (award their electoral votes) by whatever means they want, but the great majority award their votes to whomever wins the popular state-wide vote, most of those awarding all their electoral votes to the top vote-getter. A couple of states now award their electoral votes to whomever wins the nationwide popular vote, although by doing so they virtually take themselves out of the election (the votes of the rest of the country swamp their statewide votes).

 

[4sarge]

I've got four friends, all middle age guys who don't vote. Two are avid firearm owners. And one is a mild enthusiast. If someone has a method to convert these people to Voters, I'm all ears.

 

[NGIB]

I see tons of posts on the forums saying there's no difference between McCain and Obama so why bother. Another batch says they're going to write in for Ron Paul - same as not voting in my opinion.

I wish the Republicans had a better candidate but they don't so I'll swallow hard and vote for McCain. While he doesn't really support the conservative side of me, he doesn't scare me like Obama does. The worst thing I see about Obama is that I think he truly believes he knows what's best for us and there is something terrifying about that to me.

So yes, in another election I'll be voting to keep someone out of the oval office and I expect it will be this way for the rest of my life. If you don't vote to keep Obama out of office - then don't complain when he comes after our guns and other freedoms...

 

[alan]

azsixshooter:

I have a friend who is a big gun enthusiast, but he doesn't vote. I get on him all the time about the importance of voting, but he always just says that it comes down to a corrupt electoral college in the end and they make the decisions, not us. I've yet to read up on this thoroughly, but is he just being paranoid or plain ignorant about this?

Thanks for any help in understanding his perspective, if I can get him to the polls it will be another pro-gun vote, that much I can guarantee.

--------------------------

With all due respect, I submit that your friend is blowing smoke, to use a reasonably polite turn of phrase. I also submit that the line peddeled by your friend is simply an excuse for his own laziness. Yes, there are problems with our system. By the way, they will NEVER be fixed if The Silent Majority, silenced by their own inactivity, allow things to go on, as usual, which your friend seems all too willing to allow. Hope this helps.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Remember that it looks like the only way for Obama (or Hillary) to lose will be for McCain to win.

Whatever else you may think about McCain, he will be more accessible and receptive to conservative influences than will either Obama or Hillary.

While McCain may not be the first choice of many or us, unless you want Obama or Hillary, as the case may be, to be President, McCain must win.

 

[howard bleach]

I resent being typified as 'lazy' because I refuse to vote for one Democrat over another.

I campaigned for Ron Paul. I did everything I could reasonably do to raise awareness of this man and his principles.

I'm beginning to think what this country needs - especially it's so-called 'conservatives' - is a 4-8 year long nightmare to get its values back in check. I voted in the primaries, and am very much a 'get out and vote' kinda guy. But I will absolutely not vote for John McCain, and I feel that anyone who does is merely an enabler. A vote for McCain is a vote for the status quo, and for the moderate, progressive, neocon tendencies so many of us claim to despise.

In this particular election, NOT voting IS a vote.

Look how all the lefties rallied during Dubya's reign of terror. The same thing happened during the 'Rock Against Reagan' years. Now this county is more self-identified liberal than ever. I'm convinced that if Obama or Hillary get in, we will see a similar rallying of true conservatives over the next decade. The GOP needs a wake up call and Obama may be it.

And FWIW, Obama would likely beat McCain quite handily anyway.

The future is grim, folks. If you vote for McCain and he still loses, how will you sleep at night knowing you encouraged a bedfellow of no less a monster than Ted Kennedy?

 

[JohnKSa]

he always just says that it comes down to a corrupt electoral college in the end and they make the decisions, not us.

PURE BS!

There's more to be decided than just who's to be president, and last time I checked, congressional seats were all determined by popular vote.

In this particular election, NOT voting IS a vote.

That would be true if this election were purely presidential. If you don't want to cast a vote in that race due to being unhappy with the selection (I understand the sentiment), it's still no excuse for shirking your duty to vote in the other races.

If you want to know what will REALLY make the future grim is if all the conservatives stay home and we end up with a liberal president (a given at this point) AND a liberal congress.

 

[sasquatch]

In this particular election, NOT voting IS a vote.

It sure is......it is a vote for the following if a Democrat wins:

-- Both Clinton and Obama have strongly supported a return to the 39.6% tax rate on top income brackets that prevailed before the Bush tax cuts.

-- Hillary Clinton has recommended that the top capital gains tax return to the 20% level.

-- Barack Obama wants the maximum tax rate on dividends and capital gains to rise to 24%.

-- With the Democrats all but certain to retain control of both houses of Congress this November, the Democrats can "repeal" the Bush tax cuts by simply doing nothing.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Howard,

With regard to your post, it's utter nonsense. Don't vote if you wish, but don't try to sell us any garbage about "NOT voting IS a vote" or that McCain somehow is in bed with Kennedy.

And if "A vote for McCain is a vote for the status quo, and for the moderate, progressive, neocon tendencies so many of us claim to despise", what is a vote for Obama or Hillary? A vote for clear, extreme leftist policies? And make no mistake, a vote not cast for McCain (or whoever else is the Republican nominee), including no vote at all, is a vote for Obama/Hillary.

And I, for one, am not sold on the "if Obama or Hillary get in, we will see a similar rallying of true conservatives over the next decade" fantasy. We didn't see much of that post Clinton.

I don't like this "lesser of two evils" stuff any more than anyone else. But I still prefer the lesser evil to the greater one.

 

[SIGSHR]

IIRC a change of one vote in each voting district would have put Nixon in the White House in 1960.

 

[Yellowfin]

Thanks to my dear fiance's job training, I may end up being a registered voter in the PRK in the future, but due to the grotesque gerrymandering there I know my vote is deliberately hijacked and diluted to make it worthless. Many out there feel the same way.

 

[SIGSHR]

One the other hand the PRK has Initiative and Referendum, leading to a
phenomenon I call "Blue on the Outside but Red on the Inside."

 

[chris in va]

I run across this issue quite a bit with 'gun enthusiasts'. Usually it goes like this.

"It's probably a good idea to vote in this year's elections so we don't get an anti in office."

"Yeah well, I don't worry about all that (stuff). No matter WHAT happens, they ain't takin' my guns!!".

Etc. These guys typically just go buy a few EBR's, 1911's or whatever and go blasting in their back yard. They'd rather just ride the wave and let everyone else do the footwork.

 

[Ala Dan]

I'm proud too say that I have voted in every election since I turned 21 years
of age~! I will be 61 this coming Sunday, 03-09-2008~!

 

[alan]

sasquatch wrote:

In this particular election, NOT voting IS a vote.

It sure is......it is a vote for the following if a Democrat wins:

-- Both Clinton and Obama have strongly supported a return to the 39.6% tax rate on top income brackets that prevailed before the Bush tax cuts.

-- Hillary Clinton has recommended that the top capital gains tax return to the 20% level.

-- Barack Obama wants the maximum tax rate on dividends and capital gains to rise to 24%.

-- With the Democrats all but certain to retain control of both houses of Congress this November, the Democrats can "repeal" the Bush tax cuts by simply doing nothing.
__________________

Re the alleged tax related desired of Obama and Clinton, I do not much care for either, when last I looked, it was The Congress that enacted legislation, tax legislation of otherwise, not whomever it might be that is president, and then there are the antics of all those UNELECTED bureaucrats to be concerned with.