Larry has a good point and his numbers are all valid.....but......NOT voting is a choice, too, one way too many Americans make all to often. As such, I think we are culpable as a people when we choose NOT to have our voices heard. When the "average" American decides not to speak up, the loud voices of the idiotic minority is all that will be heard...and is how we will all be judged.
I never bought into the whole "He's not MY president" bullshit just because I may not have voted for the winner. Same for representatives in congress. No matter how they got there, *WE* are responsible for them...for better or, more often, for worse. So yeah, when the Tea Party wins anything, America as a whole has messed up...and we're all partly responsible for it. Sure, it's a sin of omission more than a sin of commission....but a sin nonetheless. Beauty of our democracy? We get a chance to fix our mistakes in short order. Hope the Tea idiots enjoyed their 15 minutes..... On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Larry Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > The problem is how this is spun. For instance in 2004 Bush was elected to > office by less than one third of all eligible voters, with 29% of all > eligible voters selecting his name on the ballot (50.7% of all who voted). > Clinton did a bit worse at 24%, having been elected by about 49% of those > who voted, however voter turnout was significantly lower. Approximately 31% > of all eligible voters selected Obama in 2008 or 52.9% of those who actually > voted. > > 2010 very different with a turnout of only 37.8%. Thus the much vaunted > republican swing was the result of only 18.6% of all possible eligible > voters voting republican. As I was saying, a small dedicated group can have > a very disproportionate impact on an off year election. 18.6% of the > eligible population is no where near the "American People" or anywhere near > a majority. In fact its more like statistical noise. But given how few > actually turned out to vote, the tea baggers had an outsized impact. > > > >"So saying the American People 'voted in the Republicans overwhelmingly, > and > >the Tea partiers especially' is a very misleading statement." > > > >I actually agree with Larry somewhat. > > > >It should be said that the people who voted in 2010 overwhelmingly voted > >against the Democratic agenda. > > > >Likewise, it could be said that in 2006, the people who participated in > the > >election voted against the Republican agenda. > > > >In 2012, it will be interesting to watch who or what the citizens are > voting > >against. > > > >J > > > >- > > > >Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. > - > >Henry Kissinger > > > >Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, > go > >out and buy some more tunnel. - John Quinton > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:341551 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
