Have this damnable thought ever slipped through your mind that

[skippy1729]

your vote... might not count?

Most of the votes I have ever cast didn't matter. If you live in Utah, New York, Alabama, California or a host of other states, your vote for president will never count. The closest my vote ever came to counting was when I lived in Florida in 2000 (I voted for Bush). Our next president will be selected by a small number of people in a handfull of states (and maybe the supreme court).

Skippy

 

[mheslep]

Congress has an all time low approval rating with the overwhelming number of Americans disapproving of the job they're doing, yet only 10% of house seats have changed parties in the last ten years...

10% over five elections? It's quite a bit higher. In 2010 alone the swing was 63 seats (14%), and that's net, with 69 seats actually changing parties.

 

[Galteeth]

Most of the votes I have ever cast didn't matter. If you live in Utah, New York, Alabama, California or a host of other states, your vote for president will never count. The closest my vote ever came to counting was when I lived in Florida in 2000 (I voted for Bush). Our next president will be selected by a small number of people in a handfull of states (and maybe the supreme court).

Skippy

Well, that's not exactly true. It's true individually, but by that reasoning, the only time a vote counts is if it's the single deciding vote, which never happens. Voting is a collective of individual decisions.

 

[wuliheron]

10% over five elections? It's quite a bit higher. In 2010 alone the swing was 63 seats (14%), and that's net, with 69 seats actually changing parties.

You're correct, I was referring to the ten years prior to 2010. Here is a chart showing the history of congress' turnover rate from the Cato Institute:

http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/images/v14n3-fig1.gif

 

[ThomasT]

No matter what the rate of replacement is, it's, imho, too low. And I attribute this in large part to the absence of term limits. There are people who have been in Congress for 20 + years, and I think that this contributes to the perception (and, in a sense, the reality) that our individual votes don't matter much.

But, how are we going to get a congress that votes for term limits if we keep voting for, and electing, pretty much only Democrats and Republicans? Well, imho, we aren't. Thus, the suggestion that people stop voting for Democrats and Republicans -- if they want any sort of significant change in the status quo that is.

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with third party movements. Although, imho, a third party would be a good thing. It just has to do with NOT voting for status quo, ie., major party, candidates.