I felt a bit of pride in coming up with "The 1% may have the money, but the 99% have the votes". I never saw it anywhere else, and I had a hard time searching for it. In fact, I was disappointed that a search for the phrase as I wrote it in http://magree.blogspot.com/2012/05/1-may-have-money-but-99-have-votes.html turned up nothing. Even when I give the phrase to Google in quotes, it only shows articles with the pieces, not the whole phrase. Maybe this is why I don't see many hits of my blog for this mantra.
Last week I finally found something very similar. It is at "Message to 99%: Help Stop the 1% From Using the Super Committee to Rob the American People", a blog on the Huffington Post by Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, 2011-10-29. Their exact quote is "The 1 percent may have most of the money, but the 99 percent have the votes."
It doesn't surprise me that my version didn't go viral, but I'm surprised that something written on HuffPost did not circulate more. In a sad way, that shows that too many of the 99% don't exercise their vote.
Sadly, I bet the turnout in Wisconsin tomorrow won't exceed 60% of the registered voters.
Showing posts with label 99 percent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 99 percent. Show all posts
Monday, June 04, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Senate blames the cops, not the criminals
I left the following comment on Facebook on the Coffee Party's link to "Senators put federal regulators, not JPMorgan, on the hot seat", Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 2012-05-22.
What are all the complaints about? We have the best government money can buy.
The 1 percent may have the money, but the 99 percent have the vote. The problem is that too many of the 99 percent blame the money but never bother to show up. Election after election has gone to Republicans because too many "Democrats" didn't even bother to show up - Florida, 2000; Wisconsin, 2010; New York Ninth District, 2011. This last has 3-1 Democratic registration!
And money doesn't always win elections. Meg Whitman outspent Jerry Brown by a wide margin, but Brown won the Governorship of California.
Whatever else you do, show up to vote, each and every time. Vote Republican, Vote Democrat, Vote Third Party, Write somebody in, but vote. The only votes that don't count are the votes not cast.
What are all the complaints about? We have the best government money can buy.
The 1 percent may have the money, but the 99 percent have the vote. The problem is that too many of the 99 percent blame the money but never bother to show up. Election after election has gone to Republicans because too many "Democrats" didn't even bother to show up - Florida, 2000; Wisconsin, 2010; New York Ninth District, 2011. This last has 3-1 Democratic registration!
And money doesn't always win elections. Meg Whitman outspent Jerry Brown by a wide margin, but Brown won the Governorship of California.
Whatever else you do, show up to vote, each and every time. Vote Republican, Vote Democrat, Vote Third Party, Write somebody in, but vote. The only votes that don't count are the votes not cast.
Friday, May 04, 2012
The 1% may have the money but the 99% have the votes!
I thought of the above phrase last night after a "debate" between a Tea Party supporter and an Occupy Movement participant. See "Respectful discussion covers Occupy, Tea Party movements", Mike Creger, Duluth News Tribune, 2012-05-04.
After the main discussion, audience members were allowed two minutes each to speak. I reminded people that all recent presidents and many other elected official received the votes of only a minority of eligible voters.
After I spoke, I pondered the common complaint that elections are bought. Come on! Are we a bunch of zombies who follow some evil master? If we consider ourselves free agents, then we should go to the polls and vote for the candidates we prefer, write in somebody, or leave it blank. If more of us voted, the expensive campaigns may become meaningless. In fact, there have been cases where the candidate who spent the least won the election.
After the main discussion, audience members were allowed two minutes each to speak. I reminded people that all recent presidents and many other elected official received the votes of only a minority of eligible voters.
After I spoke, I pondered the common complaint that elections are bought. Come on! Are we a bunch of zombies who follow some evil master? If we consider ourselves free agents, then we should go to the polls and vote for the candidates we prefer, write in somebody, or leave it blank. If more of us voted, the expensive campaigns may become meaningless. In fact, there have been cases where the candidate who spent the least won the election.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Which is better, civil disobedience or voting?
I posted the following response to a Coffee Party article on civil disobedience and voting. A commentator claimed that corruption was preventing people from voting.
Corruption is not excluding people from voting, individual voters are excluding themselves. When we have turnouts of less than 50% in 2010 the no shows have only themselves to blame. I often wonder how many who protested in Madison had voted. How many of those who signed the repeal petition in Wisconsin will actually show up for the recall election? Turnout in 2012 was low because too many stayed away because President Obama wasn't "perfect". If you're going to wait for the "perfect" candidate, you are going to let other people vote in some very imperfect people.
Rules of democracy - 1) show up to vote; 2) vote for who you believe in, even if you have to write some body in; 3) show up to vote; 4) the only vote thrown away is the vote not cast; 5) show up to vote!
Also make your voice known to the media; not just in the letters section. If a reporter claims, for instance, that Gingrich "won" in Georgia, email the reporter that only 6% of the eligible voters cast their vote for Gingrich in the Republican primary. If a reporter claims that someone won in a "landslide", email him or her that that someone received the vote of only 1/3 of the eligible voters. If we get more accurate reporting that show how thin the support of the "winners" is, maybe we'll get more people saying, "OMG, if I had only voted!"
Be your own little get-out-the-vote campaigner. On election day or the day before, drop off a home-made flyer at every house on your block. Be non-partisan. Make up a few catchy slogans like "Democracy counts on your vote to work".
Finally, be sure to show up to vote!
After I wrote the above I thought about how representative civil disobedience and voting are compared to each other. If 1,000 people show up for a demonstration in a town of 200,000, how representative are they of the other 199,000? If 60,000 people vote on election day, aren't they more representative of the 200,000 than the 1,000? Talk about the 1%, the 1,000 are only a half percent!
Corruption is not excluding people from voting, individual voters are excluding themselves. When we have turnouts of less than 50% in 2010 the no shows have only themselves to blame. I often wonder how many who protested in Madison had voted. How many of those who signed the repeal petition in Wisconsin will actually show up for the recall election? Turnout in 2012 was low because too many stayed away because President Obama wasn't "perfect". If you're going to wait for the "perfect" candidate, you are going to let other people vote in some very imperfect people.
Rules of democracy - 1) show up to vote; 2) vote for who you believe in, even if you have to write some body in; 3) show up to vote; 4) the only vote thrown away is the vote not cast; 5) show up to vote!
Also make your voice known to the media; not just in the letters section. If a reporter claims, for instance, that Gingrich "won" in Georgia, email the reporter that only 6% of the eligible voters cast their vote for Gingrich in the Republican primary. If a reporter claims that someone won in a "landslide", email him or her that that someone received the vote of only 1/3 of the eligible voters. If we get more accurate reporting that show how thin the support of the "winners" is, maybe we'll get more people saying, "OMG, if I had only voted!"
Be your own little get-out-the-vote campaigner. On election day or the day before, drop off a home-made flyer at every house on your block. Be non-partisan. Make up a few catchy slogans like "Democracy counts on your vote to work".
Finally, be sure to show up to vote!
After I wrote the above I thought about how representative civil disobedience and voting are compared to each other. If 1,000 people show up for a demonstration in a town of 200,000, how representative are they of the other 199,000? If 60,000 people vote on election day, aren't they more representative of the 200,000 than the 1,000? Talk about the 1%, the 1,000 are only a half percent!
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Quote of the day: Fair share from wealthy
"[T]here's no reason to punish the wealthy, just to expect them to shoulder their fair share of the tax burden. And expecting proportional sacrifice from those very well off is not 'punishing success,' as some would have it. It's as simple as expecting the strongest campers to carry the heaviest canoe. It just makes sense." - Comment by Will Rice in the comments to his article "Coming Out of the Money Closet".
This and other blogs by Will Rice can be found at http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/category/categories/will-rice. How does he get all of his money? By going to the mailbox to get his dividend checks from inherited stock. See "The Rich Don't Need a Free Ride".
BTW, we aren't in the one percent, but since we both stopped working, we get all of our money at the mailbox or by direct deposit.
This and other blogs by Will Rice can be found at http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/category/categories/will-rice. How does he get all of his money? By going to the mailbox to get his dividend checks from inherited stock. See "The Rich Don't Need a Free Ride".
BTW, we aren't in the one percent, but since we both stopped working, we get all of our money at the mailbox or by direct deposit.
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