did anyone see Oprah's show today on voting-or not voting I should say

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

I'm off to bed and beat...but have been thinking about this show for hours and am just shocked at what it revealed. I honestly must live in a bubble of sorts for I could not believe the women that they showed on there who don't vote, or that have never voted. I guess I knew folks don't vote, but these women appeared smart, social, well dressed, do I dare say educated, spoke well....I really was in shock to see this show today.

I didn't stay focused for the whole show for I don't dislike Drew Barymore but I do get tired of her sweet philosphical voice pretty quickly (thoughts of her talking about all of the loves of her life in the past and how perfect they were and the marriage etc and then she is divorced 1 week later). And P-diddy bugs me too...so I missed a lot of it but the first 30 minutes of it is something I won't soon forget. I was also shocked that many of these women seemed to blame it on how their parents brought them up, it is interesting how such an "adult" thing (can't bot till you are 18) really does take roots in the home of your parents. Anyway never missed an election, and never even thought of missing one...
I Guess I am such an opinionated women I find it hard to believe that people don't really have opinions on such things, or can't easily find an opinion on such things.


Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* DOSSIER SENT TO UKRAINE-siblings

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

[amazz]

I didn't see the show, but it is a must that you vote if you lived at my parents' house! I think they would have disowned me if I didn't vote. :) In fact, my birthday is only the week before elections, so I registered a month before my 18th birthday and became legal on the actual day and could vote in the '96 election. So I completely believe that voting starts at home when you are young.

And I am of the mind that if you don't vote, you don't get to gripe about the results. (Stepping off my soapbox now) :)

Angela
EDD 10/15/04
A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

[jubilee]

I also agree that if you don't vote, you don't get to complain! However, it's not anything I've learned at home. NEITHER of my parents have EVER voted! They are of the opinion they don't know enough to vote... whatever.

[redhookmom]

We had a teacher in highschool who did a huge unit on sufferage. I will never not vote! I have and will always take my children to vote with me.

The part of the show that stuck with me was when someone was making the point that politicians do not pay attention to groups of people who do not vote.

Yet, there is a part of me that thinks my vote does not count. IMO every citizens vote should count the same.

[DDowning]

I have voted every election that I've been eligible for and feel the same way as you Neve. I feel I don't have a right to complain if I let someone else decide for me.

I didn't watch the Oprah special but ironically, today I got one of those chain email letters that focused on the lack of women voting. Its basically speaking of the HBO movie "Iron Jawed Angels" which is several months old now but still very poignant. I remember watching that movie and thinking, good god don't take this for granted. I don't know what the attitude of the women were on the show but I certainly don't take my privilege for granted:

*******
A short history lesson on the privilege of voting:

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night,
they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in
Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists
imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why,
exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote
doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie
"Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."

HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and
DVD I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men:

"Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

Please pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and
vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women.

[Jeanmick]

ITA about the point that politicians are ignoring the large segment of the population who don't vote!

I caught the tail end of the show and wish that I saw the whole thing. I've voted in every single election in my town since I was 18. My father, who immigrated to the US back in 1959, instilled in me the importance of this right one has as a US citizen. I think it's so important to vote! The statement made by either Drew or Cameron Diaz that struck me was that when we go into the voting booth, we're all equal. A vote by any person of power and wealth (i.e., Bill Gates, celebrities, political figures) is as equal as Joe Schmo's vote. I've always believed that and I wished that people understood that.

[kijip]

We all know at least 5 people who are not registered to vote! Please make an effort to encourage them to register in the next week as registration deadlines close in. Hand them forms and send them in for them. Heck, fill them out, convince them to sign and send them in! Register as absentee whenever possible. I have had sucess with getting people to agree to vote if they could do it from home.

Take some time to try to get even one more person to the polls this fall. And I don't care if you are voting with me or against me - get your own tush to the voting booth on 11/2 for the sake of your children...

ITA with PP - everytime I hear the pundits droning on about these ellusive "undecided" and "independant" voters, I want to scream. The largest difference can be made in unregistered voters. And find me an independent voter....I have not found one yet!

[Calmegja2]

>>Take some time to try to get even one more person to the
>polls this fall. And I don't care if you are voting with me
>or against me - get your own tush to the voting booth on 11/2
>for the sake of your children...


Absolutely. I will say that I have found a few people that will be voting this time that have not voted before. And I think that's amazing, and I'm so proud of them!

[mudder17]

Wow, Deidre, that's powerful stuff! Thanks for posting it. I'll see you at the voting booth, so to speak.


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif Breastfed 6 months and counting

[Tori_s mom]

I didn't see Oprah's show, but I too am amazed that people don't vote. Some of my earliest memories are going with my grandparents to the voting booth. My grandparents were so serious about their freedom to vote that they would not even discuss who they were voting for with each other. They would make up their minds individually and then vote. In fact, my grandmother was just worrying about how she would make it to the polls this year since she doesn't drive. She is 84 years old, and if she can make it to the polls, I definitely have no excuse!! And I will start a new tradition by taking Tori with me, so she'll understand the importance of voting. :)

Tasha

[daisymommy]

OH MY GOSH!!! I drive past that old Occoquan prison at least once a week on the way to the park with Joshua. I think I'm going to be sick now every time I drive by it...It is shut down now and there are kids soccer games on the overgrown field every weekend. Crazy...

[babymama]

No kidding, about not getting to complain if you don't vote. I take it a step further...if you don't vote, you don't get to display a flag on your car, in your window, etc when the country is in crisis like war, 9/11, etc.

Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[jubilee]

I can't agree about the flag statement. My father served in the US Navy for 30 years, including 2 tours in Vietnam (and he didn't want to be there, but he served honorably). If anyone deserves to fly a flag it is a veteran. But like I said, he has never voted.

[crayonblue]

My dad doesn't vote. He says that he never likes any of the candidates. I think this a completely lame excuse because I know plently of people who don't like either candidate but will vote!

[steph2003]

I was so excited to vote when I turned 18! It was like a rite of passage for me or something. I still remember the "first time" :) I found this site helpful to sort out some of the issues. You can mark each section whose platform is most aligned with yours & it tells you at the end the candidate that matches.

http://g.msn.com/0MNBUS00/2?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5993610&&CM=EmailThis&CE=1

[jbowman]

ITA with everything you said, Neve. DH and I vote in every election. I grew up in a house where it was unthinkable not to vote (and my mom was a precinct committee woman). In fact, my mom took a picture of my twin sister and I when we went off for our "first vote." I remember her saying, "this is much more important than prom!" I plan to take a picture of Ellie when she goes off for her "first vote!"

[sntm]

I'm always amazed too, and I agree that if you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain. Though my one problem with the get-out-the-vote projects is that I think it gets some people voting when they know nothing about the issues or the candidates.

Does anyone remember the King of the Hill episode when the ditzy niece was voting for the Communist candidate because he was cute?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
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PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
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