Poll: Americans say U.S. political debate is increasingly uncivil

[JennyC6]

[QUOTE=1chains1;52388430]Yea because the best way to fix something that is broken is to throw your hands up in the air and say "I don't care!".

Like one of the reasons Trump came into power is so many people were so SURE he would lose and didn't even bother to turn up voting because they disliked Clinton almost as much. So you're literally part of the problem you're so righteously dis-including yourself from.[/QUOTE]

You'd have a point if there was a significant chance of one side fielding a better candidate. The status quo...sorta doesn't have that. The status quo has been, with the exception of Drumpf, 'Shithead A, painted blue' and Shithead B, painted red', with both candidates being equally corrupt and equally out-of-touch with the needs, wants, and concerns of the majority of Americans, with both candidates caring more to push their party's agenda and corporate interests to the detriment of the rest of the country Scrape off the paint and both of them are the same color: Brown.

I threw a ballot into the wind on November 8th this year, because Orange in Chief broke the trend in all the wrong ways. But it was fucking pointless beyond belief and I don't know why I bothered. I live in a state so heavily red you can practically see it hanging in the air on election night. You could have the best politician to ever rise to the national stage running for POTUS on the Democratic platform and this state will still be a die-hard GOP stronghold, would still with a near unanimous vote choose Trump over the best chance we have at turning this country around.

Is it really a surprise that I've grown so apathetic that it takes someone like Trump to make me follow it at all, much less actually vote? Truthfully, if Clinton had managed the white house, I would have just shrugged and gone back to ignoring the Capitol Hill Shitshow as I've been doing for so long already. I have more important matters to spend my energy on, like, oh, idunno, [i]working my fucking ass off just so I can keep my house[/i].

[cis.joshb]

[QUOTE=TestECull;52394706]You'd have a point if there was a significant chance of one side fielding a better candidate. The status quo...sorta doesn't have that. The status quo has been, with the exception of Drumpf, 'Shithead A, painted blue' and Shithead B, painted red', with both candidates being equally corrupt and equally out-of-touch with the needs, wants, and concerns of the majority of Americans, with both candidates caring more to push their party's agenda and corporate interests to the detriment of the rest of the country Scrape off the paint and both of them are the same color: Brown.

I threw a ballot into the wind on November 8th this year, because Orange in Chief broke the trend in all the wrong ways. But it was fucking pointless beyond belief and I don't know why I bothered. I live in a state so heavily red you can practically see it hanging in the air on election night. You could have the best politician to ever rise to the national stage running for POTUS on the Democratic platform and this state will still be a die-hard GOP stronghold, would still with a near unanimous vote choose Trump over the best chance we have at turning this country around.

Is it really a surprise that I've grown so apathetic that it takes someone like Trump to make me follow it at all, much less actually vote? Truthfully, if Clinton had managed the white house, I would have just shrugged and gone back to ignoring the Capitol Hill Shitshow as I've been doing for so long already. I have more important matters to spend my energy on, like, oh, idunno, [i]working my fucking ass off just so I can keep my house[/i].[/QUOTE]

you sure spend a lot of effort justifying being part of the problem of ignorance and complacency in our politics. why not spend some of it on getting informed and trying to help change things?

[JennyC6]

[QUOTE=cis.joshb;52404219]you sure spend a lot of effort justifying being part of the problem of ignorance and complacency in our politics.[/quote]

And you sure spend a lot of effort trying to get me involved in something I don't care about when I have more important things to attend to in life. Like, oh, idunno, [b]having a house over my head.[/b]

Also, let's not confuse ignorance and complacency with frustration and apathy. I know well enough what's going on in DC, which is why I don't care. It isn't that I'm ignorant of politics, it's that our politicians are greedy fuckshits that need to all take a long walk off a short pier and it frustrates me to no end that they make more money when they're not even working than I'm going to make in my entire fucking life, that they consistently ignore what's good for the country as a whole, that they consistently put their own interests in front of everything else, that they've made an absolute mockery out of what the best fucking country on Earth stands for and have turned it into a laughing stock.

There's nothing ignorant or complacent there.

[quote] why not spend some of it on getting informed and trying to help change things?[/QUOTE]

Because it's six kinds of pointless. I live in Tennessee. TN's presidential, senatorial, house representative vote is 99.978509405% of the time a GOP shitlord that doesn't give a fuck about anything except enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else. Why would I waste my breath, my energy, my already barely sufficient resources trying to effect change when there is no change to be effected? What do I stand to gain pissing into the wind about candidates that just don't exist here?

Moreover, because I don't live in a swing state, my presidential vote is utterly meaningless, and that's not going to change until we lose the electoral college. Again, TN is a die-hard GOP stronghold. They call this state 35 minutes into election coverage every night, and it's always a deep red on the map. Every. Single. Time. It's not even close.

If I wanted to be active in politics I'd move to a swing state where my vote, my effort, actually meant something. TN is such a ridiculously strong GOP stronghold that unless you want GOP policies you might as well just not bother speaking at all.

If you want me active in politics get the election system changed such that my vote, my voice actually means something. Until such time as my vote matters, until such time as quality candidates are on the ballot at all, I'm not going to waste my time.

I [b]know[/b] my voice doesn't get heard. How do I know? I get emails from House Rep Diane Black, the representative for my district, bragging about all the asinine shit the GOP is getting done. Every single time I reply back with how the policies she is working towards, praising, are absolutely moronic, I have sent back several calls for resignation, told her she and everyone else in her political party is a disgrace to the country they serve. The response? Complete silence. My emails don't even reach her eyes, they get filtered out, probably don't even find an intern's eyes.

As an aside, if you think it takes effort to rant about the sad state of politics in America you've never had real work.

[cis.joshb]

[QUOTE=TestECull;52404290]And you sure spend a lot of effort trying to get me involved in something I don't care about when I have more important things to attend to in life. Like, oh, idunno, [b]having a house over my head.[/b]

Also, let's not confuse ignorance and complacency with frustration and apathy. I know well enough what's going on in DC, which is why I don't care. It isn't that I'm ignorant of politics, it's that our politicians are greedy fuckshits that need to all take a long walk off a short pier and it frustrates me to no end that they make more money when they're not even working than I'm going to make in my entire fucking life, that they consistently ignore what's good for the country as a whole, that they consistently put their own interests in front of everything else, that they've made an absolute mockery out of what the best fucking country on Earth stands for and have turned it into a laughing stock.

There's nothing ignorant or complacent there.

Because it's six kinds of pointless. I live in Tennessee. TN's presidential, senatorial, house representative vote is 99.978509405% of the time a GOP shitlord that doesn't give a fuck about anything except enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else. Why would I waste my breath, my energy, my already barely sufficient resources trying to effect change when there is no change to be effected? What do I stand to gain pissing into the wind about candidates that just don't exist here?

Moreover, because I don't live in a swing state, my presidential vote is utterly meaningless, and that's not going to change until we lose the electoral college. Again, TN is a die-hard GOP stronghold. They call this state 35 minutes into election coverage every night, and it's always a deep red on the map. Every. Single. Time. It's not even close.

If I wanted to be active in politics I'd move to a swing state where my vote, my effort, actually meant something. TN is such a ridiculously strong GOP stronghold that unless you want GOP policies you might as well just not bother speaking at all.

If you want me active in politics get the election system changed such that my vote, my voice actually means something. Until such time as my vote matters, until such time as quality candidates are on the ballot at all, I'm not going to waste my time.

I [b]know[/b] my voice doesn't get heard. How do I know? I get emails from House Rep Diane Black, the representative for my district, bragging about all the asinine shit the GOP is getting done. Every single time I reply back with how the policies she is working towards, praising, are absolutely moronic, I have sent back several calls for resignation, told her she and everyone else in her political party is a disgrace to the country they serve. The response? Complete silence. My emails don't even reach her eyes, they get filtered out, probably don't even find an intern's eyes.

As an aside, if you think it takes effort to rant about the sad state of politics in America you've never had real work.[/QUOTE]

I apologize, it sounds like you're doing everything you can and I think you should continue doing this, enough people thinking like you is what can create change. You are in fact expending energy disagreeing with your representative, and it's clear you've considered and questioned your government.