From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject:  Think of it this way... 
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 00:09:26 GMT

Do you support Jesse Helms? 
Do you support Pat Buchanan?
Do you support Phyllis Schafly?
Do you support Pat Robertson?
Do you support Jerry Falwell?
Do you support anyone who supports these people?

If you do, then by all means, vote for George Bush. Or, if that thought
disgusts you, then don't vote at all. Or throw away your vote on a
frivolous candidate. Any of those people will be more than happy you did.

For those who think that their vote is only one and won't matter, think
about this. It's what I do. I pick a conservative jerk I can't stand.
Phyllis Schafly is my main lady, though any of the above would do. I
then imagine Election Day. Phyllis gets up, has breakfast, does whatever
bigoted things she has on her agenda that day, and at some point goes to
the voting booth and ticks, clicks, checks or whatever, the space marked
"George Bush." 

I get up on Election Day, I never eat breakfast, so I go right to the 
voting booth. I tick, click, check or whatever (this will be my first 
time voting in the state of Illinois, so I don't know what their
procedure is) the space marked "Bill Clinton." I can leave the voting
booth, smug and secure in the knowledge that I have cancelled out
her vote. I happily say "F**k YOU Phyllis Schafly" and feel really good
for the rest of the day. 

That's how *YOU* can feel like you're accomplishing something on Election
Day. Your vote will cancel out someone else's. If you put a name on that
other person's vote, and it's someone you despise, you too can feel really
good!

It won't work if you vote for someone who has no chance of beating George
Bush. If you really want, say, Frank Zappa, to be president, write a 
letter and tell him. Don't throw away your much needed vote on him. Any
vote cast for someone other than Bill Clinton is, in effect, a vote *FOR*
George Bush, because you haven't cancelled out anyone else's vote for him.

The Republicans have, especially in the last 3 elections, a major advantage 
over Democrats. That is that they *VOTE*. All the Young Republicans, all
the Conservatives, every student at Bob Jones University, all the bigots
and racists in the country, nearly all the *Republicans* in the country
will be going to the voting booths. They don't mess around with frivolous
candidates. They don't say to themselves "my vote won't matter, I'm just
one person" because they *KNOW* the power of the vote. They *KNOW* that
the Democratic party is full of apathetic, pathetic fools, the kind of
people who say things like "my vote won't matter" and "I don't want to
vote for Clinton because I don't like his Vice Presidential nominee's 
*wife*" and things like that. You see? The Republicans, especially the
arch-conservative Republicans, are smart in this way (even if they aren't
in any other way) and they take advantage of it. They take advantage of
*YOU* if you let them. You have to decide if you're going to let them.

I *REFUSE* to let them!!! I used to be one of those apathetic, pathetic
fools. I voted in the 1976 and the 1980 elections, then quit voting.
I realize now that I share partial blame for things like Clarence
Thomas, IranGate, IraqGate, the massive environmental and budget
problems this country has. My vote, one vote, small and insignificant,
would still have cancelled out someone else's, and I didn't even think
of that. Now that I've thought of it, I'll never forget it.

Dan Quayle and Pat Buchanan will be running for office in 1996. Will you
then wake up and say "holy cow! I'd better vote against (whoever wins
the primary) and I gotta talk other people into voting against them too"
and then find out that you're up against the same sort of apathy that
you yourself showed, like I am now? It's not fun, believe me.

Tipper won't hurt you. She's peanuts compared to the Ultra-Right who
will gladly turn this country into a State of Christianity, given
the chance. I don't like the PMRC either, but a few labels are better
than what the Pats and Jerrys and Dans and Georges and Jesses have in mind
for you.    *** THINK ABOUT IT ***

There's a saying that countries deserve the kind of leaders they elect.
If we are indeed such a racist, bigoted, sexist, homophobic, apathetic
society, then Republicans (backed by the Ultra-Conservative Right) 
*should* stay in power. If you don't think that's right, then prove it!
Vote!!

Vickie

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