Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Diana Duncan <art2mis AT nc.rr.com>]

And hey, you can "vote with your wallet" by participating in the process as 
well.  Personally, I'm a contributer to EMILY's List recommended candidates 
and Planned Parenthood and have been very active in the past in NARAL (I 
guess it's easy to see what my hot button is).  This type of involvement and 
even monetary contribution really gives me the feeling of making some sort of 
difference.  Much more than not buying at Walmart and choosing to shop at 
Whole Foods (both of which I also do).

Still and all, all citizens have the right to bitch.  Free speech and all 
that. :)

Diana

On Wednesday 09 October 2002 06:18 pm, you wrote:
> At 02:59 PM 10/9/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> >On Wed, 9 Oct 2002, K. Jo Garner wrote:
> > > But I'm still of the mind that
> > > if you don't vote, you can't bitch. Sorry.
> >
> >No offense intended, but you can't stop me from bitching.  I don't vote
> >for idiots, and I don't respect political processes that reward imaginary
> >constructs (read: corporations) over real, flesh-and-blood humans.  I vote
> >the only place I'll be heard: at the cash register, with my wallet.
> >
> >--Sil
>
> Go ahead and bitch, Sil, but I'm not listening. And David Matusiak, if your
> "stage left" note means you don't vote either, then I'm going to join Buddy
> Guy's band instead of your bluegrass quartet. You want to talk but won't
> vote?!? You had a chance to vote for or against Jesse Helms and didn't take
> it?!?
>
> There are options besides 1) voting for an idiot and 2) not voting. After
> the 2000 Presidential farce, I changed my registration to Libertarian and
> wrote to both the Democratic and Republican parties to explain why. It
> wasn't a perfect choice, but I tried to make the statement that I was an
> active voter who was dismayed by both parties. You can also write in the
> candidate of your choice. You can then lobby candidates by communicating
> with them after the election.
>
> The money-to-votes mapping is only automatic if we allow it to be. With
> this glorious thing called Internet, it's impossible for a few people to
> control the news. We have access to so much information, in fact, that it
> is difficult to decide what is likely to be true and important. But I'd
> rather have that problem than to have my only source of news be Walter
> Cronkite and the News & Observer.
>
> We've come a tremendous way towards being a civilized society in the past
> 130 years, due in large part to political activists putting pressure on
> politicians and corporations. This summer I had a chance to visit Susan B.
> Anthony's house in Rochester, New York. It was thrilling to stand in the
> living room and hear the guide say: "Miss Anthony was sitting in *this*
> chair when she heard a knock on *that* door. The police had come to arrest
> her for voting." That was in 1872. In 1920, women finally won the right to
> vote. Think of the victories of the civil-rights movement, the
> workers-rights movement, the green movement, and the press for a safety net
> (welfare, unemployment insurance, social security, child-labor laws, OSHA).
>
> Oh yes, voting with your wallet is also a good thing. But I'm not sure how
> that helps to, say, reform the medical system or stop us from going to war.
>
> ... Linda
>
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