Witholding consent:

This thread is for those who are unhappy with the election and don't know
what to do. Do you feel marginalized, your opinions ignored? Have a
family to raise, not up for violent street demonstrations, or for
any violence at all? Violence is the problem, isn't it, and fear?

Well, here are some ideas, safe, honest, non-confrontational, and
guaranteed to be effective if any substantial portion of the liberal
majority do them:

1.) Register Republican and vote against ALL incumbents in the primaries.

2.) Discontinue your cable TV, put the TV in the garage or the closet,
face to the wall, cancel your newspaper. Use the proceeds to buy the
best internet connection you can manage, and to obtain books, magazines,
and other media that provide fear-free and useful entertainment, news,
and information. You will not only save money, but be smarter and need
less medication to sedate you.

3.) If in good health and able to, cancel your medical coverage. Pay
as you go. Good food, low stress, and exercise are better than any
medicine many times, and there are plenty of doctors that like cash
these days. Go for walks, ride a bike, get out, every day. If you feel
the need, get catastrophic coverage to help out when you have to visit
the emergency room, if you still have one in your neighborhood.

4.) Stop spending money on plastic crap. Keep it, you might need it.
Put it in foreign denominated assets if you can. Entertainment can
be free, it can be cheap, you don't have to pay for it, it doesn't come
in the form of little pieces of plastic crap.

5.) Stop eating fast food. None. Buy good stuff at the store instead,
and learn to cook it yourself. Cooking is fun.

6.) In real elections, whenever you can, vote for third parties. Does
it really matter who wins when it's a choice between primitive and
simian? Vote your opinions unless it REALLY matters. Vote against
incumbents, all incumbents, unless they openly espouse liberal social
policies. We don't need more self-centered weasels in government.

7.) Get rid of as many cars as you can. Stop driving when you can
avoid it. You will save lots of time and money, money that is used
politically against your interests, and your life will be simplified,
and safer.

8.) Let your lawn die. When asked, claim indigence. "I just can't
afford to pay for the water and fertilizer and bug spray since I
lost my second job."

9.) Join Democracy For America. Give them a little money every month.
Maybe some of the fast-food money you now have in your pocket. DFA is
working for long-term change, and we have seen the power of the grass
roots and the internet.

10.) Cut you hair and try to look straight. Become hard to identify.
When polled about political issues, always respond with "no opinion" or
the like. Don't give them any clues. If they get fat, dumb, and happy
they may allow honest elections again, and then we can clobber them. In
any case, the polls are being used against you, so there is no reason
not to screw them up. Lie. Be creative.

11.) Patronize only local businesses. No chains, no big corporations,
as much as possible. A strong local economy with well-off local
businessmen - who won't sell out - protects you and provides jobs for you,
jobs that won't go away. (Well, at least it improves the odds.)

12.) Support BBV. Help them raise hell. Enjoy the show. What's
wrong with wanting all the votes counted. It's an unanswerable
argument.

Well, I could go on, but I won't.

Edit: well, editing.

Your text implies that it's to confuse pollsters. I've never been polled face to face, only on the phone, so they have no idea what I look like. And I'd need a really earth-shaking reason to drag a sharp blade across my face every day.

There is no compulsion here.
Pick and choose.

I will not look like one of them.

We celebrate diversity.
Different ideas appeal to different people.

At our house we have turned off the TV and since then have read two good books. I am reading fiction for now, it is too depressing to continue to read about what we already know that this administration should be impeached not elected. I suggest joining Co-Op American if you haven't already and only buy local or green/and or US made approved goods.

Edit: well, perhaps you are already.

we have cable tv and internet. we don't watch the news on tv - ever, except CNN to watch the election. We go between TNT, Spike, FX, Food Network, TLC, and the Discovery Channel. Pretty sad, huh! lol
I already get all my news online from diverse resources, and I think that is more important to promote that idea than simply avoiding cable tv.

But if you get standard cable you are giving money to people that
will use it against you, not just the ones you like. So you have
to make choices.

(you will be so amazed if you get rid of it) We gave it up almost 10 years ago and I hate to be like some self-rightous ex-smoker, but after you have gone a while without it and then you see a commercial you will get this really strange physical reaction and then you will realize what it was doing to you all along.

The ONLY thing I would watch if I were to go back would be the Daily Show.

Anything else is either available as a recording or just not worth bothering with.

You will not become ignorant by giving up the "news" you will actually become better informed and more intelligent.

i don't watch tv news because it sucks... i'm only 23, and I knew when i was a teenager that tv news sucked.
I have been with my husband for 4 years now (we've lived together the whole time), we have been married for a year and only in the past year have we even been able to afford cable tv. i know what it is like to not have tv around...
some days it really sucks to have a tv, it is like an excuse not to do other things. but none-the-less, we are hopelessly addicted to Law and Order, Charmed, Police Videos, CSI, and Good Eats. It is sad but true...

I thought I was the only one who felt an urge to get the hell out of the room when a TV is on. On average, I've watched less than an hour of TV a week since the stolen election of 2000, and I've noticed that it's gotten to the point that I just can't stand to be around TV. My one exception is The Daily Show, and since we have a PVR, we fast-forward past commercials.

I keep telling people they need to start READING the news instead of listening to it or watching it. If you read the news, you are forcing it to be processed by your intellect, which is slower than the lower centers of your brain. Your intellect just isn't fast enough to keep track of the data you're receiving from TV or radio.

though it is now - back then I had the true addiction - interfering with life, family, health, job

now I have the internet for that:evilgrin:

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

because they carry FSTV and LINK channels. They're the ones I rely on as far as the tube goes.

Already implemented 2, 5, 6, 8 & 11, though I do have basic cable for C-SPAN. Unwillingly comply with 3, since I keep getting rejected when I apply for health coverage. Looking into buying an old car to run on BioDiesel. Good suggestions!

It's the numbers that count, "Super Size Me" made Mickey D's clean
up their act because people stopped eating their crap. That leverage
is our power, and there is no answer to it. If 50 million of us
register as Republicans and vote against all incumbents, they are
fucked.

And it's safe and honest and democratic in the most fundamental way.
It used to be called voting with your feet, but there is nowhere to
go anymore, and anyway, whose country is it?

You can't be bashed for eating healthy and conserving gas and so on
either, or for how you vote in private, etc.

And don't forget, when the Repub Party sends you postage paid return envelopes for contributions, contribute a lot of weight to those envelopes and send them back.

By the time you get to the main election you have another
mindless suit-droid shoved down your throat and it's too late.
And as a Repub, you have a free hand, you're not tempted to
vote for someone because he might win. It's like being a troll
on a message board. If we do it enough they will go nuts.

:-)

Keep on rockin us baby!!!

:hi:

Loud applause for you here--terrific suggestions. simple, easy steps that will make a big difference!