I do like the little bonus joke in the last panel: “You’re a Republican. So I’m going to need to explain to you how check boxes work, you thick fuck.”
lornsays
Gerry Trudeau nails it once again. Irony is that many Republicans would both agree with the man and completely fail to grasp the humor.
Sam Nsays
I truly sought out intellectually honest republicans when I was younger. The only one I did find turned out to be a closet progressive with one severely misguided idea: that the USA should be bombing muslims. It amazed me how much he was willing to turn his back on everything else he believed to keep that hate train going.
publicolasays
Is there a better political commentator on the planet than Gary Trudeau?
robert79says
In the US, does registering to vote also require you to register a party affiliation?
-- If so, where do all the undecided voters come from?
-- If not, what’s the point of this comic?
Pierce R. Butlersays
robert79 @ # 5 -- just in case your question is sincere…
Party registration in US voter records is requested, not required.
Those who declined to state a preference were formerly called “Independent” voters, but people started up “Independent” parties all over (that part is easy), so now they’re called “No Party Affiliation” voters. NPAs in many areas equal or outnumber one or both major parties.
If not registered with a party, you (in most states) can’t vote in that party’s primaries, which in many areas are the decisive elections.
The point of the comic involves spotlighting the self/socially-destructive nihilism of Trumpublicans. Do you need that explained too?
robert79says
Pierce @6 — my question was sincere…
In the Netherlands, I’ve never had to register to vote. My living adres is registered (obviously(?) needed for tax purposes, etc…) and as a result I receive a voting card every election. The idea that the government would ask you which party you intend to vote for, before you’re actually voting, seems incredibly weird to me.
If I had to register to vote and some government official were to ask me who I intended to vote for, I’d feel it’s my democratic duty to tell them it’s none of their fucking business… Isn’t that the whole point?
And, while I don’t *understand* the self/socially-destructive nihilism of Trumpublicans (why?!?) I do understand it needs to be made fun of.
bmillersays
robert79: Of COURSE you have to register to vote! And we are making it harder and harder to do so! And harder and harder to vote once you ARE registered. Automatic registration is COMMUNIST dontcha know? It might encourage the WRONG KIND of people to vote, if you know what I mean?
Numenaster, whose eyes are up heresays
“The idea that the government would ask you which party you intend to vote for, before you’re actually voting, seems incredibly weird to me.”
I’m guessing you don’t have party primaries in the Netherlands. In the US, federal elections are preceded by primary elections, and in most states you can only vote in the primary of the party you’ve registered with. In my state of Oregon, where we vote solely by mail, I only receive primary voting materials for the party that I registered in.
But since this is the US, nothing is done EXACTLY the same in all 50 states and some of them have “open” primaries where everyone can vote to select a party’s candidate. Sometimes activists from one party will vote in the opposing party’s primary to try to force nomination of a candidate they think will be easier to beat in the general election, a phenomenon called crossover voting. Rush Limbaugh tried to lead such an effort in 2008.
billseymoursays
Missouri is an example of a state with open primaries. You simply say which ballot you want when you walk in to the polling place.
I live in a Gerrymandered Republican district (Mo.’s 2nd), and so I often vote in Republican primaries because that’s typically the only election that actually matters. It’s often difficult to pick the least bad candidate, though, since most of them are all about guns for Jesus. (OK, I’m exaggerating…a little.)
Jörgsays
robert79 @#7:
The idea that the government would ask you which party you intend to vote for, before you’re actually voting, seems incredibly weird to me.
Same here, in the neighbour country to the east of Robert’s.
Pierce R. Butlersays
robert79 @ # 7 -- my apologies for the snarkasm. Dealing with USA politics has that effect, and worse.
Here, a large portion of the population rents their homes, and has little dealing with the property-tax people (though those also usually manage vehicle registration in most jurisdictions). As others note, we have a major political faction dedicated to making voting more difficult -- and have had since the beginning of the Republic. In the first several decades, a man had to own a certain amount of property to vote (and often, twice as much property to vote for his state’s senators as for those in the “lower chamber”). Then, in many states, the legislature would pick members of the Electoral College, which would cast the only votes for presidents that mattered (though some states allowed voters to pick Electors): this is how we ended up with the antidemocratic all-of-a-state’s-electoral-votes-go-as-a-bloc-to-one-candidate system. (Likewise, citizens could not vote directly for national senators until after World War I; previously, Senators were chosen only by their states’ legislators. We changed that about the same time women won the vote.)
To some extent, the barriers to easy voting make sense. In the US, we cannot, and never could, assume all or even most voters would not cheat or be manipulated by cheaters, as repeatedly proved by widespread scandals.
Openness and restrictiveness for voting eligibility has swung back and forth over the centuries, but the politics involved have always been hot and bitter.
prlsays
I agree with robert79 that I’d find it highly objectionable if I was asked which party I voted for when I registered to vote (registration to vote is compulsory in Australia).
And as for primaries, the nearest thing we have primaries to are pre-selection votes (which, like primaries, determine who shall represent the party in an election), which are carried out by members of the party in question, not by voters in general. That process has its own problems, but no election official asks me who I intend to vote for when I register, or go to vote.
I do like the little bonus joke in the last panel: “You’re a Republican. So I’m going to need to explain to you how check boxes work, you thick fuck.”
Gerry Trudeau nails it once again. Irony is that many Republicans would both agree with the man and completely fail to grasp the humor.
I truly sought out intellectually honest republicans when I was younger. The only one I did find turned out to be a closet progressive with one severely misguided idea: that the USA should be bombing muslims. It amazed me how much he was willing to turn his back on everything else he believed to keep that hate train going.
Is there a better political commentator on the planet than Gary Trudeau?
In the US, does registering to vote also require you to register a party affiliation?
-- If so, where do all the undecided voters come from?
-- If not, what’s the point of this comic?
robert79 @ # 5 -- just in case your question is sincere…
Party registration in US voter records is requested, not required.
Those who declined to state a preference were formerly called “Independent” voters, but people started up “Independent” parties all over (that part is easy), so now they’re called “No Party Affiliation” voters. NPAs in many areas equal or outnumber one or both major parties.
If not registered with a party, you (in most states) can’t vote in that party’s primaries, which in many areas are the decisive elections.
The point of the comic involves spotlighting the self/socially-destructive nihilism of Trumpublicans. Do you need that explained too?
Pierce @6 — my question was sincere…
In the Netherlands, I’ve never had to register to vote. My living adres is registered (obviously(?) needed for tax purposes, etc…) and as a result I receive a voting card every election. The idea that the government would ask you which party you intend to vote for, before you’re actually voting, seems incredibly weird to me.
If I had to register to vote and some government official were to ask me who I intended to vote for, I’d feel it’s my democratic duty to tell them it’s none of their fucking business… Isn’t that the whole point?
And, while I don’t *understand* the self/socially-destructive nihilism of Trumpublicans (why?!?) I do understand it needs to be made fun of.
robert79: Of COURSE you have to register to vote! And we are making it harder and harder to do so! And harder and harder to vote once you ARE registered. Automatic registration is COMMUNIST dontcha know? It might encourage the WRONG KIND of people to vote, if you know what I mean?
“The idea that the government would ask you which party you intend to vote for, before you’re actually voting, seems incredibly weird to me.”
I’m guessing you don’t have party primaries in the Netherlands. In the US, federal elections are preceded by primary elections, and in most states you can only vote in the primary of the party you’ve registered with. In my state of Oregon, where we vote solely by mail, I only receive primary voting materials for the party that I registered in.
But since this is the US, nothing is done EXACTLY the same in all 50 states and some of them have “open” primaries where everyone can vote to select a party’s candidate. Sometimes activists from one party will vote in the opposing party’s primary to try to force nomination of a candidate they think will be easier to beat in the general election, a phenomenon called crossover voting. Rush Limbaugh tried to lead such an effort in 2008.
Missouri is an example of a state with open primaries. You simply say which ballot you want when you walk in to the polling place.
I live in a Gerrymandered Republican district (Mo.’s 2nd), and so I often vote in Republican primaries because that’s typically the only election that actually matters. It’s often difficult to pick the least bad candidate, though, since most of them are all about guns for Jesus. (OK, I’m exaggerating…a little.)
robert79 @#7:
Same here, in the neighbour country to the east of Robert’s.
robert79 @ # 7 -- my apologies for the snarkasm. Dealing with USA politics has that effect, and worse.
Here, a large portion of the population rents their homes, and has little dealing with the property-tax people (though those also usually manage vehicle registration in most jurisdictions). As others note, we have a major political faction dedicated to making voting more difficult -- and have had since the beginning of the Republic. In the first several decades, a man had to own a certain amount of property to vote (and often, twice as much property to vote for his state’s senators as for those in the “lower chamber”). Then, in many states, the legislature would pick members of the Electoral College, which would cast the only votes for presidents that mattered (though some states allowed voters to pick Electors): this is how we ended up with the antidemocratic all-of-a-state’s-electoral-votes-go-as-a-bloc-to-one-candidate system. (Likewise, citizens could not vote directly for national senators until after World War I; previously, Senators were chosen only by their states’ legislators. We changed that about the same time women won the vote.)
To some extent, the barriers to easy voting make sense. In the US, we cannot, and never could, assume all or even most voters would not cheat or be manipulated by cheaters, as repeatedly proved by widespread scandals.
Openness and restrictiveness for voting eligibility has swung back and forth over the centuries, but the politics involved have always been hot and bitter.
I agree with robert79 that I’d find it highly objectionable if I was asked which party I voted for when I registered to vote (registration to vote is compulsory in Australia).
And as for primaries, the nearest thing we have primaries to are pre-selection votes (which, like primaries, determine who shall represent the party in an election), which are carried out by members of the party in question, not by voters in general. That process has its own problems, but no election official asks me who I intend to vote for when I register, or go to vote.