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Michael Moore

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90 Million Are Planning Not to Vote - Your Mission: Take Just One of Them to the Polls

Posted: 10/31/2012 4:20 pm

I have a personal favor I'd like to ask each of you. We all know the election next Tuesday is going to be very close. But I've got an idea that could help put President Obama over the top.

I want you -- yes, YOU, the person reading this right now -- to get ONE of your fellow Americans who would not otherwise vote to show up at the polls and support Obama.

Here's the math: there are upwards of five million of you seeing this, via email, on my website, here on the Huffington Post and all over the internet. There are 1.2 million following me on Twitter. I've got almost 700,000 Facebook friends.

I want just one million of you to convince just ONE person each -- one person who's planning NOT to vote -- to go to the polls and vote for Barack Obama. That's it. And those million extra votes could make all the difference in what will be a very tight election -- and it will save us from a tragic return to the Bush years.

Do you realize that there are 90 million people who are planning to NOT vote next Tuesday? That's according to a poll conducted by USA Today. 90,000,000!! It's a shocking number, isn't it? In the old days we'd just label these people as apathetic or stupid. Not anymore. They don't need our admonition -- they need our empathy.

The non-voter today knows exactly what's going on, and he or she wants no part of it. They are discouraged, disillusioned, and have almost lost hope that things will change. Many are jobless or working for peanuts. They're angry, and we should tell them they have every right to be.

But here's something else about them: despite everything, they haven't utterly given up on politics. When USA Today asked the non-voters who they'd choose if they HAD to vote for someone in this election, 18 percent said they would vote for Romney -- and 43 percent said they'd vote for Obama! That means there are nearly 40 million people who prefer Obama -- AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE.

The other question they were asked was, what would it take to get you to vote? Eighty-five percent of the pro-Obama non-voters said they would go vote IF they thought the election was going to be really close and that their vote would actually make the difference.

This is, for all its frustrating logic, incredibly good news. So our job for the next six days is clear: We -- you and me -- have to bring a little over one percent of the 90 million non-voters to the polls. If we do we'll send Romney packing back to New Hampshire/Massachusetts/California or wherever he's going to build car elevators next.

The time to convince undecideds to vote for Obama is over. All it's about now is whose supporters simply show up. The side that does the best job of literally dragging people out of their homes between 6:00 AM and 8:00 PM on Tuesday, November 6th is the side that wins.

Each of us knows Obama-supporting non-voters. They're your cousin, your coworker, your friend from the choir at church. Identify just one of them (best of all if they're in a swing state) and pledge to get them to the polls. You can try to convince them with all the good arguments as to why they should vote for the O (click here), but I think the best way to do this is to ask them personally, just this once, to do this for you. Not for the country. For you.

Then, once they've committed to vote, make a commitment to them: that you are not going to be silent after Tuesday, that you are going to keep fighting like hell (including, when need be, fighting Obama) every single day after the election for them, for you and for all of us.

So, that is your mission -- YOURS, the person reading this right this second. Bring just one non-voter to the polls. Easy! Do it and be known as part of the group that defeated Mitt "Bush #3" Romney and gave Barack Obama another term -- and another chance to do what we sent him there to do.

 

Follow Michael Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MMFlint

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I have a personal favor I'd like to ask each of you. We all know the election next Tuesday is going to be very close. But I've got an idea that could help put President Obama over the top. I want you...
I have a personal favor I'd like to ask each of you. We all know the election next Tuesday is going to be very close. But I've got an idea that could help put President Obama over the top. I want you...
 
 
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10:03 PM on 11/04/2012
MicGael can't fool anyone. He is a 1%'er so he can pay for the limos
10:01 PM on 11/04/2012
Michael is part of the !% so he can definitely so he can pay for the limos
10:00 PM on 11/04/2012
Yeah and Michael is part of the 1% so he can pay for the limos
09:57 PM on 11/04/2012
Vote is something that states your position on the issues and it is something that makes you a citizen of this country. This election is not about America, it is something bigger, it is about the world. So if you go and vote it means something bigger than USA. It means your say about the affairs of the world. The disenfranchised people have only one power. The power to vote.
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cintirich
Support the Constitution, not talking points.
09:38 PM on 11/04/2012
I'm bringing my mother- and father-in law, plus my wife. My wife would maybe have voted but the other two, definitely not.

We're all voting Romney and we're from OH.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
afairview
cheap energy, the best stimulus
08:25 PM on 11/04/2012
In Australia you could pay a fine if you don't vote, something like that should be implemented in the US.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
kimbanyc
LIBERAL NY DEMOCRAT
06:58 PM on 11/04/2012
THERE AREN'T MANY REALLY UNDECIDED VOTERS OUT THERE

AND POSTING HERE WON'T CHANGE ANYONE'S MIND

THE KEY WILL BE TURNOUT

I'LL BE IN PENNSYLVANIA ELECTION DAY HAULING PEOPLE TO AND FROM
POLLING BOOTHS HAVING SENT IN MY ABSENTEE BALLOT

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING TO HELP GET OUT THE VOTE
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
loganhunter
06:46 PM on 11/04/2012
Its time for a tail gating party for the vote
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fred Ross
business owner that creates jobs
06:39 PM on 11/04/2012
Hey Michael - what is all the 90 million vote for Mitt! Great idea - let's send out those limo's to pick them up and get the to the polls!
05:41 PM on 11/04/2012
If 90 million people are planning to not vote, why does Michael Moore think they registered to vote?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mike Cofta
03:35 PM on 11/04/2012
Even if they are conservative ??
03:24 PM on 11/04/2012
The only reason they hold elections in this country is to con the sheep into thinking they have a choice. They don't. There is only one party, the Plutocratic Party, with left and right wings. The plutocrats don't care which one of their hirelings win.

If you vote you are confirming that you have been fooled into thinking the system works. If someone comes to your door to try to take you to the polls, tell them that in the case of choosing the lesser of two evils you would still be voting FOR evil. And no thanks!
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Geauterre
Writer, Author, Commentator and Humorist.
03:23 PM on 11/04/2012
Dear Mr. Moore,
You seem concerned about the numbers of people planning on not voting. That wouldn't be me. I've already voted, and voted well, but it was for neither bunch of trough feeders. So I'm good. However, given this complainants' forum, allow me to point out a critically important factor; one you've overlooked.

A no vote is a vote of no confidence, not so much of the candidates, but of the process, the government, the system, and perhaps even the culture. That says a lot. Maybe it says even more than the voters.

So, let us not demean those who vote by turning their backs. Believe me, it takes courage to say 'no'; especially when saying it, means they're so furious, this is the only way they can show their rage without rioting.

That is a helluva vote, believe me.

Now buck up. Some of us give credit where credit is due.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
LeftRight
TANSTAAFL
04:03 PM on 11/04/2012
The problem is that those who choose not to vote are not simply giving a vote of no confidence, they are actively harming themselves and others by letting the most extreme control the process!
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Geauterre
Writer, Author, Commentator and Humorist.
09:11 PM on 11/04/2012
I sympathize with the viewpoint, but it won't solve the overall problem, which is that it's been controlled by those same people who prefer that you do vote in order to re-validate a corrupt process. So, between being damned if you, and damned if you don't . . . which is more honest? Let me rephrase that: which is less gullible?
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Pilatunes
Best described as miscellaneous
05:24 PM on 11/04/2012
Although I do still vote whenever the opportunity presents itself, but sadly, there's an element of truth in what you say. A lot of people are tired of the 'hold your nose and vote' scenario. I am pretty tired of it myself.
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Geauterre
Writer, Author, Commentator and Humorist.
09:14 PM on 11/04/2012
There are no easy solutions, and the process of change is a grinding one. Still, even if it is symbolic, you might want to write your representative and tell them if a no-confidence vote approached a certain ratio . . . the votes counted should be invalidated, and new candidates found.

Just a thought.
03:11 PM on 11/04/2012
Did my duty-- made certain my Air Force son voted for his Commander-In-Chief absentee. Wild guess? He did not vote for a financial sector plutocrat with 5 sons, none serving in the military. Unlike England, our elite rarely serve.
12:52 AM on 11/05/2012
Yeah your commander in chief (didn't )served his country, hell, they don't know where he was born, who his father is, and by the way, where are his college transcripts. Think about your vote, you did your country well.
03:10 PM on 11/04/2012
Ah yes michael moore
the man who made a documentary exposing the hidden politics behind 911 that the media won't tell you about but didn't include Israel in the story

Who would have thought that he would abandon independents for one of the mainstream parties?