Besides the fact that it seems very chic nowadays to vote -- and insist everyone else vote too. 1. Your individual vote has no effect on the outcome of an election. If there are 15 million voters in Texas, if even only 20% actually vote, your vote is 1 three-millionth of the hiring decision. Doesn't the futility of that bother you? 2. The feeling of futility is enhanced by the fact that we have a pretty good idea of who is going to win before we even vote. Sure, polling has been wrong before, but it usually isn't. And, for Texas governor, for example, the writing is pretty much on the wall, isn't it? 3. Some people have "important" races to decide. Races where a republican or a democrat might win, and that affects the balance of power in Washington. Maybe you're in the Delay vote. Not me. The most exciting vote is for Governor, which looks locked up. Hutchison has her election sewn up. Does Sheila Jackson Lee have any chance of losing? Dewhurst? I also have a State Senator and a State Rep, each running unopposed. 4. Do you have any business voting if you don't know one candidate from the other? Sure, sure, all voters should read up on the Strayhorn and Kinky and Perry and Dewhurst and Radnofsky and whatnot. But, what about Joan Campbell vs. Lydia Clay-Jackson for District Judge, 248th Judicial District? If it wasn't for party affiliation, you'd be voting on your name prejudices (do I prefer a woman with a hyphenated name? Joan sounds like a white name, doesn't it?). On my ballot, there are 80 judge races, most of them unopposed Republicans, and I only recognize a couple of names in the lot of them. 5. There are positions up for elections that should be appointed. My father-in-law tells me that up in his area in Maine, they vote for the coroner. What do the good citizens of Jackman know about the business of coroning/coronating/whatever-it-is-he-does? How would they know if a challenger is better than the incumbent? Even if your coroner was terrible, would he ever be voted out? The same is true for thoussands of elected obscure minor posts. It seems like there is actually less accountability in these positions when they are elected. If you were appointed, you could be fired for incompetence. If you're incompetent in an elected position that no one pays attention to, you basically have job security for life. 6. Your choice is between two carbon copies, at best. There are thousands of elections that are uncontested (like the USSR). So, you really are nothing more than a rubber stamp -- less than that actually since that person could still win even if 99% of the voters don't vote for him. Even where an election is contested, it always boils down to Democrat vs. Republican. Vote for anyone else and you're throwing your vote away. So, pick the lesser of two evils: do you throw your lot in with the war criminals or the baby-killers? Surely, there is someone out there that believes in strong national defense and not torturing people. And, someone who believes in protecting civil rights and finding abortion alternatives. Unfortunately, you don't get to vote for them; you have to vote for the Democrat or the Republican. That's the weakness of the 2-party system -- strange bedfellows are all grouped together under 2 tents. The religious right is rooming with fiscal conservatives. Tree huggers are bunking with the Black Panthers. They have little in common but they must share a candidate to represent both their views. So, if your candidate doesn't represent you, why vote for him? By the way, I will be voting tomorrow, even though it'll take an hour and a half to write in "None of the Above" on 80 uncontested judge elections. So, no need to change my mind. Just want to see if I can make my vote count a smidgen more by convincing someone else to not vote.
Many, many, many of your fellow Americans, past and present, have died so you can vote. If nothing else, do it for them, even if the choice is between a turd and a douche.
This is not an argument that I have much appreciation for. Americans have died to free us from the British, which itself had a democracy. Beyond that, we haven't waged much war to preserve democracy. We've waged war to spread democracy perhaps (at best) and to spread American hegemony, but not because there was ever a threat to our democratic government system. I appreciate the service of our veterans, but I don't think they preserved democracy per se. And, even so, if fellow Americans died protecting the institution of slavery, which they did by the thousands, that doesn't really mean I should try to engage in it for their sake. People have been fighting for all sorts of things I disagree with.
Not voting means you haven't done enough to keep certifiable nutjobs like Nick Lampson out of office. That's why you vote. Otherwise you end up with left-wing lunatics who want to give terrorists privacy, take away your guns, remove religion from our lives, raise our taxes, and impose 'family values' on us that includes aborting our babies and destroying the institution of marriage.
how about this... Why not vote? Other than spending a little gas money to go to the polls, you don't lose anything from voting. All of your reasons assert that voting isn't as powerful of an act as we would like to believe but none of them ever indicate a reason why voting in and of itself is bad or why voting would lead to bad things. You can't go wrong by voting.
Removing guns, religion and family values is the mark of a truly progressive society. America should strive to be like this.
I don't vote in races like these. I really don't care who the Ag Commissioner is, but someone does. If everyone who didn't care wouldn't vote, the people who did care would get who they want. (If there's a Libertarian running, I vote for them, because if they get a certain percentage, it guarantees them a spot on the ballot for the next time.) Similarly, when we Texans get to vote on some amendment to abolish a MUD district in Brewster County, I don't vote. Just because you step up to the voting booth doesn't mean you have to vote for every office or resolution.
Everyone should vote, regardless of whether they know squat about the candidates or issues. The greater number of voters, the greater the diminshment of importance of special interest groups. Let's say 50% of voters vote tomorrow. That means your theoretical winner could have as little as 25.1% of the total eligible voters. The day after the election, Special Interest Group A (Call them NRA, Sierra Club, whatever you wish) claims through their members and outreach that they are responsible for 3% and that without them, you would not have won. As you take office, you have to be responsive to their wishes and policies because they are an important part of your winning coalition. You therefore do stuff that favors them... maybe at the expense of the greater good. Now, if you have 100% of people voting, you have cut the influence of Special Interest Group A in half and doubled the number of people you have to reach. That means Special Interest Group A may still get some favors, but they won't dominate and it also means that you as a candidate have to adjust your message and actions to appeal to a much broader segment of America. Therefore, we get more centrist types acting in ways more favorable to the nation as a whole. It's much easier to run at 25.1% than 50.1%... you can get away with all sorts of outlandish stuff that plays to your base... and that's why politicians seem to like it... that and the fact that there's more money to be had if you go the special interest route... Mr. Smith probably never had a golden parachute lobbying gig or had his kids take kickbacks from govt. contractors.
Despite the fact that I don't agree with T_J's over the top arguments I hope your post was sarcastic in nature and that I'm being a non-humorous stick in the mud.
This bothered me, too, when I went to vote the other day. There were 48 races on my ballot, but only 11 Democrats running. And while there were Libertarians in a lot of the races (though even still, about half of the races were completely unopposed), for all intents and purposes, the races were decided long before anybody cast a single ballot. Now, I tend to lean Republican anyway, but I'd still like a choice.
JV, I'm at a bit of a loss here to understand you. You say it is "chic" to vote, but the turnout for national elections, much less state and local elections, has been low enough to cause despair. Also, why did my Dad enlist in WWII and end up fighting the Japanese? Because it was "an adventure?" What form of government do you think the Japanese Empire would have imposed upon the United States, had they won? Or Hitler's Germany? Keep D&D Civil.
"I want my vote to count," yet i have no clue who i should vote for. I have this news letter I got from the Library, and I keep reading it, and it ain't telling me ****. I'm not going to drink the kool aid just because it has an R or a D next to their name.
I think people who don't vote have a criminal mentality. It represents laziness and an abandonment of civic duty. It also demonstrates a lack of self respect and one's desire to be represented in society. I say it again - not voting shows criminal intent. Because that's the way criminals think - about what they can get away and not being good citizens. They are only motivated by their own immediate needs and not the betterment of society or those of similar beliefs, race, culture, background or whatever. When you vote, you are not just empowering yourself, you are empowering all of those whose groups you belong to. You empower your political party, your local community, your state, your race, your religion, your beliefs, your profession, your class and tax bracket, your affiliations, your business... Doesn't matter who wins...but think of it this way. Let's say a group that represents hairdressers doesn't vote much, even though collectively they make up 50,000 votes. Because their turnout is low...politicians don't pay much attention to them in setting policies...so they are happy to just listen to the salons. But let's say the hairdressers start voting in mass - well, it doesn't matter WHO they vote for....the fact that they are beginning to make up a VOTING BLOCK that might be courted means politicians have to start enacting policies to court the hairdresser vote. Thus, it doesn't matter who you vote for - the very act of voting is empowering, because it means that politicians will pay more attention to those like yourself. So vote! And be counted - and have maximum representation! You aren't just voting to influence this election, you are voting to remind who ever might win that you and those like yourself must be listened too...
