To vote, or not to vote...

If you vote thinking your vote is going to change the entire world then you'll be sadly mistaken. Governments are complex institutions built on negotiation, voting for a President is voting for one person (and their staff) amongst many thousands of other government officials. Sure they have a lot of influence, but in a democracy they can't change everything at the click of a button (that would be an autocracy). What you are voting for is influence, influence in a particular direction. Ask yourself what are the forces behind the President?, what are the policies behind the President?, they are a surer guide to the direction the country will take.

I have never voted for a lot of reasons, most of which were justifications for being lazy and apathetic. I did truly believe though that I wasn't smart enough to deserve a say. I couldn't have told you anything about any candidate in any race that I was allowed to vote it (if you don't count class presidents in school). I also do believe that the electoral college system means that the popular vote is nothing more than an illusion of power to the people and is, at it's strongest, a suggestion rather than a true vote. The farce that is the two party system has already been brought up and John mentioned gerrymandering, which is constantly used to sway elections. It all adds up to making an individual feel as if there's nothing that they can do, so why bother?

That said, I will be voting this November. In the past I didn't care enough because I also, honestly, didn't think who won would make that big of a difference. This time, that is not the case. I do believe that one candidate would be significantly worse for the country than the other (though neither of the leading two are all that great). I have learned more and paid more attention this time around so that I feel like I am making an educated decision. Now, even if I feel as though my vote is merely a suggestion, I will make the suggestion that I feel is best so that if things don't go the way I hope then at least I can say that I tried. I did something.

Oh, and voting in local stuff is way more important, I think, because one vote can have a greater impact and it really does affect you as an individual more directly.

Voting is important whether people believe it or not. It’s how we make change. Drudgingly slow, painful, often backwards, but still change. And with each change it is important to learn from it and vote to improve on what we have learned so that we can hopefully build a brighter tomorrow.

Even when your two choices are between two equally repugnant steaming piles of refuse. I’m just going to try and pick the one that I feel will destroy the country the least. And maybe, just maybe, we might survive this next presidency to rebuild the rampant carnage of their term in office which ever one wins.

LOL :silly: :woohoo: :laugh: .... :whistle: ... :blink: ... :pinch: ... :sick:

Vote Not to vote means people died in vain. You can't let that happen.

I apologize for the tone of my previous post. I was having a terrible morning and I'm out of balance; I responded with frustration, and my anger was self-evident.

While any system in which we vote may not be the best (what is the 'best'?) and we may consider it broken... not voting at all tells our governments we do not care what they do.

Men and women of all ages fought for equal representation and I believe it is an insult to everything they did and for all the suffering they endured to get that right, to say that you don't vote. Even if the person you vote for has no hope of getting in... the fact you didn't vote for the likely winners tells political parties that you don't agree. If more people voted the way they truly believed in, perhaps things might change quicker.

Rickie wrote: Vote Not to vote means people died in vain. You can't let that happen.

This argument gets used a lot and there is a lot of truth to it, but remember they fought and died so that we had a right to which means that we also have a right not to. It's like the whole not standing for the anthem/pledge issue (which is a completely other topic so please, if we want to discuss it start a new thread).

We need to be careful with appeals to the past like what soldiers died for, because while it sounds great we don't know what each particular soldier fought and died for. Further there are many things we've done which soldiers of that time (which normally refers to WW2) probably abhor (gay/mixed-race marriage comes to mind). I care less what they fought for and more what we fight for.

Edan wrote: While any system in which we vote may not be the best (what is the 'best'?) and we may consider it broken... not voting at all tells our governments we do not care what they do.

Men and women of all ages fought for equal representation and I believe it is an insult to everything they did and for all the suffering they endured to get that right, to say that you don't vote. Even if the person you vote for has no hope of getting in... the fact you didn't vote for the likely winners tells political parties that you don't agree. If more people voted the way they truly believed in, perhaps things might change quicker.

Will not work, they'll rig it. If the vast majority of people who do vote choose not to, it would send a message. Sadly that would take a couple of elections to get the point across. Imo there should be a option on that ballot not to chose. They would never allow it, because it is an option that shows a. The dissatisfaction of the American People (in this instance) and b. proposes action alternative to that offered, which is a complete racket..

Akkarin wrote: We need to be careful with appeals to the past like what soldiers died for, because while it sounds great we don't know what each particular soldier fought and died for. Further there are many things we've done which soldiers of that time (which normally refers to WW2) probably abhor (gay/mixed-race marriage comes to mind). I care less what they fought for and more what we fight for.

I didn't say soldiers. I meant the everyday men and women who campaigned for the right to vote, people like the Chartists and the suffragists.