meembo

I think some people are somehow obliged to defend "not voting" mostly because it's a choice. There is no personal cost or consequence to ignoring a civic right AND duty. It's too cool to take the contrary position to what makes absolute sense in our democracy. How can one responsibly complain about their political landscape and yet do nothing about it? Wasting a vote is a stupid and lazy thing to do, IMO. What's more, some people in this forum speak as though there is a vote only once every four years. Once you become more involved with society, you will see many elections on the local and state and federal levels in which to vote, as well. This is how most of the democracy around you functions -- on the local levels.

I hear many people saying that their individual vote does not matter -- Well, DUH, as my 12 year old says. Of course it doesn't. But like a great number of pro-active and selfless acts in our democracy and our culture, it's the momentum of the doing the right thing, often for the sake of others, that matters. Any good deed I do today will likely not change the course of the world by itself. It's the collection of good people doing the right thing that matters, that changes things for the better. Same with voting (and any other form of civic involvement). It's only the people who bother to sacrifice time and effort that make a difference politically, and they have to do it together. Democracies are certainly no guarantee that your way is the right way or the preferred way of society, but being involved in a democracy makes you more powerful and more informed that standing ignorantly on the sidelines of democracy, that's for sure.

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less I say, smarter I am