4 ms·

This works well for those who live in an authoritarian state where you're not called upon to make any decisions (vote). When you live in a democracy, it breaks

by Lendal 4y ago

This works well for those who live in an authoritarian state where you're not called upon to make any decisions (vote). When you live in a democracy, it breaks down because now you have no information upon which to make your decisions. The direction your life takes will be decided by your neighbors.

VLM 4y ago
Identity politics means vote outcomes will depend solely on demographic data, and polarization has RAPIDLY increased over recent decades. Some demographic groups already polarize their votes over 90%, the goal of the people in charge is to get ALL demographic groups polarized over 90% then we can get rid of pesky elections and nobody will care or notice. To some extent, for a surprisingly large fraction of the population, its already true that they only get to vote when they decide to have a child. The way to overthrow a democracy is not upfront violence but to make it irrelevant. Right now if we did away with uncontested municipal elections nobody would care, for example.
latexr 4y ago
> now you have no information upon which to make your decisions. You do. As the OP said: > If something is really important, I can be sure other will let me know.
_Algernon_ 4y ago
If you're in the US, in any state which is either clearly red or blue you are already -- at least practically -- "not being called upon to make any decisions". At least on the federal level. So is it worth suffering declining mental health from consuming news for 2 years, just to give a meaningless vote in a sham election every other year? Probably not.
- Lendal 4y ago
  First, there are ballot measures, judicial elections, city council, school board, and many more offices that have nothing to do with party politics that are on the ballot in almost every election. You'll never know what they are if you don't participate. "Should dog racing be banned?" and "Who should hold the office of Soil & Water Conservation District 9?" have nothing to do with party politics or mental health. Second, for party elections the vote total still matters. It's a message that says how strongly the electorate feels about particular candidate or issue. There's a big difference between a 49.9/50.1 result and a 70/30 result. When you don't cast a vote, you are still sending a message. There's a huge difference between expressing a minority opinion and saying, "I don't care just do whatever you want. It's all a sham anyway."
  - cpsns 4y ago
    > First, there are ballot measures, judicial elections, city council, school board, and many more offices that have nothing to do with party politics that are on the ballot in almost every election. This is a very American thing fwiw. A lot if not most of these positions are not elected in other countries.

by Lendal 4y ago

VLM 4y ago

Identity politics means vote outcomes will depend solely on demographic data, and polarization has RAPIDLY increased over recent decades. Some demographic groups already polarize their votes over 90%, the goal of the people in charge is to get ALL demographic groups polarized over 90% then we can get rid of pesky elections and nobody will care or notice. To some extent, for a surprisingly large fraction of the population, its already true that they only get to vote when they decide to have a child. The way to overthrow a democracy is not upfront violence but to make it irrelevant. Right now if we did away with uncontested municipal elections nobody would care, for example.

latexr 4y ago

> now you have no information upon which to make your decisions. You do. As the OP said: > If something is really important, I can be sure other will let me know.

_Algernon_ 4y ago

If you're in the US, in any state which is either clearly red or blue you are already -- at least practically -- "not being called upon to make any decisions". At least on the federal level. So is it worth suffering declining mental health from consuming news for 2 years, just to give a meaningless vote in a sham election every other year? Probably not.

Lendal 4y ago
First, there are ballot measures, judicial elections, city council, school board, and many more offices that have nothing to do with party politics that are on the ballot in almost every election. You'll never know what they are if you don't participate. "Should dog racing be banned?" and "Who should hold the office of Soil & Water Conservation District 9?" have nothing to do with party politics or mental health. Second, for party elections the vote total still matters. It's a message that says how strongly the electorate feels about particular candidate or issue. There's a big difference between a 49.9/50.1 result and a 70/30 result. When you don't cast a vote, you are still sending a message. There's a huge difference between expressing a minority opinion and saying, "I don't care just do whatever you want. It's all a sham anyway."
- cpsns 4y ago
  > First, there are ballot measures, judicial elections, city council, school board, and many more offices that have nothing to do with party politics that are on the ballot in almost every election. This is a very American thing fwiw. A lot if not most of these positions are not elected in other countries.