4 ms·

If you don't vote, I could care less about your political opinion.

by sanj 18y ago

hugh 18y ago
Really? I couldn't.
- sanj 18y ago
  Correction appreciated! I've grown very, very tired over the last 8 years at hearing people who didn't vote complain about the state of the country. Each of them had an opportunity to register their opinion and they chose not to. Listening to them complain after the fact is a waste of my time.
jamesbritt 18y ago
"If you don't vote, I could [sic] care less about your political opinion." Odd phrasing aside, what if (for example) my political opinion is that voting is immoral because it legitimizes a corrupt or intrinsically broken system? Why is abstaining from a process so dismissed? I've heard people say, if you don't vote you can't complain, yet if you opt in to a system then how can you bitch when it doesn't swing your way? If you vote, then you can't complain; you can't have it both ways. (I'm not quite convinced of this myself, but I'm puzzled by people who won't even consider it.)
- petercooper 18y ago
  +1 Just wanted to add some more to this, as I recently had a debate about this with someone who was very pro-voting. Abstaining from religion is no longer dismissed, yet politics, as you say, remains a sticking point. In the 1500s, religious adherence was the norm in the West. In the 2000s, adherence to democracy as a political system is the norm (I have no doubt this will change in centuries to come). Consider voting within a democratic system to be equivalent to choosing a religion. If you are not religious, ideally you would not choose a religion. Likewise, if you do not believe in the democratic system, ideally you would not vote. Democracy is a system that many people take for granted, but is only one of many options. Voting in the democratic system implicitly means you support democracy. If you do not support democracy, therefore, it would be quite rightly against your principles to vote.
  - delackner 18y ago
    Except of course that in the year 2008, the church cannot have you KILLED for "abstaining". The US government has the power to forcefully imprison and/or kill you. If you want to "abstain" from that system, then ignoring its existence all around you is just being pigheaded. If you really want to abstain, I suggest that you LEAVE. Many people find living outside the United States quite pleasant, and you can rest assured that in most of the other democratic nations of the world, your tax dollars are not being spent to bomb "collateral damage".
    - petercooper 18y ago
      I don't live in the US. In any case, which presidential candidate plans to stop federal corporal punishment? I suggest that you LEAVE. Many people find living outside the United States quite pleasant, and you can rest assured that in most of the other democratic nations of the world, your tax dollars are not being spent to bomb "collateral damage". That's not viable if you're an American citizen. As an American citizen your worldwide income is subject to US taxes, other than where overridden by treaty.
      - delackner 18y ago
        The first ~$80k of your income is exempt. As for the rest, the US Government's insistence that it controls you ANYWHERE on the planet is reprehensible.
  - jamesbritt 18y ago
    "Voting in the democratic system implicitly means you support democracy. " Right, but it may also mean you support that particular form of voting. The USA, for example, does not go by majority rule in Presidential elections, and overall the system seems skewed to a 2-party, and 2-party only, system. So, one may want to support democracy but be repelled by the voting options. (I'd really like to see a more robust means of electing officials, but I'm reluctant to not use the current shoddy system to try to effect what change I can. So I end up having to implicitly support what exists now. ) "If you do not support democracy, therefore, it would be quite rightly against your principles to vote." It's interesting that many people who are gung-ho on voting are less so about voting on voting itself, that is, on being able to choose to abstain entirely.

If you don't vote, I could care less about your political opinion.

by sanj 18y ago

If you don't vote, I could care less about your political opinion.

hugh 18y ago

Really? I couldn't.

sanj 18y ago
Correction appreciated! I've grown very, very tired over the last 8 years at hearing people who didn't vote complain about the state of the country. Each of them had an opportunity to register their opinion and they chose not to. Listening to them complain after the fact is a waste of my time.

jamesbritt 18y ago

"If you don't vote, I could [sic] care less about your political opinion." Odd phrasing aside, what if (for example) my political opinion is that voting is immoral because it legitimizes a corrupt or intrinsically broken system? Why is abstaining from a process so dismissed? I've heard people say, if you don't vote you can't complain, yet if you opt in to a system then how can you bitch when it doesn't swing your way? If you vote, then you can't complain; you can't have it both ways. (I'm not quite convinced of this myself, but I'm puzzled by people who won't even consider it.)

petercooper 18y ago
+1 Just wanted to add some more to this, as I recently had a debate about this with someone who was very pro-voting. Abstaining from religion is no longer dismissed, yet politics, as you say, remains a sticking point. In the 1500s, religious adherence was the norm in the West. In the 2000s, adherence to democracy as a political system is the norm (I have no doubt this will change in centuries to come). Consider voting within a democratic system to be equivalent to choosing a religion. If you are not religious, ideally you would not choose a religion. Likewise, if you do not believe in the democratic system, ideally you would not vote. Democracy is a system that many people take for granted, but is only one of many options. Voting in the democratic system implicitly means you support democracy. If you do not support democracy, therefore, it would be quite rightly against your principles to vote.
- delackner 18y ago
  Except of course that in the year 2008, the church cannot have you KILLED for "abstaining". The US government has the power to forcefully imprison and/or kill you. If you want to "abstain" from that system, then ignoring its existence all around you is just being pigheaded. If you really want to abstain, I suggest that you LEAVE. Many people find living outside the United States quite pleasant, and you can rest assured that in most of the other democratic nations of the world, your tax dollars are not being spent to bomb "collateral damage".
  - petercooper 18y ago
    I don't live in the US. In any case, which presidential candidate plans to stop federal corporal punishment? I suggest that you LEAVE. Many people find living outside the United States quite pleasant, and you can rest assured that in most of the other democratic nations of the world, your tax dollars are not being spent to bomb "collateral damage". That's not viable if you're an American citizen. As an American citizen your worldwide income is subject to US taxes, other than where overridden by treaty.
    - delackner 18y ago
      The first ~$80k of your income is exempt. As for the rest, the US Government's insistence that it controls you ANYWHERE on the planet is reprehensible.
- jamesbritt 18y ago
  "Voting in the democratic system implicitly means you support democracy. " Right, but it may also mean you support that particular form of voting. The USA, for example, does not go by majority rule in Presidential elections, and overall the system seems skewed to a 2-party, and 2-party only, system. So, one may want to support democracy but be repelled by the voting options. (I'd really like to see a more robust means of electing officials, but I'm reluctant to not use the current shoddy system to try to effect what change I can. So I end up having to implicitly support what exists now. ) "If you do not support democracy, therefore, it would be quite rightly against your principles to vote." It's interesting that many people who are gung-ho on voting are less so about voting on voting itself, that is, on being able to choose to abstain entirely.