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I already voted early, the apathy and boasting about not voting going on here is the exact reason our politicians such fucking idiots. People complain that the

I already voted early, the apathy and boasting about not voting going on here is the exact reason our politicians such fucking idiots. People complain that the baby boomers control politics but that's because they are the only ones that show up to vote so their interests are met. By not voting you are just giving a louder voice to those that do. Not voting as a form of protest does not exclude you from the laws that are passed by the people voted in by those that did. I'm real fucking sick of the deafest and general negativity here on HN.

redstripe 12y ago
Would you say that in countries were voting is compulsory (like say Australia) the politicians are not idiots? I don't think the problem is that too few people vote.
- jeremysmyth 12y ago
  When apathy-caused laziness cannot manifest in sitting on the couch, it manifests in electoral ignorance. If a voter in one country can't be bothered to vote, yet a voter is compelled to vote in another country, the laziness is just shuffled across to the act of voting. Choosing a candidate that has opinions similar to your own is hard, doubly so when it's just as hard coming up with (and then justifying) those opinions.
thaumaturgy 12y ago
> ...the apathy and boasting about not voting going on here is the exact reason our politicians such idiots. Or, alternatively, that our politicians are such idiots is the exact reason that there's apathy and boasting about not voting. > People complain that the baby boomers control politics but that's because they are the only ones that show up to vote so their interests are met. Close to half of the voters in 2008 and 2012 were under the age of 45. It still resulted in one of the most useless Congresses in history, a pointless budget deadlock that damaged the US credit rating, increased powers of federal surveillance, continued insane drug policy ... the only issue that might be considered a win by the liberals of that age group is health care, and that came at a very steep political price and arrived at the door step a jumbled, broken mess. Do you really believe that if the voter turnout by those under 45 had been 10% or 20% higher that it would have had much of an impact on the political process? > By not voting you are just giving a louder voice to those that do. That's not how it works. The loudest of voices do not belong to voters; they belong to blowhards career politicians and media personalities and people with enough money to buy politicians of any party. > Not voting as a form of protest does not exclude you from the laws that are passed by the people voted in by those that did. Maybe not, but it removes any claim to the wishes of the majority by those that write and enforce the laws. And by the way, except for two elections, voter turnout in the U.S. has hovered between 70% and 80% since the 60s.
- 6thSigma 12y ago
  > And by the way, except for two elections, voter turnout in the U.S. has hovered between 70% and 80% since the 60s. Where are you getting this from? I was under the impression it's closer to 50%.
  - thaumaturgy 12y ago
    Oh! I was wrong. I had gone off of a graph of voter turnout for several different countries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnout.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnout.png -- it came up while searching for demographic information on voters), but I'm colorblind, and didn't realize I was associating the wrong lines with the wrong country. Hate when that happens. US voter turnout has been oscillating between 50% and 65% since about 1904 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_St...), although there is a (very) gradual declining trend. Thanks for catching that error.

redstripe 12y ago

Would you say that in countries were voting is compulsory (like say Australia) the politicians are not idiots? I don't think the problem is that too few people vote.

jeremysmyth 12y ago
When apathy-caused laziness cannot manifest in sitting on the couch, it manifests in electoral ignorance. If a voter in one country can't be bothered to vote, yet a voter is compelled to vote in another country, the laziness is just shuffled across to the act of voting. Choosing a candidate that has opinions similar to your own is hard, doubly so when it's just as hard coming up with (and then justifying) those opinions.

thaumaturgy 12y ago

> ...the apathy and boasting about not voting going on here is the exact reason our politicians such idiots. Or, alternatively, that our politicians are such idiots is the exact reason that there's apathy and boasting about not voting. > People complain that the baby boomers control politics but that's because they are the only ones that show up to vote so their interests are met. Close to half of the voters in 2008 and 2012 were under the age of 45. It still resulted in one of the most useless Congresses in history, a pointless budget deadlock that damaged the US credit rating, increased powers of federal surveillance, continued insane drug policy ... the only issue that might be considered a win by the liberals of that age group is health care, and that came at a very steep political price and arrived at the door step a jumbled, broken mess. Do you really believe that if the voter turnout by those under 45 had been 10% or 20% higher that it would have had much of an impact on the political process? > By not voting you are just giving a louder voice to those that do. That's not how it works. The loudest of voices do not belong to voters; they belong to blowhards career politicians and media personalities and people with enough money to buy politicians of any party. > Not voting as a form of protest does not exclude you from the laws that are passed by the people voted in by those that did. Maybe not, but it removes any claim to the wishes of the majority by those that write and enforce the laws. And by the way, except for two elections, voter turnout in the U.S. has hovered between 70% and 80% since the 60s.

6thSigma 12y ago
> And by the way, except for two elections, voter turnout in the U.S. has hovered between 70% and 80% since the 60s. Where are you getting this from? I was under the impression it's closer to 50%.
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  Oh! I was wrong. I had gone off of a graph of voter turnout for several different countries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnout.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnout.png -- it came up while searching for demographic information on voters), but I'm colorblind, and didn't realize I was associating the wrong lines with the wrong country. Hate when that happens. US voter turnout has been oscillating between 50% and 65% since about 1904 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_St...), although there is a (very) gradual declining trend. Thanks for catching that error.