Voting is freaking important!

[dpodblood]

So we are having a federal election on Monday. My co-workers and I were having a discussion today, and I mentioned I didn't know if I was going to bother voting or not. He became quite irritated by this and started shouting "you'd better vote; voting is freaking important." (used a different F word, but you get the idea).

There are a couple of reason's I'm not interested in voting:
#1 - I don't follow politics and government, so I have no basis on which to cast my vote.
#2 - For the most part all politicians are all corrupt liars. IMO it doesn't matter who I vote for because none of them are going to keep their campaign promises anyway.

So why should I bother voting? And secondly why do people become so enraged by the concept of someone not voting? I understand I have the right to vote, but what is my motivation? After all, I have the right to do many things I choose not to do!

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

There's a federal election on Mon?

 

[dullard]

I agree with you completely: if a person is stupid enough to not follow politics or believes in conspiracies that everyone is corrupt, then that person shouldn't vote. You should be proud of that fact, and your co-worker should be happy that his vote isn't diluted by yours.

 

[D1gger]

Yes it is important. There are ridings here in BC that were decided by as few as 20 votes last election, so every vote can make a difference.

 

[dpodblood]

Yes it is important. There are ridings here in BC that were decided by as few as 20 votes last election, so every vote can make a difference.

I am not saying that my vote doesn't count. I know it does. What I am skeptical about is that the leader which is chosen will actually make a difference in the direction of our country.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

It's important...if you are educated about the policies of whoever you're voting for. If it's your choice that you be ignorant about individual politicians' and political parties' policies, then it is equally important that you don't vote.

 

[wuliheron]

The only study I know of ever done on the subject surveyed people ahead of an election. They asked if they would vote, whether they planned on voting or not which candidate they preferred, and if they were not thinking of voting why not. The vast majority who said they wouldn't likely vote said they didn't believe their vote would make any difference in the outcome. After the election all the numbers were tallied and, sure enough, if everyone who chose not to vote had voted it wouldn't have made any difference.

You can claim it is important to vote all you want, that people are stupid not to vote, but if so then why not provide some real evidence that peoples' votes really do matter.

 

[dpodblood]

It's important...if you are educated about the policies of whoever you're voting for. If it's your choice that you be ignorant about individual politicians' and political parties' policies, then it is equally important that you don't vote.

So what you're saying is if I'm not educated about my political parties than I should not vote? This is exactly the argument I made with my co-worker. It's not like I am proud of my ignorance. I simply don't follow politics, and there's no way I can do enough research before election day to make an informed decision.

 

[Jaskalas]

I am not saying that my vote doesn't count. I know it does. What I am skeptical about is that the leader which is chosen will actually make a difference in the direction of our country.

!@#$, down here in the USA we wonder the same thing.

It is a Democracy's political parties that have corrupted the ballot box, filling it with false choices. It is the will of the people that have failed to see through the lies and deceit, who willingly follow their Shepherd.

If you do not trust the major powers to make a difference, then vote for the little guy who stands no chance in hell of ever winning. The worst thing you could do is take your vote off the table so long as there's a third or forth option on the ballot you need to pick one. Go ahead, it won't change anything today but if enough of us oppose the major parties then they will fall and then things can change.

Upset with the major party you identify with? Destroy it! Split the vote and send them to ruin.

 

[sandorski]

Ya, it's important, but OTOH if none of the choices seem adequate choosing not to Vote is legit. I might choose Conservative, if it were not so Socially Conservative. I might choose Liberal, if it were not so Leaderless. I would never Vote NDP, because it has no sense of Fiscal Responsibility. I have considered Voting Green to make a statement regarding Environmental issues, but aside from that one issue I don't support anything else they stand for.

Will I Vote? I dunno right now.

 

[Fern]

There's a federal election on Mon?

Looks like he's talking about Canadian elections.

Fern

 

[dpodblood]

Location = Canada

So yes I am talking about Canadian federal elections...

 

[Craig234]

My answer:

Understand that the norm for human societies is for there to be a few who have concentrated power and wealth and others to slavishly serve them.

There's a lack of freedom.

Democracy is a development, an improvement, in human culture to give the people more power than they have in those societies.

It's important to understand that the people not using that power for their interests costs them, and weakens democracy.

It's also important to understand that there are powerful interests out to harm the public interest, and the fewer people who vote, the easier it is for them to buy elections.

Go look at the election results and see "corrupt bad politician won with 1,000,000 votes, to 800,000 votes for a less bad opponents, with 1,500,000 not voting".

How hard would it have been to get 200,000 of those 1,500,000 to change the election?

The biggest threat to democracy is the citizens not understanding its importance and letting the interests who would love to get rid of it buy them off to do so.

If you can't vote for a good candidate, vote for a less bad one.

Save234

 

[RedChief]

Ya, it's important, but OTOH if none of the choices seem adequate choosing not to Vote is legit. I might choose Conservative, if it were not so Socially Conservative. I might choose Liberal, if it were not so Leaderless. I would never Vote NDP, because it has no sense of Fiscal Responsibility. I have considered Voting Green to make a statement regarding Environmental issues, but aside from that one issue I don't support anything else they stand for.

Will I Vote? I dunno right now.

And people complain about the US's two party system....

 

[desy]

If you have no politcal bone in your body don't vote, most of the non-voting world envies your right. When there are issues about the economy or society then voting is what gives you the privelage to b1tch. Its why we have fought wars against dicatatorships and communists and paid in blood for the right of our democracy. You also have the right to squander the privelage of voting but or those of us that vote though we'd prefer you keep your opinions to yourself then.

 

[dpodblood]

If you have no politcal bone in your body don't vote, most of the non-voting world envies your right. When there are issues about the economy or society then voting is what gives you the privelage to b1tch. Its why we have fought wars against dicatatorships and communists and paid in blood for the right of our democracy. You also have the right to squander the privelage of voting but or those of us that vote though we'd prefer you keep your opinions to yourself then.

I would love to vote if I felt it would make a difference to our country. But honestly we have seen a lot of leaders come and go, and at the end of the day they don't live up to their campaign promises, and my way of life hasn't really changed that much in recent years thanks to anything the government has done. It's not that I want to give up my right, or don't think my vote is significant, it's simply that I don't know it will have any affect overall.

 

[Doppel]

Most people who vote shouldn't.

In any case there's no chance, really zero, that your vote will make any difference whatsoever.

The only benefit to voting is to say that you were part of something, whether it goes well you can pat yourself on the back, if the other side wins and screws up you can say you made a stand. But don't ever, not for a moment, think that your actual single vote matters because it does not except when part of the collective.

Here in the US I think that the political system has been so poisoned by a lack of necessary campaign reform that votes for or against a part are essentially votes for the same thing.

 

[desy]

Its hard to see the forest for trees I agree
Everyone pays attention to Federal politics but its voting in municipal elections where your vote has the most clout and can affect your daily life, admittedly I'm poor at attending those.

 

[sandorski]

And people complain about the US's two party system....

The biggest difference would be that the Canadian System allows new Parties to form and old ones to die rather regularly. Todays Conservative party, for eg, is not the same Conservative Party as the one that existed just 2 decades ago. The previous one(Progressive Conservatives) was completely dismantled then rebuilt after a number of unpopular policies were enacted. It appears that the Liberal Party might be destined to the same fate, but time will tell if that occurs or not. The NDP almost faded into nothing a decade back, but now has had a resurgence which appears to be taking it from the #4 Party to #2. The Green Party didn't even exist until approx a decade ago.

IMO, this dynamism creates a better Political environment simply because it stays much closer to the Will of the People. It's not perfect by any means, but the Agenda isn't as easily hijacked by Special Interest in this system.