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"...and I approve this message."
Nov. 7th, 2006 03:20 pm
A friend of mine wrote a pretty blistering missive about voter apathy. Mostly, I agree with everything he says minus the name calling. ;) Don't care about who's in office? Then don't pretend to care when they're making decisions that directly affect you. If you like having the freedom to vote for who you want, do (more or less) what you want as long as it doesn't mess with anyone else too much, then the least you can do is EXERCISE THAT FREEDOM.
Don't believe in voting for the lesser of two evils? Then for God's sake learn about third-party candidates that are running for various offices. Most states even have write-in candidate provisions in case you don't like anyone who's running for a given office. Even writing "Mr. Potato Head" for state governor is a conscious act expressing your displeasure with the candidates, the government, and the entire voting process. If enough people did it, we'd end up with a toy for governor sure, but people would get the message: we're not taking politics as usual any more. It's time for a change.
I recognize that not voting at all today is a conscious choice that's your right to make. But honestly, it's the worst choice you could make. Not voting IS tacit approval of the status quo, and does nothing to change the state of affairs you claim to be protesting by abstaining your vote. If you don't believe in voting, fine, but you'd better be doing something else to work for the kind of change you want.
Bottom line: if you don't do anything to change the situation, don't come crying to me in a year or two when more rights are eroded and America is slipping further down the rabbit-hole into a totalitarian state. You're not going to get any sympathy from me.
Apologies if this comes off as self-righteous, but being apathetic is not being superior. People need to realize that.
Don't believe in voting for the lesser of two evils? Then for God's sake learn about third-party candidates that are running for various offices. Most states even have write-in candidate provisions in case you don't like anyone who's running for a given office. Even writing "Mr. Potato Head" for state governor is a conscious act expressing your displeasure with the candidates, the government, and the entire voting process. If enough people did it, we'd end up with a toy for governor sure, but people would get the message: we're not taking politics as usual any more. It's time for a change.
I recognize that not voting at all today is a conscious choice that's your right to make. But honestly, it's the worst choice you could make. Not voting IS tacit approval of the status quo, and does nothing to change the state of affairs you claim to be protesting by abstaining your vote. If you don't believe in voting, fine, but you'd better be doing something else to work for the kind of change you want.
Bottom line: if you don't do anything to change the situation, don't come crying to me in a year or two when more rights are eroded and America is slipping further down the rabbit-hole into a totalitarian state. You're not going to get any sympathy from me.
Apologies if this comes off as self-righteous, but being apathetic is not being superior. People need to realize that.
