So, presumably, if some issue hit you close to home and you started to care, then you might vote?
Yes, perhaps.
I know a few people IRL who don’t vote. Their reasoning is something like yours (One vote doesn’t matter, I don’t care, etc.) But I vote in an attempt to make my voice heard. Even it’s just a pebble in an avalanche, I made an attempt. I shouted (or whispered) that some things matter to me. It matters to me that my gay and transgender friends have rights. It matters to me that a woman has the right to choose. It matters to me if a politician wants to send citizens to another country or torture the families of suspected bad guys or or create a religious based database or nuke the shit out of whoever has insulted his tiny hands most recently. Because politics does affect everything, ultimately. Especially when the SCOTUS may change dramatically over the next few years.
None of that affects you, and you do have the right to not vote. I’m just glad I do have the right to vote. I keep seeing touching little stories of old women casting their votes proudly, and while I personally have never not had the right, I still value it.
Yup this.
There are people who cannot vote (non-citizens, felons, children) who are deeply affected by what happens in this country. Just like there are people who can’t get vaccines due to allergies or illness. I vote and get vaccinated for them.
There are people who do not vote, even though it costs them nothing to do so, and choose not to protect other people who cannot vote. Just like there are people who choose to not get vaccinated and end up spreading disease to someone who can’t get vaccinated.
Saying “I don’t care” may be your reason, but it’s a poor one. You directly benefit from people who vote (and elected people who do things like write legislation that provides disability insurance, housing subsidies, Medicaid, etc) and feel no responsibility to reciprocate for others. You are an individual, but multiply your attitude across the whole country, and that’s a huge problem. It’s a real shame.
Sorry, but a nonstop drone of "I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care and you can’t make me!" doesn’t make for fascinating reading.
Honestly, what were you expecting, on this board and about this election? The fact that it’s been a very angry, bitter, divisive one must have penetrated your bubble of “meh” at some point. Did you really think that after over a year of angry arguments and mudslinging from both sides, including people who are dropping friends and family based on whom they’re voting for, the posters here would see your thread and think, “He doesn’t vote. Gee, that’s boring as all shit?” Or would they think, “WTF is wrong with you?”
To quote Margaret Mead:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Thank you. I think I get it now.
Whaddaya, new?
Hyperbole is a way of life around here.
Sure; I’m just pointing out that these are all emotional reactions, and that the math is on the OP’s side.
Again, at the national level you can perhaps make the argument that your vote is irrelevant (see the herd immunity argument), but what about the local level?
Bolding mine.
ALL Americans? No, I wouldn’t say ALL Americans are going to be targeted. Some Americans, yeah, maybe. Maybe not an airstrike or jailtime, but some Americans could easily be directly affected by the outcome of this election.
If Roe v Wade gets overturned because of who get put on the bench, hell yeah.
All the couples who can now marry because of the knock down of DOMA by SCOTUS. That can be overturned.
My sisters had student loans at 2-3%. When Reagan became president I had student loans at 8-10%. Dramatically impacted my choices.
Japanese internment camps.
Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights acts.
Laws that were passed to make martial rape illegal, and give women the same access to open credit accounts, get mortgages etc.
How do you think all that changed or was allowed to happen in the first place?
My guess would be that even at that level the number of improperly-marked ballots makes a razor-thin result essentially indeterminate.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not lobbying for the OP’s position; I’m just saying it’s reasonable. I voted, after all, and it’s just as reasonable for other people to value their time and the psychological rewards of voting differently from Idle Thoughts. Just as it’s reasonable to play the lottery if you value it sufficiently as entertainment.
I have zero patience for people who don’t vote. The least that you could do would be to get a ballot and turn it in blank.
The main reason to vote is to vote no on everything. If you don’t vote no on everything, then all these greedy politicians will assume that you are okay with them passing stupid bills and raising your taxes. You are letting them get away with that.
If you had some legislation that you cared about, wouldn’t you want your neighbors to vote for it?
Do you avoid the mail and the census, too?
Bold move IT, but if Trump somehow wins this, you already got the sock set up, or what? THAT would NOT be fun… oooof!
Is this a question to me? If so: So you’re saying if I don’t vote, all of that gets repealed? Sorry, I don’t buy it. I’m fairly certain that anyone who gets put into the white house isn’t going to suddenly make it okay to have blacks as slaves again.
I’m not going to vote.
More power to those who do. Me, I don’t care to. If you want to think I’m evil or the primary, root cause of all things horrible and bad in this earth, so be it.
I don’t talk to or know my neighbors, so…no. I wouldn’t care what they did. They are free to choose to vote or not and I wouldn’t mind.
Well, I don’t really get much mail…but I don’t usually use it unless email counts.
As far as I know, I haven’t taken part in any census yet. Unless someone did it for me.
He doesn’t care.
What if I told you that the real point of voting is not whether you are politically on the left or on the right, or even if your one single vote can change anything?
The point is getting numbers to support your demographic. Your age group, your lifestyle, racial makeup, level of education, area where you live and so on.
Because the one real truth about democracy is that the politicians who win are not those who cater to everybody, but those who cater to demographic groups who vote. So if you live in a town of non-voters, and the neighboring town has got a high turnout, you will see how magically the next town starts getting nicer things.
Same reason why young people always get the shaft: as long as we old farts vote a lot more than them, the successful politicians will be the ones who care about our problems, and not theirs.
I know…