Saying that someone who chooses not to vote loses the right to complain makes about as much sense to me as saying that someone who does vote somehow earns that right.
I’ll vote if I damn well please, and I’ll complain if I damn well please.
I live in a purple state, and I do plan to vote. But I won’t discount the opinions of those who disagree with the positions of both Option A and Option B and choose not to vote.
Just to go in the opposite direction, the people who DO vote create the status quo. So how do they have any right to complain?
Last eight years? :dubious: Is Wilson chopped liver?
So don’t vote for Wilson either.
I had that thought too. I guess Darth Nader is a little less jaded than I am. 
This is what I came in to say. I was first eligible to vote in the 2000 election, and thought both candidates were awful. I thought me not voting would send a message. We all know how that turned out. I’m not planning on missing any elections in the future.
Not if their candidate loses. Besides, many like the status quo just fine.
Americans have the right not to vote and the right to complain even if they voted for the person they are complaining about. But saying that the candidates are all alike really doesn’t wash.
If you choose not to vote, I don’t fuss. But after what happened in Florida, I don’t know how anyone could stay home in a presidential election in that state! I live in a purple state and know that my vote is worthwhile too. Besides, I wouldn’t miss the chance this time around especially.
I would like to see it like it is in Australia, where you have to pay a fine if you don’t vote. In fact, some Aussie friends here have expressed dismay that there are actually Americans who don’t vote.
Even if when voting , you have to hold your nose while picking the lesser of two evils, at least you are working against the greater evil winning.
Welcome to the club. “Active Nonvoting” is real.
“A vote for either candidate is an endorsement of the system that allowed G.W. Bush to happen.”
Thats what an old respected High School teacher of mine told me when I turned 18. I told him i wasn’t voting because who cared what I thought and he said “If you don’t vote, you’re forfieting your right to complain about things.”
You sound like my mother, who tried to get me to eat green beans because there were starving children in Africa. That made about as much sense as this.
To the OP, refusing to vote in protest is about as effective as stomping your feet and slamming the door. It’s childish and melodramatic, and there are better ways to make a statement than to willingly give up your rights.
Remember, if you don’t speak for yourself, someone will speak for you.
Nonvoting is more responsible for getting GWB into power than voting is. By not voting, you’re giving the next GWB an easier win.
No one gives up their right to complain if they don’t vote.
You do give up any right to expect that we voters take your complaints seriously, however.
The Aussie system is no better. Think of the millions who vote only because the have to and put an X beside a name that sounds nice.
If your going to be a part of the system, it should be willingly and with some conviction.
Lemme see if I get this right. For the last 8 years (all with Bush as president) we’ve been “bad guys”. You feel sorry that we’re bad guys. You don’t want us to be bad guys.
Now that Bush is on his way out, and a new regime is on the cusp of being chosen, you’re going to opt out of being involved in that choice? That doesn’t make any sense.
If you don’t feel that there’s any difference between candidates, then I can agree that non-voting is a reasonable choice. But if you think the candidates represent different futures for the country, vote for the person you think will do the best job, even if the country is in a shambles. Someone needs to fix this thing, right?
I’m a convert from the non voting position. In 2000 I abstained because I didn’t care for any of the candidates, then 8 years of Bush happened. I will be voting in this election, and If things don’t turn out well, then Nashiitashii and I have give some serious thought to expatriation to a country that suits our lifestyle, social and political leanings a bit better. I completely understand the feelings you have for the system, they are valid even with the whole electoral college aside. Not voting though isn’t the way to express it. At least by casting your vote you did what you could to ensure a better future for yourself. If you fail, then you can always move to another part of the US that suits you better, or another country altogether. here’s no shame in being an ex-pat. Anyone who tells you different is a jingoist ass.
Active nonvoting? That’s got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve heard yet. Are there any other problems you’re trying to fix by “actively” doing nothing about them? Are you combating world hunger by watching a lot of reality shows? Curing cancer by playing some video games? Ending ethnic violence in Africa by turning your stereo up real loud? Or maybe you’re just sitting in a chair staring blankly into space and solving all world problems at once.
The system you’re so unhappy with was created by voter apathy like yours. When you don’t vote you’re telling politicians they won’t be held accountable for anything they do.
And here’s a few handy slogans you can put on a t-shirt:
“A vote for neither candidate is an endorsement of the system that allowed G.W. Bush to happen.”
“The people who thought there was no difference between Bush and Gore were the reason we ended up with Bush.”
“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Depends on how you use the term status quo. Here, I’m thinking it as the broader political environment, and it’s not hard to find lots of people complaining about both major political parties and about the way they do business.
No, they just tolerate it. People here complain about the status quo all the time. They complain that the government is out of touch, full of liars, that politics sucks, and so on - and then they vote for candidates who have done those things, and they usually get re-elected even after they keep doing those things. As many people here could tell you, on a federal level, the incumbent wins more than 90 percent of the time.
I think everybody has a right to complain, but people who vote for the status quo, complain about it, and then vote for it again certainly don’t have a greater right to complain. Given that situation it’s no wonder people don’t bother to vote.