I just discovered that my boyfriend does not vote, and not for the usual excuses, either- i.e. one vote doesn’t matter; you’re only choosing the lesser of 2 evils; etc.
Instead, he believes that each election’s outcome is predetermined, so voting does nothing. Some Illuminati-esque organization is rigging our elections, or something of that sort.
I’ll point him to some pertinent Dope articles, but in the meantime, what do you think? Even if it’s not some New World Order type thing, do you really think it’s possible that the U.S. government is so corrupt? Could anyone even be able to pull off such a large-scale ruse?
Not on a nationwide scale – the elections being run by the states and elected county supervisors of elections. But WRT presidential elections, it doesn’t have to be done nationwide – tipping the balance in one state can be enough.
There is plenty of evidence of rigging in particular localities, much of which has been presented in GD.
No. There’s plenty of poll fraud but it’s just a little bit of shaving at the local level. A few ballots getting “lost” from the right precincts. Polls opening late or closing early or not being given enough ballots. It’s the sort of thing that can swing the results a few percentage points (which is enough, in a close election) but not to completely overturn the will of the people.
The largest-scale contemporary voter fraud effort that I’m aware of is the Bush administration’s efforts to pressure U.S. Attorneys to aggressively pursue questionable cases of voter fraud in situations that might provide the Republicans with an advantage. But even that (at the absolute worst scale imaginable) would only have shifted the poll results in those races by a fraction of a percent.
I think he’s a nut, personally. Ask him what evidence led him to his conclusion. Assuming that he doesn’t have any, I’d wonder why he’s giving up one of the most important rights that we’ve got as citizens (a right that has taken enormous effort and sacrifice on the part of many, many people to secure).
You should point out to your boyfriend that if the Illuminati really has caused the election to be predetermined, that means they’ve taken his non-voting into account. Thus, by not voting, he’s actually playing right into the Illuminati’s hands.
I would say no just on the basis that such an organisation couldn’t stay secret or be totally successful in real life. People will always squeal, or mess up, or try to take advantage of it themselves. A group of people who have nation/world domination as a goal and are motivated to do it are not the most trustworthy or stable of people, I would guess.
Anyway, I suppose the best argument against it is that if there were such an organisation, we’ should expect a sequence of governments with policies that play into their hands. Yet the U.S. doesn’t just get a clone President every four years; they tend to get someone who represents the mood of the public.
The main reason that people don’t vote is ignorance; they are not familiar with the issues and couldn’t bother to spend the time educating themselves. For the longest time I never voted in municipal elections, because I was ignorant of the issues.
Once I bought a house, started paying property taxes, and then had kids enrolled in the school system that all changed.
Municipal elections (here) have the lowest turnout. Sad really.
Particularly since they are the ones that impact you the most directly, and our system is designed as a chain of representatives. You’re supposed to be using your local reps to represent you at the state level and liaise with your federal reps. If you’re not paying attention to the local stuff then you have basically no power over the federal. A vote really isn’t all that valuable, it’s the level of engagement through the process in between elections that really makes democracy what it is.
