I came across something that surprised me this morning — one of the more frequent commenters on this site, who (from what I’ve been able to tell in the past) shares my disgust with Bush and what his administration has done to this country, won’t be voting.
Lisa came over to me with a somewhat excited yet serious look on her face, insisting that I turn down the TV. “It’s the Gallup Poll,” she explained. As much as we both wanted her to be the one to do it, their attempt at randomness pegged me (whoever had the most recent birthday). Why her? Well, I knew that in the end they would be asking whether or not you are likely to vote and I would have to say “No,” which could effect the way my answers would be used. And don’t bother asking why somewhat who despises Bush as much as I do won’t be voting – just accept it, or be prepared for a full-on lecture regarding my beliefs.
Well, it looks like I need to be prepping myself for that full-on lecture, because I just do not get it. I can almost understand the people who don’t bother to vote because they don’t bother to pay attention to anything beyond the latest reality television programming — it saddens me, but I can (almost) understand.
But what I don’t understand is how someone who actually pays attention and has at least two brain cells to rub together (qualities I’d ascribe to most, if not all, of the people who I’ve noticed stop by here regularly) — especially someone who openly admits that they consider Bush to be “possibly the worst President ever” and that “if I were voting it would be for Kerry” — wouldn’t vote.
Not only do I not understand, but I have to admit, I find it very hard to respect the opinion of someone who won’t excercise their right to do what they can to influence the direction and government of the country.
As I’ve said in the past, as far as I’m concerned, if you don’t vote, than you have no right to bitch if you don’t like where things are going. From a letter to a friend in Alaska in April 2003:
I know that a lot of people I know have historically not paid much attention to politics, especially in Alaska. Heck, by the time most people in Alaska are voting, we usually have a good idea who’s going to win in a national election, and a lot of people use that as a point in the “why bother?” argument. However, I think if we paid attention to the 2000 elections enough to actually learn something, it might have been that individual votes, no matter how inconsequential they might seem, do count. What if just a few thousand — or even a few hundred — of the people who usually say “why bother?” had shown up at the polls in Florida? Bush didn’t win the popular vote, and he only got the Electoral College vote by a narrow margin. If there were a bit less apathy, and a bit more action behind the grumbling I hear so often, we might have a very different country today.
Okay, then, so what about all you in Alaska? I could easily imagine a lot of Alaskans returning to the same old argument of how Alaskan votes don’t really count, because of the way the Electoral College is set up. That may be so, but…I’ve never been one to let that stop me from voting. Whether or not it “matters” in the grand scheme of things, I’ve always thought that if you don’t even make the attempt to voice your opinion, than you really don’t have much grounds to stand on when you start to complain. A democracy — our democracy — can only work if ‘we the people’ actually care enough to pay attention to it, to get involved, and to shake off the apathy that all too often keeps people away from the polls. Put most simply, in my (not necessarily) humble opinion, if you don’t vote, you’ve got absolutely no right to bitch. Do you believe that one candidate is better than another? Stand behind that belief, express it, and I’ll be a lot more likely to listen to you than if you just sit at home and abdicate your right to any say.
On top of that, even if you refuse to vote in the Presidential election, that’s hardly the only thing on the ballot. Local races, initiatives, Gubernatorial and Senatorial choices, all of these can make a difference not just in the quality of life for where you live, but in the direction our country takes in the long run (we actually stand a chance, slim as it might be, of getting a Democratic majority in DC again).
How anyone can claim to care about the state of affairs in the country, but not care enough to vote, is beyond me.
