Here's Why You Should Vote
By Joseph Perce
Voter apathy is not the solution to your disagreement with the way things are going. Thinking that your vote doesn't matter anyway and as a result not taking part in the electoral process is a mistake.
Here's why...
Do you realize how fortunate you are for having the right to vote? This is a right our forefathers fought for. Take a look at places like Burma (Myanmar). Yes, they just had a "referendum". Do you think that means anything? When Myanmar and countries like Myanmar hold so-called democratic elections, this is a farce, a joke and an insult to anything remotely democratic.
The United States is not a Utopia. We have our share of election problems. However, when it comes down to it, we are still governed by the principles of the democratic process. I remember distinctly during the 2000 election when Bush and Gore were in that historic tight race for the White House, and someone mentioned, "In another country, we'd have tanks rolling in the streets right now." Ain't that the truth!
It is easy to criticize the electoral process of the United States. This process has its problems. By not taking part in the process, you are silencing your God-given right to voice your choice. It may not always bring you the result that you wanted; But the fact that you have the opportunity to even voice your opinion is in itself a cause worthy for celebration.
Votes do matter. The American Independent Party came into existence because enough people came out and voted for one of its candidates. Sure, he didn't win - But who's to say that in the future there may not be a candidate under that platform, or under any other platform, that may have a shot at winning?
The bottom line is - Don't succumb to apathy and cynicism; Exercise your right as an American!
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Not Voting Makes a Statement
by Edmund Ross
The fact there has to be something like "Rock the Vote" and commentators have to explain why voting is important demonstrates how ridiculous the system is. If it was meaningful wouldn't it be self-evident? In 2004 51% of those who voted selected George W. Bush. Three years later almost half this group is sorry they did so.* Had no one voted and the election been determined by a coin flip would the nation be in any different situation?
There's an old saying in political science that in a democracy the people get the leader they deserve. As long as the American public can be influence by gutter political tactics, half truths, inuendos, and outright lies, the process is more likely to produce bad leaders. The qualities that make for good leadership are not any of the qualities that make for good politicians so any process for producing leaders out of a pool of politicians can't be all that good. Take a look at the last 8 elected Presidents (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy). Can anyone make a case that this system did a better job than a coin flip? Here's what American's didn't get: Kerry, Gore, Dole, Dukakis, Mondale, Ford, McGovern, Humphrey, Goldwater. Can't it be just as easily argued that this group would have done just as good a job, if not better?
1. There is no evidence to indicate that the electoral process is any better way of choosing leaders than say inheritance. The number of British Monarchs that one might rate above average is probably right around 50%.
2. Hitler was elected. Mussolini was elected. Winston Churchill was elected and Abraham Lincoln was elected. There is really no reason to believe that this is the type of process that should determine leaders.
Voting is a right, not a duty. Consequently, the only way to make a statement about the absurdity of the political process is by choosing not to vote. This statement is as valid as any statement a person makes by participating. By choosing not to vote I am choosing not to support gutter politicians who get rewarded for lying and having minons that will say or do anything to get their boy chosen. If the choice is between the lesser of two evils you still get an evil! I have only one way of demonstrating my disgust for this process and that is by not playing their game.
So I say: STAY HOME on election day and make a statement! And when someone tells you that your vote counts, tell them a coin flip is just as good.
* Bush's 28% approval rating is 45% of that original 51% assuming that no one who voted against Bush originally now supports him (I guess anything is possible).
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