Monday, November 01, 2004
Why you should vote... Why should I vote?
It's that time of year, and I feel the need to discuss the voting issue again. Look around the web, articles spouting "Why you should vote for Kerry" and "Why you should vote for Bush", and even a few "Why you should vote" articles directed towards young people. But none of them address the real issue of why you should vote, period.
I've argued in the past (check out our archives, I think early july 2004) with marmar that whether an individual votes is insignificant. Thus, to any one person, the actual political power of voting is infinitesimal. I'd like to re-iterate that all these arguments are true and logical. Especially taking into consideration practical issues, such as vote counting, electronic voting machine questionability, outright vote fraud, the electoral system, and the state you live in, voting (for a presidential election) is a powerless gesture.
But no, this isn't a post designed to get you not to vote, I'm trying to convince myself that I should vote. Why? Because though voting may be powerless, it isn't useless.
Well, like I said, for many practical reasons there is no reason for me to vote, not the least one being that Illinois is going to go democratic. In fact, maybe I should vote for Bush, that way I can bitch about the outcome no matter what happens. Ok, no, I won't do that.
But are there other reasons to vote? I have tried to convince people that Bush is bad for the US, and that Kerry would be a step in the right direction. But I've never told anyone that they should vote for Kerry unless I knew they were going to vote anyway.
If I were to ask people to vote for Kerry, wouldn't I then need to vote myself? Well, the answer is no. Me convincing 500 people to vote for Kerry wouldn't make it any more necessary to vote for him myself. In fact it would make it much less necessary. I would have done my part and more. But, if I didn't want to be a hypocrite, I guess I would vote. Is that really a good enough reason to vote? To avoid being a hypocrite? It's never sat right with me that I wasn't going to vote; I knew logically that voting was useless, but yet I thought I should. And then I realized why I thought that.
But, what nobody has considered why the disillusioned (especially young) person should vote, the one who feels that he/she has no control over what happens in politics. Well you know what? These people are right. They don't have control. News sources flaunt statistics saying that young people are the ones who will have to bear the burden of the federal debt, the wreck of social security, the medical insurance costs. RockTheVote says jobs, education, and the war are three reasons you should vote. Well, RockTheVote, those are three reasons we should be concerned about the government, but why would voting change that? This hasn't been adequately explained to me, to them, or anyone, for that matter. Will voting for Kerry get us out of Iraq quicker? Will Bush's plan for social security work better than Kerry's? Will terrorists destroy us if I vote for Kerry?
What these sites lack is the willingness to say "your vote will change things." Because no citizen actually believes this. And many citizens believe that whoever wins, their life will be unaffected. And isn't this true to a large extent? For the vast majority of people, the ability to drive to work, eat lunch, go home, watch TV, and putter around the house on the weekends will be totally unaffected by this election. And so you can't convince people to vote for selfish, practical reasons. The only reason to vote is for an ideal. And it isn't that big of a deal to make that sacrifice out of your day to make an idealistic gesture.
So, I am going to go out on a limb here. Your vote will change things. Not for you, probably, and not for a while, when it does. I believe that when you vote in a national election, you're voting for your children, your children's children, and the future of the country, and even the world, more than you are voting for yourself. You want to be able to look back at your choice of administration and say, that was a good administration.
You want to be able to say:
"They saved Social Security, they made stem cell research possible, they balanced the budget."
You don't want to have to say things like:
"They set us back 15 years fiscally. They went to war on false premises and never admitted they made a mistake. They tried to have gay marriages banned. They let assault weapons become legal again. They promoted an atmosphere that allowed creationism to be taught in schools."
We look back at things like McCarthyism, the Japanese internment camps, and we don't want to have to remember these things. We don't want to have spots on our country's record.
When you view voting in that light, not only does it make more sense for people to vote, it makes more sense for them to vote against Bush, who seems to be mortgaging the future. When we look back at his administration, will we really remember the tax refunds, spent and never to be seen again, or remember the huge federal deficit? Will we remember that we had "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, or the debacle it has become since then? I suspect that we will remember Bush as the guy who was president on 9/11. Not that he saved us from terrorism, not that he made the world safer. He was just there. And I think we expect more from our president than to just show up.
So I guess what I'm saying is that you should vote for the candidate who will help mold the society of the future, so that your kids, history, and humanity, can look back and say, "At least they made progress. At least they did more good than harm." I think that candidate is John Kerry.
So vote. For Kerry.
"Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?!" - Helen Lovejoy
I've argued in the past (check out our archives, I think early july 2004) with marmar that whether an individual votes is insignificant. Thus, to any one person, the actual political power of voting is infinitesimal. I'd like to re-iterate that all these arguments are true and logical. Especially taking into consideration practical issues, such as vote counting, electronic voting machine questionability, outright vote fraud, the electoral system, and the state you live in, voting (for a presidential election) is a powerless gesture.
But no, this isn't a post designed to get you not to vote, I'm trying to convince myself that I should vote. Why? Because though voting may be powerless, it isn't useless.
Well, like I said, for many practical reasons there is no reason for me to vote, not the least one being that Illinois is going to go democratic. In fact, maybe I should vote for Bush, that way I can bitch about the outcome no matter what happens. Ok, no, I won't do that.
But are there other reasons to vote? I have tried to convince people that Bush is bad for the US, and that Kerry would be a step in the right direction. But I've never told anyone that they should vote for Kerry unless I knew they were going to vote anyway.
If I were to ask people to vote for Kerry, wouldn't I then need to vote myself? Well, the answer is no. Me convincing 500 people to vote for Kerry wouldn't make it any more necessary to vote for him myself. In fact it would make it much less necessary. I would have done my part and more. But, if I didn't want to be a hypocrite, I guess I would vote. Is that really a good enough reason to vote? To avoid being a hypocrite? It's never sat right with me that I wasn't going to vote; I knew logically that voting was useless, but yet I thought I should. And then I realized why I thought that.
But, what nobody has considered why the disillusioned (especially young) person should vote, the one who feels that he/she has no control over what happens in politics. Well you know what? These people are right. They don't have control. News sources flaunt statistics saying that young people are the ones who will have to bear the burden of the federal debt, the wreck of social security, the medical insurance costs. RockTheVote says jobs, education, and the war are three reasons you should vote. Well, RockTheVote, those are three reasons we should be concerned about the government, but why would voting change that? This hasn't been adequately explained to me, to them, or anyone, for that matter. Will voting for Kerry get us out of Iraq quicker? Will Bush's plan for social security work better than Kerry's? Will terrorists destroy us if I vote for Kerry?
What these sites lack is the willingness to say "your vote will change things." Because no citizen actually believes this. And many citizens believe that whoever wins, their life will be unaffected. And isn't this true to a large extent? For the vast majority of people, the ability to drive to work, eat lunch, go home, watch TV, and putter around the house on the weekends will be totally unaffected by this election. And so you can't convince people to vote for selfish, practical reasons. The only reason to vote is for an ideal. And it isn't that big of a deal to make that sacrifice out of your day to make an idealistic gesture.
So, I am going to go out on a limb here. Your vote will change things. Not for you, probably, and not for a while, when it does. I believe that when you vote in a national election, you're voting for your children, your children's children, and the future of the country, and even the world, more than you are voting for yourself. You want to be able to look back at your choice of administration and say, that was a good administration.
You want to be able to say:
"They saved Social Security, they made stem cell research possible, they balanced the budget."
You don't want to have to say things like:
"They set us back 15 years fiscally. They went to war on false premises and never admitted they made a mistake. They tried to have gay marriages banned. They let assault weapons become legal again. They promoted an atmosphere that allowed creationism to be taught in schools."
We look back at things like McCarthyism, the Japanese internment camps, and we don't want to have to remember these things. We don't want to have spots on our country's record.
When you view voting in that light, not only does it make more sense for people to vote, it makes more sense for them to vote against Bush, who seems to be mortgaging the future. When we look back at his administration, will we really remember the tax refunds, spent and never to be seen again, or remember the huge federal deficit? Will we remember that we had "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, or the debacle it has become since then? I suspect that we will remember Bush as the guy who was president on 9/11. Not that he saved us from terrorism, not that he made the world safer. He was just there. And I think we expect more from our president than to just show up.
So I guess what I'm saying is that you should vote for the candidate who will help mold the society of the future, so that your kids, history, and humanity, can look back and say, "At least they made progress. At least they did more good than harm." I think that candidate is John Kerry.
So vote. For Kerry.
"Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?!" - Helen Lovejoy
# posted by Stuart @ 1:25 AM 
Comments:
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stuart!?! is that you discussing the importance of voting?!? bravo! i agree with all your reasons, but i also think there is a bit of a direct effect that you find lacking. certain issues will be felt in the immediate future. even if not homosexual, most people have friends who won't be able to marry, or even have the benefits without the title. even if not in the army, most people know someone fighting, or knows someone who has a friend or relative overseas and in danger. there are many kids close to heading off to college - and expansion of pell grants, and free state tuition for two years of service, can make a huge direct impact on families' ability to send their kids to school. there are many more issues like this that do have a direct, immediate impact; but in a way they are also the topics of the day, and will be forgotten in years to come. you are right that the big picture is a very important reason to vote. but these little things are also important, as they show how that picture will be painted.
# posted by 
: 9:20 AM
: 9:20 AM
By all means, many issues will have an impact on the present. But you voting for Kerry probably won't get the troops out of Iraq quicker. Nor will it get you a job, or improve the school system in your local area.
Obviously, there are important issues at hand that you can vote for, but doing so won't necessarily change them. Voting for Bush doesn't mean gay marriages will be banned (there'd be no way a constitutional amendment would be passed), and voting for Kerry doesn't mean they will be legalized.
But like I said, voting isn't a gesture of power. You're not doing it to get troops out of Iraq, because even Kerry doesn't want to pull out. You should do it as a symbolic voice, one among many. And for that reason you should vote your conscience. Maybe I'll vote for Nader.
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Obviously, there are important issues at hand that you can vote for, but doing so won't necessarily change them. Voting for Bush doesn't mean gay marriages will be banned (there'd be no way a constitutional amendment would be passed), and voting for Kerry doesn't mean they will be legalized.
But like I said, voting isn't a gesture of power. You're not doing it to get troops out of Iraq, because even Kerry doesn't want to pull out. You should do it as a symbolic voice, one among many. And for that reason you should vote your conscience. Maybe I'll vote for Nader.
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