Voting is a right and not responsibility, but a right most should exercise. I would move it more towards responsibility if you have a strong political opinion that you share with others. That said, I think it's a bigger mistake to vote without being reasonably informed than it is to not vote at all. Voting without a stong awareness of the issues you are voting on or as a result of one TV commercial or endorsement is like participating in a popularity contest and most everything on a federal ballot is big enough that it deserves some consideration.
As a personal belief, I think a person who's interested in the political direction of their society should select the candidate that aligns most closely to their beliefs, even if there are points of disagreement, and vote for that candidate. It may be "lesser of evils," but it still exerts a bit of influence in your preferred direction. You shouldn't limit yourself to Republican or Democrat in making that choice, if neither one suits you. If an independent candidate is closest to your beliefs, vote for him or her. That's my advice. But I don't think everyone has a duty to vote.
I think convincing people that a vote for a third party candidate is not the same as "throwing your vote away" would be much more likely to effect systemic change. Hordes of non-votes are essentially neutral to the establishment. They'll just adapt and narrow their focus to the die-hard partisans who do vote. And those partisans will now be a amsller group of people deciding for the whole nation.
Maybe in a smaller scale or different election, but not this one. It just puts more authority in the hands of those that do vote. This doesn't seem like one of the elections where the number of people who didn't vote is a big story. It would be interesting to see how politics would be if every single person in the country did vote, and they were legitimate, informed votes. I think things would be different.
I think with a two party system, you end up with a sheep mentality. Lots of sheep on both sides of the coin
I can end this thread right here. If you don't vote, then you can't complain. So unless you're willing to be perfectly fine with any and everything that happens for the next two years (based on presidential and local decision and action), get out and vote.
I think I'll start a revolution instead. This is one of the biggest fucking jokes. "You don't vote, you can't complain". You're god damn right I can still complain. I can call a spade a spade. I'm not supporting Obama. I'm not supporting McCain. Again, they BOTH SUCK ASS (IMO). Either way, this country is fucked. Neither is going to keep it afloat economically without reverting to socialism, which has already begun.
Kind of interesting that Obama beat Keyes for the Senate seat, and now he's running against Keyes again for President. barfo
I lean that way, but I'm going Obama and I still want the right to bitch about him if he pisses me off. I do think you have less of a right to bitch if you didn't even make your opinion heard, though.
Well, the only reason that Keyes even ran is that he was running unopposed. Obama's "opponent", Jack Ryan, got caught up in some swinger-sex scandal and withdrew.
