This is how I feel about people not voting

[andrewducker]

Comments

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the thing, isn't it? The dominant paradigm is the only game in town.

This will continue to be the case until the UK's political system is changed so that votes have some relation to representation. And until - if! - that happens, spoiling your ballot is a perfectly legitimate point of view.

[andrewducker]

The thing is...even if you live somewhere* where there is only one party that could possibly get elected, voting for another party increases their share, and makes it more likely that someone else will vote for them next time, because it seems more likely that it could make a difference. It takes numerous elections to achieve change though.

I _totally_ agree that voting makes _more_ sense in countries with decent election systems.


*In countries with elections with multiple political parties. If you live in North Korea then feel free to vote for the option that doesn't get you shot.

[spacelem.livejournal.com]

Apathy comes when it feels like no matter what you do, nothing ever changes.

I suppose that's not strictly true, we've come a long way recently, but for every step forward, we seem to take another step back elsewhere. I'm not surprised so many people don't care any more.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Does that apply in the natural realm as well as the human one? I tried to stop this water boiling at 100c (in the same atmospheric conditions etc.) as happened yesterday, but it still boiled. ;-)

[0olong.livejournal.com]

This is how I feel about people restricting their political engagement to voting every once in a while.

[andrewducker]

Hah! True!