Secret Santa 2024
Original Post
Should everyone who can vote vote?
Ok, so I became 18 this year, and who or what I want to vote for in elections and referendums has become important. People treat voting as a prerequisite of being an adult, and people who don't vote are often viewed as lazy, unpatriotic or generally less virtuous than those who do. I have very rarely heard arguments for why people do vote whereas I am told that I should go vote relatively often, either by adverts before the referendum, the media in general or occasionally even just by family and friends.

Yadda yadda yadda not so important.



Now the meat of the problem; why I don't vote. I believe that myself, along with the majority of the population, are not qualified to vote. I don't read the newspaper or even watch the news. I don't look at political pages on the internet. I have never studied politics. If I were to pick which side I preferred it would be based on something very far from logic. I would be voting to show that I could, or because some political BS had won me over.

If people want to talk about whether voting should work differently then I will add that to the topic, but for now I would like to know if you think the attitude towards voting should be different and if/why you vote yourself.
Good morning sweet princess
It really depends if you're represented. In Canada. Natives aren't represented in the right way, we have white folk constantly talking about us and for us and have them representing us, we do have elders speaking out for us, but for the most part it's just white dudes or chicks so I don't vote and haven't voted for the past few years, all it is for us is vote for the lesser of two ass holes, which is alright, but really? it's not at alright, it's the same thing every year and has been for awhile for us. Vote if your people is being represented whether it be poor or your nation, it helps.

Also the reason why nothing that exciting happens in your country is because it's old and already has been through a ton of bull for it to be where it is.
Last edited by T0ribush; Apr 15, 2016 at 04:55 AM.
I don't think there's any shame in not voting. I think accepting your own ignorance and staying away from it is something very smart and mature, and, perhaps, more people should follow your example.

I believe, however, that an even smarter move would be to actually learn about politics, as it is something that will have a very large impact in your life. If everyone was politically literate and able to make smart choices concerning the future of their countries (instead of the elitist few at the top), perhaps the whole world would be a better, more nuanced place. So many people are lost when it comes to these topics, and just follow blindly whatever their parents or peers tell them to do and, when times get tough, this inevitably leads to a rush to extremism, something that could (and should) be easily avoided.
You should do some research on the candidates and the issues, and then make an informed choice. Doesn't take much time to get the overall picture, really. Don't vote if you have no clue what's going on, but you should do as much as you can to avoid being in that position. Do a little research, then vote.
Sure, but do you think people should be actively encouraged to vote by the media and by society in general? Or do you think that does more damage than good?
Good morning sweet princess
Originally Posted by Zelda View Post
Sure, but do you think people should be actively encouraged to vote by the media and by society in general? Or do you think that does more damage than good?


It does more damage in the state we are in right now. If we have an uncontrolled and biased (often extremist) media pushing people to vote for something they often don't understand, then it's a terrible idea.

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

If people longed for politics, the ship of our society would be much easier to keep afloat.
I think abstaining from voting is honourable if you TRULY think that your vote is uninformed. However you shouldn't complain when the candidate you liked loses
oxisudofrenohypoglycemolicodin
You have just as much of a say in who runs your country as everyone else. Read up on your options if you feel unsure.
Are your parents working class (I'll assume you are still in school)? Vote left.
Are you upper/middle class? Vote right.
Do minorities rustle your jimmies? Vote for the far right.
Would you like to overthrow the burgeois and unite workers everywhere under the red banner? Vote to the far left.
Would you like to hug trees and save the pandas? There's probably a green party you can vote for.

Usually the best approach is to weigh the party's place in the political spectrum to how corrupt they are.
Where I'm from, nobody votes for the moderate left because they dragged the country into an IMF-designed crisis, while simultaneously stuffing their own pockets from the proceeds of the sale of government assets.

Happy birthday btw!

rant


Originally Posted by Zelda View Post
I didn't mean that people would try to make others vote for something specific, usually it takes the form of "It doesn't matter who you vote for, just go vote, it is your right and you should use it."

Do you still think that that is a terrible idea?

"It doesn't matter who you vote for, just go vote, it is your right and you should use it" Is just as stupid as medias pushing for the vote of one person or party. You said it yourself, if you don't feel qualified, don't vote. Their message should be "If you can vote, study the politics of your country, understand it, and vote." (Or even "If you want to make your country a better place, understand its politics".)

And I'm sorry if I deviate a bit from the topic again, but to me the real problem is people's education, how much they really care about politics. People would care more about proving their opponent's party wrong, than making the right choice. (I remember many many occasions where two french parties would pretty much have the same goals and plans, but, since they disliked each other, were in an all out political war.)

Originally Posted by Redundant View Post
I wish there was more direct democracy for issues like that in my country.

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Direct democracies, and social democracies, is where it's at. They're still both hella flawed, but they're the better of the worse right now.
Last edited by DashSora; Apr 16, 2016 at 05:54 AM.
Are you completely out of your mind? This is exactly the kind of deterministic attitude that's wrong with this world.

Wat. Read up on the political spectrum. Parties cater to different groups of people based on their alignment. A leftist party builds on the lower classes, while rightist parties cater to the wealthy. You can tell a great deal about a party just based on this and applies in general, it's obvious that this alone won't dictate what the party does in practice.
-snip-
...then you chose for what party people should vote according to their backgrounds? Without even taking in consideration that the politics of each parties is different from countries to countries? And omitting a large number of political affiliation too?

What I said applies in general and is in no way specific. Also, some parties were originally created to represent people of different backgrounds. There were smallholder parties and workers' parties for example, all falling to the left.
Last edited by Ele; Apr 16, 2016 at 12:25 PM. Reason: threatening death not allowed + calling people 5th graders not allowed