Do you vote?
 

I do, but often I wonder why I bother. It seems the same people always get in, and anyone who has a chance of even maybe shaking the system up, even if I vote for them, is unlikely to be elected. And yet, if I didn't vote, what would happen? How could I then bitch about how crap the new government were if I hadn't at least tried to stop them, to effect some sort of change? And if nobody voted, what would happen, I wonder? I know I vote mostly because of the fact that our country is relatively young and we've only had independence for less than a hundred years, so it seems only right to exercise my right to vote, but in the end, is it all just a big waste of time?

Do you vote, and if so why, and if not, why not?

Edit: sorry, this assumes you are of an age to legally vote, of course.

I vote solely because stupid people vote in droves and they must be stopped.

I voted always but mostly just for state and local things like board of education seats and things of that nature. I very rarely vote on the Presidential race. I did last year but that was a first in awhile. I usually also go to vote on propositions or anything else that's going on. I never voted for Obama and I didn't vote during Bush's election cycles.

I also don't care about voting in the Presidential race because New York will always go blue regardless of my vote. Thanks electoral college.

our next provincial election will be my first time voting.

I vote because I want to have a say in who gets elected. There's not much more to it than that.

x2. I'll have to choose between Patrick Brown and Kathleen Wynne. And whoever the NDP leader is.

It's compulsory here for federal and state elections, you don't have to vote for council elections though.

I do vote thanks for asking.

Those same "stupid people" vote because they think you are the stupid one, and they want to stop your kind.

:thumb:

So you're all stupid.

I don't vote because I'm stupid.

me too.

me too

Sheep.

were all in this together now. NIN

I don't know.

codpiece.

There's no party I align with so I don't.

Maybe. I'm not about that partisanship though so they probably have me mixed up with someone else.

I'd like to point out that anyone who votes for "never" is a liar.

:laughing:

Pet Sounds coming with the "under the radar" fire these days.

They grow up so fast.

Or they cba to register :laughing:

Voting is compulsory in Australia so yeah I vote. I would anyway because I disagree with most things the right wing twits who inevitably run this country stand for. The two main parties are both moving further right though so I can't say voting gives me any sense of hope or control.

I believe that if you don't vote you don't have a right to complain. So yes, I vote, even if I abstain, which I f*cking should have done this year. For the record, I voted for Hillary and then promptly threw up in my mouth. Trump makes that decision more tolerable every day though so I believe I made the right choice.

I've never voted, not even registered.. Suck it PS.

So did you vote for "never"? :p:

MB doesn't count.. you dirty sneak. I hate you.

See, this is fine. Just don't complain. I already know you don't follow the news so all is good.

I don't except at Chula for making a big deal out of reality tv drama in the white house. :D

I'm not sure I agree that if you don't vote you don't have the right to complain, but I do follow that line of thinking.

I relate it to this. Say there's a meal that everybody except you helped cook. Somebody cut carrots. Somebody else peeled potatoes. Another person grilled the meat. You did nothing. During the meal, you don't get an opinion on whether the food is good or not. You can say whatever you want but your ass contributed nothing and you get what you get. Now if you just sat there and didn't say a word then all is good.

Bad analogy? I don't know. I'm high.

^church.

Let's be honest. If not voting means you can't complain, it's because of a lack of civic participation. Voting is by far the least meaningful or effective form of civic participation, taking almost no effort and amounting to a drop in a sea of ignorance. If all you do is take one single day out of four or two years to vote, then you still can't complain, because you are not actually a real civic participant. So far as I can tell it's possible that DJ is the only one on this site who has a right to complain if we're saying that you can't complain if you're not civically engaged.

This I would have to strongly disagree with. You're saying that if you don't actively take part in politics/community that you have no right to bitch? It may be only once every few years but if you get up off your arse and vote, and the one you voted for doesn't get in, I think that gives you every right to complain. Not everyone has the time or inclination to get involved in the way the likes of DJ does but that should not disqualify them from being able to bitch about the way things are.

I actually completely agree with this. "You can't change the world in one day, it takes an entire lifetime."

Complaining is really nothing more than complaining. Performing a duty actually accomplishes something tangible. We're just having fun engaging in arguments. And so long as that is all we're doing then we're just as useless as any other Joe Sixpack. At best we're a drop in the ocean that is the evolving consciousness of our country. At least until we/you/I go out and do something actually useful.

But of course the idea that someone shouldn't be able to complain about something that affects them is just democratic brainwashing by the government to get us to vote and/or believe that our vote actually is meaningful. Just ****ing bitch if you want to, basically.

You're not at a protest. You're sitting on your ass.

Quit protesting people who sit on their asses.