However, I believe that voting is a right we have been given because it doesn't matter, that it is a sop to our desire for change, our desire to make things better. Actual political change only comes through hard work, voting is too easy.
Right. But I don't see where "not voting" is a part of this process. Political activity starts, not ends, at the voting booth. For me, it's the minimum I feel I have to do as an American citizen. Beyond that, I (and Aaron, since he's the one mailing the checks) donate money to organizations that are more directly affecting change than I can on my own. I still consider that on the low end of what I could be doing, but time and skills are limited. None of this gives me a pass not to vote, however.
I think a single vote is, in the vast majority of cases, not very powerful. But the idea that votes are not powerful is an excellent way to make damned sure they are not. And there are plenty of organizations that are counting on this, and encouraging this, our own government being one of them. It would be much more convenient if they didn't have to have elections; much as it would be convenient for me to not have to get up at the asscrack of dawn to get to my polling place and do my damned bare-minimum job as a voter. But, frankly, a lot of people went through a lot of fucking inconvenience so I'd have the opportunity. Even if it's symbolic, even if it means jack in real terms, it makes me - and every other voter - a stakeholder in the process. Last thing we need is to take more people out of the process, don't you think?
The US government is not ideal. But it does derive, tenuously, its authority from the people who are governed by it. It's already been undermined thoroughly by money and power from other sources. I have no intention of speeding up that process by giving up what microscopic responsibility I have.
no subject
Right. But I don't see where "not voting" is a part of this process. Political activity starts, not ends, at the voting booth. For me, it's the minimum I feel I have to do as an American citizen. Beyond that, I (and Aaron, since he's the one mailing the checks) donate money to organizations that are more directly affecting change than I can on my own. I still consider that on the low end of what I could be doing, but time and skills are limited. None of this gives me a pass not to vote, however.
I think a single vote is, in the vast majority of cases, not very powerful. But the idea that votes are not powerful is an excellent way to make damned sure they are not. And there are plenty of organizations that are counting on this, and encouraging this, our own government being one of them. It would be much more convenient if they didn't have to have elections; much as it would be convenient for me to not have to get up at the asscrack of dawn to get to my polling place and do my damned bare-minimum job as a voter. But, frankly, a lot of people went through a lot of fucking inconvenience so I'd have the opportunity. Even if it's symbolic, even if it means jack in real terms, it makes me - and every other voter - a stakeholder in the process. Last thing we need is to take more people out of the process, don't you think?
The US government is not ideal. But it does derive, tenuously, its authority from the people who are governed by it. It's already been undermined thoroughly by money and power from other sources. I have no intention of speeding up that process by giving up what microscopic responsibility I have.