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I Voted, Sucka!
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Nov. 7th, 2006 | 08:54 pm
Yes I voted, dammit, and more people should. I can't believe the apathy I was met with from people at work. There's a nineteen-year old female that I've been badgering to vote for the first time, but she found out, on Election Day, that she has no local polling place and has to vote absentee, at which point she decided it was too difficult and gave up. Now, she's got a lot going on in her life, including a divorce, so I don't blame her for not making voting her top priority, even though it takes minimal effort, but there's a 31-year-old male who told me that he has never voted in his life, and doesn't plan on starting now.
This seemed to be the general consensus, that voting doesn't matter, and I suppose in California, where the Democratic senator is pretty safe, and there aren't any close races where a Democrat might take a seat from a Republican or vice versa, and the Republican governor has a double-digit lead over the Democratic challenger, from a statistical standpoint, I guess my vote doesn't really matter, except maybe for the ballot measures.
But that's not the point. The point is, regardless of what you think of politicians and whether or not they are looking out for you, regardless of what you think of the Bush Administration’s policies, or the Democrat's ankle-biting, despite the poo-flinging monkey fight that American politics has become, it all rests on a single earnest, noble principle: That the power of governance of the nation should be shared by the people of that nation. That means as a citizen, we are allotted a certain segment of power that we have the right to use.
Now, that power doesn't just disappear in to thin air if we choose not to use it, somebody else takes it because power is finite, and mankind’s lust for it is infinite. That means that politicians can get elected by pandering to a loud minority, or interests with deep pockets because a large portion of the population simply doesn't care enough to have their voice heard. Think of it this way: In the last midterm election, in 2002, when there was no presidential race to draw crowds to the polls, only 37% of registered voters showed up to the polls (Source: infoplease). That means that the 63% that stayed home effectively ceded their power to the vocal 37%.
But let's think about that number: 63%, if that group somehow got together they could have turned the election any way they wanted, mowing over the existing political machine, along with all its gerrymandered districts and special interests. That's not to say that I believe that the 63% would ever be able to agree on a single voting strategy, but the point is that they have the latent power to do so. By staying home they are effectively giving up that power to the status quo, the regular faithful voters that politicians know they have please.
This power to effect change is the most important power we have as citizens. I am a registered Democrat, so I am a little excited that the Democrats look poised to take the House and possibly the Senate, but I also think that if we were in the opposite situation, with a Democratic-controlled legislature and executive that were rife with corruption and general incompetence, I would probably be just as eager for the Republicans to take over. The reality is that neither party has our interests at heart; what they are concerned bout is self-preservation, and that is our means of controlling them. If we keep them on their toes and don't let them settle into comfortably ensconced incumbencies, they will be more inclined to respond to us, their constituents, and not to the deep pockets that they grow fat and lazy on. We, the people have been given the power to keep these politicians honest, but it does us no good if we are too apathetic to use it.
This seemed to be the general consensus, that voting doesn't matter, and I suppose in California, where the Democratic senator is pretty safe, and there aren't any close races where a Democrat might take a seat from a Republican or vice versa, and the Republican governor has a double-digit lead over the Democratic challenger, from a statistical standpoint, I guess my vote doesn't really matter, except maybe for the ballot measures.
But that's not the point. The point is, regardless of what you think of politicians and whether or not they are looking out for you, regardless of what you think of the Bush Administration’s policies, or the Democrat's ankle-biting, despite the poo-flinging monkey fight that American politics has become, it all rests on a single earnest, noble principle: That the power of governance of the nation should be shared by the people of that nation. That means as a citizen, we are allotted a certain segment of power that we have the right to use.
Now, that power doesn't just disappear in to thin air if we choose not to use it, somebody else takes it because power is finite, and mankind’s lust for it is infinite. That means that politicians can get elected by pandering to a loud minority, or interests with deep pockets because a large portion of the population simply doesn't care enough to have their voice heard. Think of it this way: In the last midterm election, in 2002, when there was no presidential race to draw crowds to the polls, only 37% of registered voters showed up to the polls (Source: infoplease). That means that the 63% that stayed home effectively ceded their power to the vocal 37%.
But let's think about that number: 63%, if that group somehow got together they could have turned the election any way they wanted, mowing over the existing political machine, along with all its gerrymandered districts and special interests. That's not to say that I believe that the 63% would ever be able to agree on a single voting strategy, but the point is that they have the latent power to do so. By staying home they are effectively giving up that power to the status quo, the regular faithful voters that politicians know they have please.
This power to effect change is the most important power we have as citizens. I am a registered Democrat, so I am a little excited that the Democrats look poised to take the House and possibly the Senate, but I also think that if we were in the opposite situation, with a Democratic-controlled legislature and executive that were rife with corruption and general incompetence, I would probably be just as eager for the Republicans to take over. The reality is that neither party has our interests at heart; what they are concerned bout is self-preservation, and that is our means of controlling them. If we keep them on their toes and don't let them settle into comfortably ensconced incumbencies, they will be more inclined to respond to us, their constituents, and not to the deep pockets that they grow fat and lazy on. We, the people have been given the power to keep these politicians honest, but it does us no good if we are too apathetic to use it.
