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To Vote or Not To Vote...That Is the Question...
- Thread starter SalixIncendium
- Start date
This is true. But if I'm going to throw away a vote, might as well vote for pirate and sex party rights while I'm at it.
Why would someone be in complete ignorance of the issues and candidates. Maybe in coma?
At the very least, such a person would have to give zero attention to all sources of news, ignore what friends and others say, avoid web sites like RF which include political information and so forth. Living in a cabin with no electricity in the woods would be one way to be ignorant.
There are those that have no interest in political affairs and just "go with the flow."
The emboldened and the along moving in circles with friends such as themselves.
I really find it hard to believe that some of you do not know people like this.
Augustus
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I'd say it's better to create a system in which most people want to vote, have a range of options and believe it makes a difference so they don't want to be in complete ignorance.
If that cannot be achieved, then mass plebiscite is probably not the best form of democracy to use, so adopt one of the other ones.
Here, in India, the poorer and more illiterate you are, the better your knowledge about politics and the greater enthusiasm for voting. Its the richer and middle class educated people who don't care much any which way and are more ignorant. Poorer areas voter turnout touches around 85%, while urban rich areas have turn-outs of about 40%.
And its a holiday for all apart from the police and the hospitals.
HonestJoe
Well-Known Member
I’ll bite. If someone is entirely ignorant of the candidates and any relevant issues, I don’t think they should vote. It would be the equivalent of someone who is aware of the candidates and issues voting entirely at random. At the very best it’d be pointless, at the very worst it could be a factor in a bad candidate (in the opinion of the ignorant voter or in general) being elected.
Obviously this never needs to be a question (at least in a civilised democracy) as it isn’t at all difficult to at least gather a very basic level of knowledge and understand of who is standing for election. That said, a lot of people who might believe they’re politically informed don’t necessary have that basic information (lots of people vote blindly on party lines with little or no consideration of individual candidates) so I’m not convinced the truly ignorant voters are the biggest issue.
I would not consider 'self imposed ignorance' as "go with the flow."
It is more like hiding in Plato's cave, or maybe Zombies,
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By far most people I know are by far not totally ignorant, but vote or not vote as if they were.
If politicians had to take an oath of honesty and no buloop before being allowed to run for office then less people would suffer from political ignorance.
That said its down to the voter to try to suss out the pros and cons of each candidate and vote for whoever is closest to your views.
If one doesn't vote they have no right to complain if someone they dont like gets into office.
Are you still married?
Why? Are you and Mrs. Revolt pretty politically different?
sealchan
Well-Known Member
Have you noticed how close to 50/50 it has been in many elections? I have to wonder whether polling and ad spend has been developed into such a science that the voters are being advertised into a near draw.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Yeah the 50/50 split has been on my mind quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if what you say is accurate to an extent.
Politics right now, comes across more like what you have with sporting events and rally's with team A and team B squaring off against each other. The political advertisements and signs are everywhere and yes there are tailgate parties.....
Like this one...(Pubs)
Election Night Tailgate Party!
Or this.....(Dems)
Amherst Democratic Committee Tailgate Party - Erie County Democratic Committee
I kind of think manipulation could very well be used in the same manner which makes sporting events so popular. I think it would easily translate over to the political Spectrum. It's essentially all in place for it.
You have your star quarterbacks, and the rest of your football team, and all the organizers with the task of riling up the fans for the big event with flags, mascots, balloons....
The psychology used for building up sports team fanaticism to rush out to the game sure seems to have jumped into the political Arena.
It's all about hype, mudslinging the opponent, and pumping up your own team.
I can't remember the last election were the talk was actually about issues and reasonably detailed plans to address the direction of the state of our country in resolving them, as opposed to just hearing more of whos a lowdown scumbag dirty rotten scoundrel among other choice designations which takes up the majority of the banter during debates and rallies nowadays.
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Why are those the only two options?
No, a non-vote is a vote for "any of these is fine."A non-vote is a vote, a vote for none of the above.
Not really,
If:
Hillary gets 2, Trump gets 1, you voted H. H has 66% of total vote.
Hillary gets 1, Trump gets 1, You don't Vote = 0. 66% of the vote is for a candidate. But, 50% of casted votes are for each. Neither candidate was helped in totals because of you, lol.