Why Vote?

The 2010 mid-term elections are only two weeks away.  Casting a vote allows an individual to express a choice among candidates who wish to become government leaders. It's up to each voter to locate available information about each candidate and to make an informed decision about how to vote. Rather than allowing potential leaders to hide weaknesses and wrong-doing from public awareness, our democratic voting process urges all of us to get involved and to share viewpoints about who should lead. 

In speaking with some of the younger members of our community (and a few others who, like myself, are getting a tad long in the tooth) I was disappointed to hear many of them indicate that they did not intend to vote in this election.

When I asked why they did not intend to exercise their right to vote the responses ranged from they felt their individual vote would not “make a difference”; all politicians are “liars” or “corrupt”, “after they get elected all they worry about is getting re-elected.”, and “Albany is a cesspool!”

I have taken some some time and attempted to enumerate those problems cited to justify a decision not to vote and offer a counter argument (underscored) to each of those problems in a non-partisan manner.

Although I personally believe each of the concerns cited are valid, the fact remains the problem is not with bad politicians, negative campaigning, or campaigning financing. There are exactly two reasons why people do not vote.  You might not like them but here they are in black and white...

1. They are uninformed and feel unqualified to vote,
or,

2. They are stupid.

The people in group #1 are the heroes here. If you don't know what you are voting for, then do everyone a favor and stay home. If you do vote, stay out of elections where you do know not what you are voting for.

Now, there are legitimate reasons to be in group #1. Perhaps you simply do not have the time to spend preparing for an upcoming election. Maybe of us have no problem with leaving the elections to those who are able and willing to prepare for them. Regardless, you know that you have nothing to add to the election process, so rather than picking neat-sounding names or whatever, you stay home. Bravo, I say.

Everyone else who does not vote, group #2 above, is just plain stupid. This is the group many in the main stream media are playing to when they say these citizens have good reasons to throw up their hands and give up.

I have never been a fan of trying to make people feel good about something they truly should feel bad about, so let's examine the alleged reasons for not voting.

Disgust with Politics

Politics is so dirty, and politicians so corrupt, that there is no point in voting.

Did I mention that these people are stupid? If politicians are out of control, the very last thing citizens should want to do is to disengage themselves from the process.  Apparently the idea is that if everyone threw a big hissy fit and stopped voting, politicians would start playing nice and everyone would live happily ever after.

If you are absolutely sickened by the corruption in politics, then there is only one way to deal with it: Do some research before voting day, and in each and every election vote for the least corrupt candidate you can find. If every person claiming to be skipping elections out of disgust did this, politics would be almost completely cleaned up in two or three election cycles.

Or those people can sit at home with your eyes closed, indulging in the idiotic fantasy that when they open their eyes, everything will have been magically fixed. Or, and I suspect this is closer to the truth, they can just admit that they can't be bothered.

No Good Candidates

Another common excuse is that nobody good is running, so why bother?

Translation: No perfect candidate is running. And even if a great candidate is running, he is not emitting a heavenly glow so I can identify him as the anointed one without spending one second of my precious time doing research. So to hell with it!

OK, I will admit that back in 2008 Barrack Obama did admit a heavenly glow with all his "Hope and Change" rhetoric and most people accepted him as the "annointed one" without really researching the candidiate, but, as  it turned out, he was simply a flawed human being, as we all are,   who was elected by telling us what we wanted to hear.

Everyone that votes is often unhappy with the field. Does that mean you should throw your hands up in disgust and walk away? Of course not. Simply evaluate the available candidates, pick the best ones, and vote for them. If there is some quality that consistently wins elections, the political parties will take notice and begin offering candidates with that quality.

Also, drag yourself to the primaries, so you can have some input into who will be running in the general election. If you can't do that, then don't ask for sympathy when you do not like the parties' candidates.

Both Parties Are the Same

Democrats, Republicans...it's all the same. What's the point?

First, that is not generally true. The average Democrat and the average Republican hold very different views on many substantial issues.

The above advice to simply vote for the best candidate should suffice here. If, however, you feel the two-party system is a complete travesty, there is certainly something you can do about it. In most elections, there is at least one third-party candidate. There are often many. There is a rich vein of political philosophy and commnity activism  represented in the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Freedom Party, the Conservative Party, the Anti-Prohibition Party, the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, etc. (Yes I did not mention the Tea Party as it is not a political party but more of a grassroots movement.) If you are completely out of the mainstream, there is still almost certainly a political party for you. Spend some time learning about those parties and their candidates, and vote accordingly.

I can hear the objection now: But those parties never win! First, that is not true. Second, if you believe that, then the solution is to vote for those parties so they do win, not to make the "they never win" statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Third, even when the small parties do not win, when their ideas attract enough attention and votes, the two major parties will often incorporate those ideas. For example, the Republican Party is much more conservative than it used to because of the current popularity of ideas long advocated by the Conservative Party and more recently by the nation’s Tea Party groups.

All That Matters Is Money

Many do not vote because they feel that money is all that matters in politics today.

There is certainly some truth to that. Politicians that spend more money on their campaigns tend to do better in the elections. That may be in part true because politicians spend every dollar they raise, and those with better ideas can raise more money. Still, all things being equal, money does influence elections.

So what to do? Obviously, do a little research, and vote for the best candidate. If you do that, then you will be able to say that money did not affect your vote. If enough people do that, then money will become much less important in elections today.

If, on the other hand, you stay home and complain about the influence of money, then you will guarantee that you will not be part of the solution.

If you honestly feel that money is destroying politics, then go to the polls and, in each election, vote for the candidate that spent the least amount of cash.

Politicians Just Work to Get Reelected

Another complaint is that principle is tossed aside whenever it will interfere with reelection.

Again, vote for the best candidate, and this will not matter. If you are completely obsessed with this issue, then you can vote against all the incumbents to send the message that you are against all politicians that dare to try to get reelected.

There Is Too Much Negative Campaigning

Many people are turned off by all the negative campaigning.

If you feel that strongly about it, then vote for politicians that didn't campaign negatively. If all of them did, then vote for the one that did the least amount of it.

Before you do that, though, consider this: There is a place for negative campaigning. If two people are running for an office, each of them should certainly explain why they are right for that post. Contrary to current sentiment, it is also equally valid for them to explain why their opponent is wrong for the office.

One irony is that people who complain about the seediness of politics are often the same people that complain about all negative campaigning. If you are against corruption, shouldn't you want candidates to point out when their opponents are corrupt so you can vote them out of or keep them out of office?

There is a time when negative campaigning goes too far. When one candidate begins smearing the other over nothing tangible in an effort to sway the vote, then voters should take notice. The irony here is that they have learned nothing positive about the candidate's opponent, but they have learned something negative about the candidate. In effect, the candidate has engaged in negative campaigning against himself.

Politicians Lie

You like what a politician is saying, then he is elected, and he does something different. So what's the point in voting?

Well, if that happens, make sure to show up for the next election and vote against that candidate. If lying politicians start routinely losing elections, they will wise up. If voters angry about the lies do nothing, then they will laugh their way to the next victory.

"My Vote Will Not Matter"

Probably the number one reason people claim they do not vote is that their one measly vote will not make a difference. The counter to that is to simply note that if all the people saying that voted in the next election, they could dictate the winners to the rest of us.

In closing, even if you are unhappy with the choice being given to you, at least you have a choice.  You can do your part to move things in the direction you desire.

You can vote for better (if not good) candidates.

You can fight the excessive influence of campaign spending.

You can give third-party candidates a boost.

You can punish corruption and lying.

You can vote in the primaries to influence who will be running in the elections.

All of this, unfortunately, will take some of your time. You will have to pay attention to what your politicians are doing. You will have to research new candidates. You will have to learn what the political parties stand for. If you decide that you can not take the time to do this, then do us all a favor and stay home. Do not go in and blindly vote for those whose names you recognize (who are either incumbents or have spent the most money).

If you decide you want to have your say, then learn what you are voting for, and go in and vote. If things do not go your way, then you can complain all you want. You will at least know that you did your part to make things better. And you will have earned the right to complain (and perhaps influence future voters).

On the other hand, if you have the time and ability to educate yourself and vote, yet you choose not to, then, please, don't complain.