Why I’ve Never Voted
- By a hanging Chad
Telling a Republiscum or Democrap that I’m 31 years old and have never voted is like telling them that I am a backwoods communist with terrorist ties hell-bent on destroying America as we know it. At least I actually hear something that both parties agree on.
After declaring my non-voting demon status, I then get the all to familiar, yawn-educing, cries of:
“If you don’t vote, you can’t have an opinion!”
Thanks for stripping me of my right to formulate an opinion, communists! In all reality, I have opinions, and I have a right to have them. It’s my opinions that have led me to not vote. I make my voice heard by letting people know full well why I don’t vote. I’m not a passive non-voter by any means. So, I’ll offer those opinions that millions of non-voting Americans share that, maybe, will help you die-hard voters understand and soften your tone about it. (All 5 of you who may stumble on this article)
Then I’ll share why, for the first time in my 13 years of voter eligibility, I registered to vote this year.
I do take a little out of George Carlin’s book on why he never voted. Said he:
“You may have noticed that there’s one thing I don’t complain about: Politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says, ‘They suck’. But where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. No, they come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and they’re elected by American voters. This is the best we can do, folks. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out.
….I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don’t vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, ‘If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain’, but where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain.
I, on the other hand, who did not vote — who did not even leave the house on Election Day — am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created.”
That’s wisdom there. You thought Bill Clinton sucked? Well, I didn’t vote for him. You think George W sucks? Well, I didn’t vote for him. If you think our current president sucks, and you blame all the republicans who voted for him, then you are in as much fault for encouraging those Repubs to vote. You have no right to complain. You should have said, “Vote for John Kerry or stay home” – That would really emphasize how emphatically you think the other candidate is less than horse crap. But you told the republicans to vote, you begged them to vote, and you got what you asked for.
Here are some other reasons, in no particular order, that leave such a bad taste in my mouth, I feel that I would be more productive staying home and unlocking new songs on Rock Band than voting:
- Celebrities want me to vote. You talk as if we are supposed to hold your opinions higher than our own. You don’t have that ethos with me. The simple fact that these arrogant, tasteless, coke-snorting, immoral drunks think I should vote makes me not want to vote. Though, it only makes sense that people who pretend to be someone else for a living would support a cause to allow this country to be led by people who pretend to be something else for a living.
- Electoral College. Maybe if I was in a swing state this wouldn’t be on my list, but I lived in Idaho and Utah most my life. The general population decides my vote goes to a republican. People can talk all they want to about “making your vote count, let your voice be heard”, but the popular vote means nothing (see: Al Gore vs Bush). The Electoral College tells me I’m voting for McCain weather I vote Obama, or Mickey Mouse – but if I stay home, it lets me let my voice be heard by not lending my voice to the herd.
- Conspiracy Theories / Voter Fraud. I hear the cry, “Vote! Vote! Vote!”, then from the same voices I hear, “Votes get changed!”, “Hanging Chads don’t count”, “Registrations are fraudulent”, “Registrations are tossed out”, “Voting machines get hacked”, etc, etc. So this is supposed to give me confidence in our voting system? I’m not one for bazaar conspiracy theories, but I also don’t doubt the abilities of “secret combinations”, or that fraud really happens. It’s a tiresome argument I have to hear and if I don’t vote, I don’t have to question if my vote was even counted or changed.
- Vote for the “lesser of the evils”. What a dumb thing to believe. People are so bent on “having” to vote that they justify voting for corrupt politicians by just choosing the “lesser” of the evils. I don’t vote for evil. If I truly believe that both are evil, but one is more so, why would I vote at all? So, if one guy molested 10 kids under the age of 8, and the other raped 14 women, would you then vote for the rapist of the women as the “lesser” of evils because at least he raped adults and you HAVE to vote? It’s an absurd thing to say, and I don’t think people believe it. I honestly think people say that but believe their party leader is a saint and the other party leader is a devil. If I truly think both parties are evil, weather one is more evil or not, I won’t dare put my check mark next to any of their names.
- “Make your Vote Count” or “A Vote for ______ is Really a Vote for _________”. The last election I was tempted to vote. The taste in my mouth with Bush and Kerry was so bitter that I nearly registered to vote, but vote for Ralph Nader. I wanted to see a strong independent, but Nader would have had to do. But when I told people this, here is what I heard, “No, no, no, no, no – You have to make your vote COUNT! Nader has no chance, you need to support a real candidate” Uhhh.. no. I also heard, “A vote for Nader is a vote for Kerry!” – or Democrats said, “A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush!”. My reply? “A VOTE FOR NADER IS A VOTE FOR NADER, you dolt”. I don’t care if the rest of the crowd is rooting for America or China in the Olympics, if I am from Zimbabwe, then I will root for Zimbabwe. So, they tell me to vote, and in the same breath want to tell me who I should not be voting for. “OK, then should I vote for Kerry? “NOOOO!!! That’s what we are trying to avoid by telling you not to vote for Nader!” Which beings me back to, why are you just not telling me to vote for who you want me to vote for or stay home? So I just stayed home.
So here I am, the day before elections and after writing all this it just reminds me of how absurd this whole voting game is. Yet, I registered to vote this year. Maybe I just wanted to qualify for jury duty, maybe I wanted people off my back, maybe a small part of me wanted to actually try and vote this year. Tomorrow I get to stand in a voting booth and decide if I’m just giving into peer pressure because P.Diddy and my friends and family think I should vote, if my vote will actually be counted and remain who I voted for, if it will even matter anyway because of the electoral college, if I’m only going to be voting for “evil” – lesser or greater, and if I’m really voting for someone else if I don’t vote along one of the two parties.
I think I will vote, though. I will break my tradition and put down my “boycott the vote” sign in my brain and put my mark next to someones name. I’ll deal with the consequences and sigh afterword when I watch the lawsuits fly as accusations of “vote stealing” start pouring out. But who would deserve this personally historic vote from myself?
I’ll detail more after I do vote, if my conscious allows me to vote for someone, but this is what I am thinking as of today:
Yes, Obama has some ties to questionable people, but that’s because 6 years ago he was a human palling around with other humans. For the last 25 years McCain has been palling around with fellow “terrorists” in the government, as far as I’m concerned. I think he’s long forgotten what it’s like to be human. Maybe somewhere between the purchase of his 4th and 5th house. Maybe that’s why he chose Palin, which would have been a good idea if I considered small town Alaskans human. I come from small town, I wouldn’t vote for any of those crazy people any more than I would vote for myself in a position of that import.
One party has really showed its dark side in this election and it makes me sick to hear how bad they have been dragging the other man’s name through the mud and attempting to enduce fear in people. I consider the attempt to rob faith in people by enducing fear an evil act. Yes, both sides do it, but one has done it much worse than the other, and I think that declares to me who the “lesser of the evils” really is.
After all, if, as a non-voter, I am looked at as a backwoods communist who supports terrorists and is hell-bent on destrying America as we know it, not valuing freedom or the constitution – then I have something in common with one of the candidates. And since I know it’s not true of me, I certainly believe it’s not true of him.
I’m not voting for every reason stated above. I refuse to gripe about our country’s current predicament and then go to the voting booth to support the establishment I hate. If you would like, you are more than welcome to come over to my house to eat some BBQ and play video games. I am a registered voter, but I just can’t vote of either of them and feel good about it.
Another point I would like to add…Which is worse??? Voting without any understanding, research, or knowledge of the multiple candidates, propositions, and issues? Or, not voting because you have no understanding, research, or knowledge of the multiple candidates, propositions, and issues? I fear that there are too many people that fall under the first choice, but then go home and pat themselves on the back because “they rocked the vote” with their sweet “I voted” sticker.
When I feel we have an unbiased presidential candidate that is “wise and righteous,” truly represents the people, and will promote pure democracy according to the constitution of the United States…..I will be first in line at the voting booth. However, I am confident that will likely not happen in these last days.
Love it!! Thanks for standing up for what you believe in Chad! Ditto to Tyler as well!
Jules
You brought up some excellent points in this article. I think I’m going to print it out and place it next to everyone’s food at our next ward dinner/activity, lol.
I’m glad (and relieved) to know that there are some level-headed people out there. For a while there, because of this election, I was beginning to question it. I was about to sign off everyone as bigots. I’m so glad, and so relieved, that there are others in this country who don’t believe that politics are simply, and falsely, black and white.
You are smoking crack! No Nadya, he is not level headed. He is terribly skewed. You miss the point on so many levels. Besides the adage “two wrongs don’t make a right” there are a variety of points to consider.
1) Election day was a lot more than just picking a president. There were congressmen (both state and national), Judges, school board, constitutional amendments, etc. These people/issues who have a very direct effect on you and whose election is not tainted by your electoral college issue.(which is a whole other discussion)
2) You are not required to vote for one of the names printed on the ballot. There is the write in option and on a local and state level there have been successful write in campaigns. Just because you don’t agree 100% with the choices given you can still vote you conscience.
3) People have died for the right to be able to have a say in how they are governed. They have died throughout history and the have died in this country and state. Chances there are men and women in your family who have risked their lives for that freedom. And you? You have chosen not to accept that gift, why? Because you are lazy. Whether its to lazy to learn about the issues or to lazy to get involved and help a candidate you believe in get to the point where they can make a difference.
Yes, your are entitled to an opinion if you don’t vote but in my opinion you have forfeited the right to complain.