If you don't vote, you can't complain! Really?
Quite the opposite I'd say! I've heard people telling me I can't complain about government because I don't vote and I often wonder if they know what they are saying or just regurgitating some buzz-phrase they have seen on TV.
I'll put this very simply for any voters out there who plan on using this phrase again: not voting is the ONLY thing that allows me to complain. If you vote for a party and it gets into power, you cannot complain because you gave them your permission to laud authority over you so you reap what you sow. If they start (as inevitably they will) breaking campaign promises and creating policy you disagree with, then tough. You created this monster with your mindless ceremonial voting card, so you deal with the consequences!
If you voted for a party and they didn't get into power then you still have no right to complain. You were happy to have your party impose their will onto the entire country, whether they liked it or not and by doing so you lost any moral high ground.
No, the only way to have impartiality and true moral standing in terms of politics is DO NOT VOTE.
If you think your vote will change anything, you are wrong. If you want to protest vote against a candidate, you are simply feeding the monster. The system is rigged folks!
The moral reason not to vote is simple: by voting you are delegating the right to a small group of people (government) to impose their will upon the entire nation BY FORCE. Would you force someone to do your will and call it moral? No? Well then why would you think it's moral to ask other people to do it for you?
Government is, by definition, coercive and to participate in the system that government feeds from is immoral.
Without knowing it, every voter is committing violence against the rest of the country. If you are a voter I want you to seriously consider whether you personally would commit violence against your neighbour if they didn't do what you wanted them to do, and ask yourself, should I be asking other people to do that on my behalf?
What a load of nonsense. Do you think Brexit would have happened if everyone took your attitude? The Leave side won because turnout soared - and turnout soared because people waded through floods to vote, and changed the direction of the country in the process.
Those who don't vote but who then complain are the worse sort of passive cowards. They don't want to make a decision, they don't want to take responsibility. They just want to moan.
So what gives any group of people the right to decide what happens with another persons life? Can I impose my beliefs onto you personally? If not, can I delegate that to a group of people to do it for me?
Yes, Brexit would not have happened. Hitler wouldn't have been voted in democratically either. My point is that voting is coercive as you are using a ruling gang to carry out your wishes. If you think that is moral then I can't really argue with you.
But the question is: what can we achieve by just not voting? Sure it's simple - don't vote, but not voting is like you are giving your power to someone else. Stand away this mess and don't do anything? Is that moral? I'll say that if you want to have truly moral rights to complain - you have to do something more. You have to do everything you can do to change the world the way you want. In my opinion - then and only then you have moral rights to fully complain.
Not voting is only a step in a long journey. It allows you to rightfully say that you have not imposed any coercion through government onto anyone else willingly. You are not "giving your power to someone else", you are empowering yourself by not voting as you have regained morality. The point in not voting is that when enough people choose not to participate in an abstract system, it will eventually fail. If voter numbers fall enough then it shows people have no belief in government anymore. Once the government try to impose voting laws onto the people at this point, they will have lost. They may enforce voting, but the very idea that a person is being forced to give an opinion they do not hold will only strengthen the public resolve.
It is a very small and easy way to say no to a system that is coercive. You simply stay at home on voting day and you cannot ever feel like you have imposed your will onto others.
I agree with the basic philosophy,and I only voted once,for a party that was extremely small. I do think that exceptions can be made. It should not be an absolute rule to not vote,but a general principle. For example if it´s a small party that is bringing some new information into the mainstream media ,or figting for an xause that you deem essential. Or for other personal political reasons.
I see where you are coming from, but even a small party, if voted into power, would impose their way of doing things onto the population by force and is therefore immoral.
The point I'm making is that anyone forcing anyone else (be it an individual or a government) to do something with threat of force is immoral and our society cannot progress when the very basis of our system is based on coercion.
I agree with your basic point. It is just not entirely clear whether you are responsible in all cases just for voting, when there is even no way the party would win the election.
i like it--the leaders are already selected on our behalf to to the will of the powers that be
i am now following you too.
Thanks @budgiebee. Lots more posts like this to come - lets keep chipping away at the public consciousness until more people open their eyes to the nonsense that is going on around us! ;)
One of my favorite anarchists points out that even still we are all slaves to this system. The difference is that some of the slaves go and vote while the others know better. I have this same conversation all the time and people get very upset about my decision but can't name three people in the cabinet
Ha, yes, there are none so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free! We are slaves but at least we are conscious of it I suppose and that is a huge step. Free your mind, the rest will follow - allegedly ;)
Thanks for the comment, best wishes from sunny Scotland ;)
Nice Post with an interesting argument. Personally I will choose to vote but will spoil my voting card (and take a photo after) if there is no one worth voting for. The last 2 elections I have spoiled my vote and felt pretty good about it after :)
The reason for chosing to spoil my vote rather than just sit at home and not bother is to show that I do care and that I can be bothered to go and vote. I highlight my discust with the system with whatever comes to my mind at that time. The vote will be counted as a spoiled vote rather than for any party or person which is better than no vote at all in my opinion.