On Emotional Attachment to Voting
I just voted… and don’t feel…. anything…So wrote a good friend of mine in an e-mail to me yesterday.
She's not stupid. She's not incompetent. She wants people to just get along, be happy, and enjoy themselves. She's a decent person who is overwhelmed by the signals around her and was let down by an act canonized by almost everyone as the most sacred of citizen duties, an act whose prelude was so relentlessly hyped that it's no wonder she felt empty after entering a booth and checking a few boxes.
I sat on it for almost an hour, wondering what to write. This was my response:
*begin extremist soapbox rant*You shouldn't feel anything after voting. Whomever you voted for does not know what you specifically want him or her to do and how to do it. A vote for a person cannot convey that information, only broad generalities. The act itself is really just a disingenuous form of demanding other people force others to do the government's bidding. Voters rarely take responsibility for their candidates' bad actions while shout from the rooftops every minor superficial improvement that occurs once the candidate is elected. Everyone complains about "apathy" among non-voters but it is only us who didn't lend our sanction who can rightfully complain about the rotten system on our backs.
Staying home literally has a greater impact on your life than voting. The resources consumed to operate the voting system and to get your vote into their hands dwarf the chance your vote will determine the outcome - even in a "swing state". You'll do more exponentially more good in the community by going shopping or volunteering to help others.
*end extremist soapbox rant*
She wrote back later thanking me, saying it actually made her feel a little better. We're going to talk about it in detail this weekend.
In my mind, I'm a broken record, saying the same things over and over again. The only differences are ones of emphasis and contextual tact. What options do I have when most of my arguments lead straight to state abolishment as a necessary goal? If I loathe government, that means I loathe representative democracy. Some people take that very personally. Sometimes I can maintain composure and try to keep the conversation civil.
Other times, I want to start quoting Spooner and just fucking have at it. Voting means many things, but what it doesn't mean is justice, respect, honor, or prosperity. Its connection to actual legislation is tenuous to say the least:
When a majority of eligible individuals (picked by a majority of eligible citizens who bothered to vote) in the House and a majority of eligible individuals (picked by a majority of eligible citizens who bothered to vote) in the Senate agree to pass a bill that first had to "leave committee" (each consisting of appointees and rife with political favoritism) to be "reconciled" (code for watered-down-to-general-acceptability) in order for one eligible individual (picked by a majority of eligible citizens who bothered to vote) to sign and execute, does that constitute the unanimity so often implied in political rhetoric? And that's assuming these Representatives even bothered to create legislation for which their constituents asked!
Gawd, I hate election season.
Other posts:
The Austin American-Statesman, Voting, Free Speech, and Information
The Disingenuous Voting Fetish
A Solicitation to Those Who Say I Shouldn't Complain If I Don't Vote
Contradiction as Innovative Political Strategy
Democrats Are Not Pacifists
Somewhere, Somehow, You Will Always Be a Minority
Political Agendas, Mentioned and Not