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unixronin: Galen the technomage, from Babylon 5: Crusade (Default)
Unixronin

December 2012

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Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 02:34 pm

To be a citizen in a democracy, representative or direct, is not just a privilege.  It is also a responsibility, to keep that democracy on the right track and see that it does not go astray.  A citizen of that democracy who has the right to vote, who is happy to partake in the privileges, but who cannot be bothered to exercise the responsibility of using their vote, is only half a citizen.

I went out and voted today.  Did you?

(It was an optical-scan paper ballot, by the way.)

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 11:04 pm (UTC)
There is a pretty strong case for "rational apathy" in voting. It is along the lines of, your vote doesn't matter in the whole tide of the election, type of thing. It leads to a paradox. If you don't vote because your vote, individually, doesn't matter, fewer people vote, so their ballots have a disproportionate influence.

I just fall back on the privileges and obligations of citizenship. Part of the obligation is voting. But I still sometimes cry singing the national anthem.
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 11:21 pm (UTC)
The horrible thought just occurred to me that if enough of the right people didn't bother voting because their individual ballots didn't matter, instead of the slim probability of President Hillary Clinton, we could be looking at President Dianne Feinstein.


I need to go scrub my brain out with bleach now.
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 01:37 am (UTC)
I'm using lysol! Ewww!