Dear Non-Voter,
I don’t ever want to hear you moaning and groaning about our local government, museums or lack thereof, neighborhood issues, schools, taxes, potholes, sidewalks, trash, loud music, drugs, crime, or even your asshole of a neighbor.
You had your chance.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Hey it’s just garbage in, garbage out when you vote.
I’ve solved this political dilemma in a very direct way — I don’t vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I believe that if you vote, you have NO right to complain. Now, some people might like to twist that around and 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’ve done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have NO right to complain at all.
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 that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that YOU created.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Yep. When you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Wow. George sounds like the kind of guy who doesn’t change his oil for 45,000 miles and then pisses and moans about how crappy American cars are when his takes a dump before 100,000 miles.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Don’t think for a minute that not voting ever stopped anyone from carping the loudest about the outcome.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Someone tell Bill, please.
Oh, and George – not making a decision is a decision in and of itself. What you decided was to let someone else decide for you. You will never be responsible for what is going well and you will never be responsible for fixing what is wrong. As such, you are part of the problem. You are going to participate int he government, but I bet you are going to cry loudest when you need police/fire/garbage or other public service.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
George is quoting an old George Carlin routine almost verbatim. Funny…but not original.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
From a political science perspective, non-participation is still a form of participation…
April 9th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I prefer to vote and then not complain. I whine only about the important things in life . . . like when my beloved Illini (or Cardinals) suck .
April 11th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Oh that is a funny one.
Good one “George”. I think you got ‘em.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I think postsimian hit the nail on the head here.
You vote for who most favors your position.
You do not vote for who is most opposite your position.
If no candidate holds your position or you do not trust either to do as you would hope, why should you vote?
In not voting you are still making a statement and participating by abstaining. Why should you vote in a candidate if you find them all mediocre or lacking qualities? To state that you must vote between two evils would be like voting for Saddam Hussein even though he is the only candidate.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:00 am
In other words, to participate in voting just for the sake of voting and thereby electing somebody to office who you find lacking so that you can have the so called “right” to complain is nonsense. Complete nonsense.