<div class="page traditional" style=" background-color: #fff; "> <article> <header> <h1 style=" font-family: 'Open Sans'; color: #000;">Not Voting: Not Your Business</h1> <p class="byline">Chris Braithwaite </p> </header> <div class="main"> <p class="summary" style=" color: #000;">An Essay </p> <p>No cult is more hostile to outsiders than the cult of voters. Those not among them are lazy, stupid, and threats to democracy. Voters will even invoke the blood spilled by past generations, or the suffering of those currently under dictatorial regimes, in order to shame others into joining their ranks; “soldiers died so you would have the right to vote!”, they say.&nbsp;</p><p>Nevermind that such arguments would sound absurd if levied against someone foregoing their right to free speech, to practice religion, or to peaceably assemble; nobody has had dead soldiers hung over their head for staying home from a protest, or church. We are all very lucky to live in a country where we have the right to vote, just as we are lucky to live in a country where practicing certain religions does not jeopardize our safety. One does not fail the oppressed of the world by not voting anymore than by not practicing religion. “Voting is different”, the cult will surely insist, for it is not merely a right, but a responsibility. You, and everyone else, owes it to society to have your opinion counted in the polls, to contribute your perspective to the aggregation that will select a new leader.</p><p> If we scrutinize this claim, however, it falls apart rather quickly. There’s a common saying amongst philosophers; “ought implies can”. It means is that, in order to have a responsibility to do something, you must be able to do that thing. You cannot owe to the world an action which you cannot perform. “But voting is easy!”, you might be saying, and that is so. However, the proponents of voting seem to have in mind a responsibility deeper than just marking an X on a scrap of paper. They want you to have your opinion counted, to add your conception of who would form the best government to the tally. In today’s political climate, at least for some of us, that is nigh-impossible. For many people, to vote for any party is to give an opinion other than our own, because anything amongst the various platforms we might agree with is intractably fused to many more things we disagree with. Indeed, for many, “none of the above” is the statement which best represents our views.</p><p>To insist, in the face of this complaint, that someone should vote anyway, and pick the lesser of five or more evils, is to miss the point. Voting, at least to some people, carries with it a level of approval beyond that of “least horrible”. This is completely sensible; if all party A has to do to get votes is be better than party B, and vice versa, then that encourages neither to be the best party they can be, and instead encourages the sort of negative, point-scoring, fear-mongering behavior that our politics are rife with. </p><p>None of this seems to matter to the cult of voters, however. No matter what you say, no matter what explanation you give for your behavior, the idea of “not voting = okay” simply does not compute inside their heads. They feel qualified, for whatever reason, to become the grand arbiter of your life each election day. Anything you do, anywhere you go, if it does not involve a ballot box, then you are met with their scorn, a failure to yourself, your community, and your country. It is ironic that they are beseeching you to contribute your views to the electoral process, and yet completely disregard your perspective if you dare confess that you would prefer not to vote.</p><p>What is worst about the chastisement of voters, however, is that they seem oblivious to the fact that we have heard it all before. There is not a shortage of vote-encouragement in the world, and if someone is still decided on not voting, your umpteenth repetition of the same old reasons to vote is unlikely to change their mind. Yes, the worst aspect of politics (aside from the politicians themselves) is the pushy voter.</p> </div> </article> </div><!-- /page-->