This may be late but it’ll still serve its purpose for future elections. In 1776 when America established its independence we decided to form a democracy. A democracy literally translates to “rule by the people,” and how do we exercise this rule? By voting! For people (mostly the under 30 crowd) to say things like, “my vote doesn’t count” and “I don’t know about the issues so I wouldn’t know what to be voting for,” makes me sick to my stomach that someone can be so content about being ignorant. Before 1776 we were letting the British speak for us, we didn’t like that, so we fought an eight-year war to earn the right to speak for ourselves. Around 25,000 Americans died in order to store this right for ourselves and what do we do? Not vote! In this article I’ll refute the common defenses for not voting and emphasize why voting is so important.

 

Probably the most common defense for not voting is, “my vote doesn’t count.” Since every vote does count I think it should be changed (and sometimes is) to “my vote doesn’t matter.” Now it’s time to say why this way of thinking is invalid and unsound. The only possible way that this argument would be valid and sound is if you were the only person to think this way. And when I say only I literally mean only. The United States population recently rose to 300 million people so this would mean that 299,999,999 people would have to think opposite of you. And the odds of a nation wide election coming down to one vote are almost impossible. In which case you’re right and your one vote wouldn’t matter but that’ll never happen. Here’s why that is; since you’re obviously not the only person who thinks this way all of a sudden your one “irrelevant” vote then turns to 2, then to 4 and then to 10. Pretty soon the number is so high that it would make a difference in the outcome and maybe the politician or proposition you really wanted didn’t win or get passed because the people who would of voted the other way decided that their vote was pointless. People have selfish minds and only think in micro stances. If they were to think in macro stances they’d realize that their voter apathy hurts elections.

 

Another great excuse is, “I don’t know about the issues so I wouldn’t know what to be voting for.” This is entirely due to laziness and the fact that you almost have to purposely avoid the ads in order for this to be right. Everyone has their entertainment medium and most people usually have more than one. For someone to say this ignorant statement and have television, radio, the newspaper, Internet, magazines, and word of mouth to get informed on the topics is literally trying to avoid at all costs what a certain election is all about. And don’t even bother trying to convince me you successfully dodged all those automated phone calls. It wouldn’t even take long to inform yourself and the topics are usually addressed so far in advance that you could review them in increments so as to not waste a lot of your time at once and still be ready for the big day. Voting itself only takes a few minutes especially if you’re prepared and know exactly what you want to vote for. So unless you lock yourself in a cage and that cage is in your basement and you hired Igor to feed you, I highly doubt you haven’t heard about what’s being discussed by the masses.

 

So as the next election begins to approach day by day start becoming informed and listen to what the politicians have to say. I’m not saying you have to like it but believe it or not their laws and regulations affect our everyday lives. Since these people speak for us both domestically and internationally make sure you do your part to get the person you want representing us as a whole in office. It won’t take much time and you’ll feel better afterwards. Always remember that if you don’t speak for yourself, people will speak for you!