a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by mk
mk  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 11 Police Officers shot at a peaceful protest in Dallas, 5 dead

I agree with the above but this:

    Until you guys stop voting over who is going poison you least, it's not going to change.

It would take about four cycles to dramatically change our representation if people would only vote. The people that are in office are responding to those that do vote. Bernie is evidence of what is possible. The system is designed to be pulled by the voter's interests. A lot of people died for that suffrage. It is a lack of interest that we suffer from.





wasoxygen  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    It is a lack of interest that we suffer from.

Do you know many people who would say they don't care that police kill innocent people? How do you distinguish "lack of interest" from a belief that voting, writing letters to Congress, marching and chanting slogans won't in fact make much difference?

mk  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I am specifically talking about a lack of interest in the political process that we have. There are plenty of reasons to be cynical about it our governance, but on a historical basis, I think that we can agree that our degree of representation is near an all time high.

Of course, one individual's vote counts for almost nothing. But that is a function of being part of an electorate counted in the hundreds of millions. It's not unfair, and I don't think it is something that should be remedied. Also, we do get to vote on local matters, where our mathematical influence is greater.

I can't understand why or how a vote should 'make more of a difference'. Voting is fair because it doesn't.

I do suspect the total electorate's will is likely different than the voting electorate. I can't imagine how it couldn't be seeing as they have different views on the value of voting. Also, there are demographic differences between the two.

At any rate, it frustrates me to see people that have opinions and perspectives that I value not voting, while I see many people that have opinions and perspectives that I do not value vote.

We make the world we live in. Not only by voting to influence the final count, but by being the kind of person that indicates that societies should have voting as a part of governance. It is a statement. It is a way of being. Must our influence mathematically matter in order for an action to be worthwhile?

oyster  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Also, we do get to vote on local matters, where our mathematical influence is greater.

I don't know if it's the same thing in the states but in Canada this is where people vote least even though it can matter most. It's mind boggling, and most people don't even know enough about the political process to even know they have a vote in provincial and municipal elections. There's definitely a lack of interest problem, most people I know just complain about the current situation while being completely unaware they let it happen.

OftenBen  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    How do you distinguish "lack of interest" from a belief that voting, writing letters to Congress, marching and chanting slogans won't in fact make much difference?

The learned helplessness of this situation is very real.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2819 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Probably because the chances of a person making an impact writing a letter to Congress is effectively zero when compared to that same person tackling the same or similar issue starting within their own local legislature. That's much more of a non-zero value and holy fuck I wish people would give a shit about the politics immediately around them and making a difference there first instead of continuing to hedge our bets on some grandiose national change.