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George Carlin on why he doesn't vote
economic analysis of why voting is a waste of time http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/magazine/06freak.html?page...
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thenewgreen · 4569 days ago · link ·
"A rational individual should abstain from voting." -I'm beginning to agree. It's almost like growing up in a religious household. When you are told how important voting is your whole life by your parents, you watch them work at polling stations, put up signs in their yard etc.
It's like being told how important going to church is, having parents that are elders in church and wear crucifixes. -It may be inconsequential and have zero ROI but damned if you don't feel guilty for not participating. It's going to be hard for me to not vote... but not because I feel like doing so has consequence but rather because I've been so conditioned to feel guilty if I don't. Weird.
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I live in a vote by mail state, you can go to a poll if you registered late or moved and your ballot didn't come, but almost everyone votes by mail. We get pamphlets in which any interested party can give their two cents about the merits of a ballot initiative and candidates get to say a bit about their position. It is very easy to vote here, so I do. I think I would sometimes vote even if I didn't have vote by mail, even while I know that my vote doesn't count.