Do you vote in political elections?
You can bet your ass that I vote! Ever since I was a young meerkat, I have regarded exercising my right to vote as an important civic duty. I always vote in general elections, and try to vote in local elections too. I can understand why some people abstain, or feel too apathetic to vote, but to me, I believe that you cannot complain about the outcome of an election if you don’t vote.
We recently had local elections in the UK. My home town collectively voted for the Tories at the last General Election, which was disappointing, but I did my part to try and prevent this. Had I sat at home, and assumed the outcome to be inevitable, I would have (in my view) no reasonable right to dispute or bemoan the result. Consequently I voted in my local elections, and in my little district, Labour won! In fact, my home town’s voting patterns were such that no one party had control of the council, but Labour had a majority of the seats. For the previous three local elections, the Tories had emerged victorious. Might this mark the beginning of a change?
Naturally I cannot take credit for the shift towards Labour. I am but one voter! However, if I had allowed apathy to dictate whether I’d voted at all, I’d have no reason to appreciate what I regard as a positive outcome. The democratic system is not perfect, but it’s better than the alternatives, and if we want to stand any chance of effecting meaningful change, we need to use our vote.
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I am 110% in agreement with all you say, Ben! Voter apathy in the U.S. has long been a problem, but a year later those who couldn’t be bothered to vote still exercise their ‘right’ to whinge and complain over every single thing they disagree with. And congratulations on Labour’s victory over the Tories! Good work, you guys … now if only we can do the same on this side of the pond!
Let us hope the forces of populist thinking are roundly dealt a blow everywhere! Voters need to understand they can’t do that unless they vote!