somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> People can certainly affect what happens by voting. A *person*, on the other
> hand, has, in the history of humanity, never affected the outcome in a
> general election by his or her vote, as far as I know. Likelihood of that
> happening to me is not remotely worth the effort. In conclusion, voting for
> me (or any individual) is irrational because: 1) I am not people, but a
> person. 2) There are no legal consequences 3) There is no social pressure.

  To some people voting is an act with a strong symbolism in it.

  There are countries where people don't get to choose who will rule them.
Many of such countries lack the most basic human rights, and people suffer
on the hands of the opressors who rules them by force.

  Regardless of what one might think of free democratic societies, people
who live in such countries are very lucky. To some people voting is not
just electing who will represent your opinion. The them, voting is a symbol
representing that freedom. It's like a symbol of appreciation. "I vote
because I *can* vote, because I live in a country where people can elect
their leaders, and I really appreciate that. Maybe my vote won't count much,
but just the fact that I *can* vote is a huge, huge thing. There are
countries where people can't vote nor elect their leaders."

  When someone doesn't vote because he doesn't care, it's like he doesn't
appreciate that he can vote in the first place, that he lives in a free
country not ruled by dictators. Many of these people would certainly miss
their right to vote if they lived in a country where they can't. Often
people don't miss something unless they lose it.

  Sure, one person voting might not in itself affect anything, and it may
even be that in some/many "free" countries the results of voting is
heavily influenced eg. by the media, and thus not completely fair. However,
that doesn't remove the symbolism inherent to suffrage.

  Some people also think that someone who doesn't vote doesn't have the
moral right to complain about the government nor the political situation
in their country because by not voting they have shown that they don't
care, and thus complaining afterwards would be hypocrisy.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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