HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

Why You Don't Need To Vote

Views: 840
Perhaps there are more meaningful ways to spend your time.

For full text, downloadable links, and more, visit https://reason.com/reasontv/2018/11/05/you-dont-need-to-vote

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

If you want to alienate almost anyone, no matter their politics, tell them you're not voting tomorrow.

Your friends will gasp. Celebrities will judge you. Your mother might still love you—grudgingly. The very concept of democracy depends on it, they'll say. And don't you care about America?

Don't accept the guilt trip. Not voting can be an equally legitimate and moral choice. Here are four of the most common myths used to shame nonvoters.

'Your Vote Matters'

As Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward has often pointed out, you're not going to sway a major election. Your chances are vanishingly small of affecting a race at the state level, and a single vote has decided precisely zero federal elections in more than a century. A comprehensive review by economists Casey Mulligan and Charles Hunter looking at tens of thousands of races since 1898 unearthed just a single federal race that hinged on one vote—but a recount revealed the final difference to be much larger.

Voting is like playing the Powerball. Punch your ticket or don't, and your life will stay exactly the same.

Yes, if a million other people think the same way, then the result could shift. But this is about you, and whether or not you cast your one vote. It simply won't affect the outcome.

Not if you live in a swing state. Not if the Electoral College were abolished. Not even if you're in Florida and your chad is hung like a moose.

'If You Don't Vote, You Have No Right To Complain'

Only about half the voting age population makes it to the polls, and groups including young people, the poor, and the disabled are underrepresented in voter rolls. Do they not deserve a voice?

The act of voting doesn't a good citizen make, and it's actually one of the least effective ways to contribute to the American experiment. Most social and cultural change happens outside the political sphere, and that's a good thing.

Rather than follow the latest horse race, you could tweet, blog, buy, donate, or activate. You might spend your scarce time exposing corruption, developing a new vaccine, or microwaving a burrito. Any of these things can have a more tangible impact on the world than your vote.

'It's Your Civic Duty to Vote'

Generations of brave Americans have fought for your right to vote—and for your right not to. In fact, you can choose not to vote because you love your country.

Maybe you don't feel educated, or at least not enough to fill out your ballot and cancel out the vote of your well-informed neighbor. That's OK, and really quite moral.

Besides, even the most knowledgeable voters can't predict what a candidate will do in office. Remember when Obama was going to rein in W's foreign adventuring? It was about 10 years and one drone kill list ago.

'If You Don't Vote, You're Just Lazy'

A principled citizen might actively avoid a two-party system that systemically silences alternative voices. You could decide that, by design, it doesn't represent your interests, and that voting for the lesser of two evils only helps the fat cats in Washington maintain a smoke screen of legitimacy.

In that case, go ahead and wash your hands of the whole rotten mess.

At the end of the day, you might want to vote. Maybe to give your granddaughter an upclose look at the machinery of American government. Maybe to get that fashionable "I Voted" sticker-selfie that proves to your Insta friends how woke or un-cucked you are. Maybe you just really like middle school gyms.

So this Tuesday, go ahead and rock the vote—if it makes you happy. But if you decide that it's a symbolic act that's unlikely to tangibly help your family or community, it's OK to spend your time and resources doing something more impactful.

This Tuesday, you don't need to vote.

Produced by Justin Monticello. Shot by Paul Detrick. Music by Text Me Records / Bobby Renz, Matt Harris, The Grand Affair, Geographer, Vibe Tracks, and Kevin MacLeod.

Cold Funk - Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100499

Artist: http://incompetech.com/
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for Remy: I Love L.A. (Randy Newman Parody)2:32
Remy: I Love L.A. (Randy Newman Parody)
ReasonVids
896 views
Thumbnail for The Case Against Education: Government Spending $1 Trillion a Year on Schooling Is a Waste of Money21:08
The Case Against Education: Government Spending $1 Trillion a Year on Schooling Is a Waste of Money
ReasonVids
998 views
Thumbnail for How Jay Leno Changed the Politics of Late Night8:48
How Jay Leno Changed the Politics of Late Night
ReasonVids
1016 views
Thumbnail for Extinction Is Not Forever: Reviving the Passenger Pigeon with The Long Now Foundation's Ben Novak9:31
Extinction Is Not Forever: Reviving the Passenger Pigeon with The Long Now Foundation's Ben Novak
ReasonVids
995 views
Thumbnail for Overdose Director Martin Borgs on the Next Financial Disaster9:10
Overdose Director Martin Borgs on the Next Financial Disaster
ReasonVids
852 views
Thumbnail for How Rand Paul & Eric Holder Are Working Together on Criminal Justice Reform4:51
How Rand Paul & Eric Holder Are Working Together on Criminal Justice Reform
ReasonVids
1564 views
Thumbnail for The Cops Are Interested in Your Tattoos6:15
The Cops Are Interested in Your Tattoos
ReasonVids
797 views
Thumbnail for Reason's DC Staff: Busting on Biden2:12
Reason's DC Staff: Busting on Biden
ReasonVids
979 views
Thumbnail for Is Democracy Overrated? Q&A with Columnist David Harsanyi9:12
Is Democracy Overrated? Q&A with Columnist David Harsanyi
ReasonVids
883 views
Thumbnail for Billboard Top Songs 2023💥The Weeknd, Charlie Puth, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran | Mega Hit Mix1:00
Billboard Top Songs 2023💥The Weeknd, Charlie Puth, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran | Mega Hit Mix
invidious
312 views
Thumbnail for Tap It: The NSA Slow Jam (featuring @goremy)2:47
Tap It: The NSA Slow Jam (featuring @goremy)
ReasonVids
892 views
Thumbnail for The Knockoff Economy: How Copying Benefits Everyone9:24
The Knockoff Economy: How Copying Benefits Everyone
ReasonVids
829 views
Thumbnail for Orbital ATK MK44 30mm BUSHMASTER II - high speed camera footage3:12
Orbital ATK MK44 30mm BUSHMASTER II - high speed camera footage
bestofvoatxyz
915 views
Thumbnail for Life Inside Australia's Holocough Camps0:45
Life Inside Australia's Holocough Camps
voatcatbox
466 views
Thumbnail for BCM Vision Pro original content0:30
BCM Vision Pro original content
bestofupgoat
237 views
Thumbnail for Nanny of the Month for June 2010: Ladies' Night Foe James Kirkpatrick!1:07
Nanny of the Month for June 2010: Ladies' Night Foe James Kirkpatrick!
ReasonVids
857 views
Thumbnail for Political Speech, Cellphone Searches, and the Future of TV: Three Supreme Court Cases to Watch4:26
Political Speech, Cellphone Searches, and the Future of TV: Three Supreme Court Cases to Watch
ReasonVids
951 views
Thumbnail for Rand Paul's RNC Speech and the Future of the Republican Party3:35
Rand Paul's RNC Speech and the Future of the Republican Party
ReasonVids
837 views
Thumbnail for Supreme Court Case: Seeking Justice for James King16:04
Supreme Court Case: Seeking Justice for James King
IJvids
899 views
Thumbnail for ChatGPT Clone Running Locally - GPT4All Tutorial for Mac/Windows/Linux/Colab | 1littlecoder16:47
ChatGPT Clone Running Locally - GPT4All Tutorial for Mac/Windows/Linux/Colab | 1littlecoder
tech.topic
620 views
Thumbnail for Rabbi admits their prophecies are why jews are forcing White countries to accept third world invaders.1:30
Rabbi admits their prophecies are why jews are forcing White countries to accept third world invaders.
allAheadFull
875 views
Thumbnail for These motherfuckers never call ahead of time, they just show up whenever they want and demand to be let in.0:33
These motherfuckers never call ahead of time, they just show up whenever they want and demand to be let in.
bestofupgoat
494 views
Thumbnail for Republican Machine Urges Voters to DITCH TRUMP After Big Election Losses.14:32
Republican Machine Urges Voters to DITCH TRUMP After Big Election Losses.
bestofsaidit
802 views
Thumbnail for The Disintegration of a World Power | Live From The Lair19:30
The Disintegration of a World Power | Live From The Lair
Terrence Popp
863 views
Thumbnail for Prison for Smokers, Permits for Strippers! (Nanny of the Month, Jan '13)1:08
Prison for Smokers, Permits for Strippers! (Nanny of the Month, Jan '13)
ReasonVids
871 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv, justin monticello, midterms, election 2018, voting, voter turnout
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle