Didn’t even need to click through to guess the author’s race an gender.
Do you what you want, fucker. But too many people got savaged by dogs, blasted with fire hoses, and hung from trees to get me into the voting booth for me to ever opt out.
If voting is so pointless, then why are people freaking out so much about "the wrong people" doing it? Why is voter fraud such a boogeyman if voting has no meaning or power?
They don't seem to get it... not voting is an act of privilege.
I can't afford to not vote because my rights are always "up for debate" each time an election comes around.
it fucking isn't "merely expressive," who is this eejit and who the fuck paid him and gave him a platform for this bilge.
if it didn't matter, the right wouldn't keep trying to suppress it.
this is a snit because "zomg i'm literally 1 in a million" doesn't feel special enough
It's been so long since I thought the NYT had a single useful, intellligent writer on their staff. I bet it's nepo babies and FOF's as far as the eye can see in there.
There's Jamelle Bouie. I don't pay enough attention to think who else. There are several I've liked on WaPo but I canceled my scrip today anyway. Democracy dies in darkness NO SHIT MOTHERFUCKERS
I wish I could talk my Boomer parents into unsubscribing or at least reading it more critically. alas, they are True Believers. (hell, it took them a bit to really grok that Woody Allen is Not Cool Really).
gotta have that crossword. sigh.
My grandmother votes in any election she can get her hands on and it boggles my mind that that civic duty in her didn't get passed down to at least two of her four daughters, one of whom said to me 'well I'm not going to complain so it doesn't matter.'
suffrage who? 🤦🏼♀️
Every time I see these people, I think of the time I accidentally (courtesy of a flight diversion) found myself in Athens, Greece, on the day of their general election in 1987. I was 14 years old.
The junta ruled from 1967 to 1974. The current democracy in Greece was *younger than me*
The Greek general election was not merely an expression of democracy, it was a celebration of it. Voting was mandatory and everyone seemed to think that was the way it should be.
Every hotel and bar TV screen was turned to the count.
Young men and women cruised around Athens...
...waving flags representing their party of choice out the windows, sounding their horns to represent the *ballot number of their candidate*.
We were exhausted and went to bed. At 2am the results came through. We know this because Athens cheered.
I have never heard an entire city cheer before or since. It was an experience.
Because they knew, they *remembered* what losing democracy was like.
I will always vote like the Greeks voted that day.
I entirely believe that voting should be mandatory, but with an incredibly easy opt-out. And it should come with some small token of encouragement--like $10 off your taxes if you voted (or took the time to do the incredibly easy opt-out).
In Australia, voting is mandatory. You have to physically cast a ballot.
There are no rules about what is actually ON that ballot.
You can cast a blank ballot.
You can write in a fictional character.
You can, and this is quite popular, draw a dick pic.
Voting is mandatory here in Brazil.
Many people simply do not care enough and simply skip it. They choose to pay the R$ 7 fine (less than US$ 2).
Now I, even if it were not mandatory, would still go into that booth.
As their ancestors did!
In 5th century BC Athens, one HAD to vote in order to BE a citizen. If a person did not partake in the city's affairs, if they were not discussing how to run the city in the agora, if they did not VOTE, they were stripped of their citizenship.
Yes, and our democracy is somewhat influenced by their democracy, somewhat by some indigenous traditions we stole, and somewhat by the Althingr. The Althingr survives almost untouched in the European style of parliamentary democracy, though.
Matthew Walther basically says he does not vote because the election does not effect him as a result of his wealth, status and privilege. He does not bother talking about how it will effect the rest of us. Matthew Walther is a white male Catholic Christian
Maybe his stance moved a bit from his white privilege showing to whatever, fascism is not a deal breaker for him, he simply can't be bothered to either shit or get off the pot
I never understand not voting. It's like the one thing you can do that has any consequence on how society goes... a lot of voting here is done strategically too. Not voting is pointless.
I do vote every time at least out of moral obligation: people literally died to get me the right to vote. I would feel a bit like an asshole to just nope out without a really good reason.
No power beats people power. These f-s know that. They don’t want your voice heard. They can’t stop you from voting, so they are trying to convince you it doesn’t matter. They are lying.
