There are times when people express a desire not to vote, and while I might disagree, I can understand. This, on the other hand, isn’t even an argument. It’s incoherent in many ways. I disagree with it, but it’s also inept persuasive writing.
He begins with “it’s pointless” because a single vote won’t change the outcome (which on a local level isn’t even necessarily true!), and then deals with “it matters when lots of people do it” by saying “I’m not responsible for other people.” It’s sleight of hand, pure sophistry.
it's like vaccines and herd immunity. too many people think they don't need to participate because "everyone else" will take up the slack of being responsible citizens, but below a certain (fairly high!) threshold, suddenly we're all worrying about polio again.
It's not true at all. Jimmy DiPlacido, Denise Brooks. Kofi Osei, Drew Rothman, and the Hon. Zachary Cohen could set him straight.
bsky.app/profile/adam...
In the past decade I've had three clients elected to township commissioner or school board in TIED elections, one who prevailed by a single vote, and a county judge who won by 4 votes out of 65,000+ cast. www.mcall.com/2022/06/16/z...
This guy's a fool. And dangerous.
I often think you can tell a lot about where somebody is coming from in not voting from whether they say that they cannot bear to vote in a particular race or that they will not vote at all.
What I’m saying is that it is literally and simplistically true that in national races, your one vote if you consider it completely individually, which you should not, will generally not change the outcome. But that’s a nonsensical way to think about voting!
Also, look at who the message is coming from. These rich, white, cis het, Christian men aren’t bothered by the right-wing agenda. They get their Christo-fascist state and tax breaks if Trump wins. If Biden wins, they’ll pretend they weren’t backing the right-wing agenda.
You do not have to tell me this! My entire point was that this op-ed is awful and makes no sense. We absolutely agree about whether people should vote!
Totally agree. I just think we should look at the people who aren’t voting and assume they will benefit by Trump winning. If they are rich, white, cis het dudes, they will benefit. This describes most of the pundit class shitting on Biden.
I agree! That’s why it’s a nonsensical way to think about voting. Of course voting matters. You don’t need to talk me into anything, believe me — I’m talking about how to answer people who say “I look at election results and it wouldn’t have been different if I hadn’t voted at all.”
I just had this conversation with my hair dresser. I think I convinced her that her vote makes a difference in local elections, I'm not sure I was convincing about state / national.
I mean not to get conspiratorial but guys like this seek platforms like the Times to convince their liberal readership to do something that they, the reactionaries, want. The question is why the Times agrees and lets them.
That’s right. But even there, if one individual person truly considers ONLY their own vote, they will conclude “it wouldn’t have mattered if I did/didn’t vote.” I am 100 percent not endorsing this at all. At all!
In 2020, we lost my local congressional seat by 6 votes. I knock doors, and I point this out. I actually think it sometimes backfires: people get stressed out by the idea that they personally could decide an election. They want to be part of a win but not to have that kind of responsibility for it.
Yeah, it was a heartbreaker. The Dems had a rough time because they took COVID seriously and couldn't really campaign, and the Republicans didn't have that constraint. I'm an eternal optimist, so I have hopes for Bohannan this time, but it's an uphill battle.
Totally understood! You’re making excellent points. I’m 66 now but I remember having that very same thought in 1980, after Reagan won. I’ve always voted but took me years to regain confidence in voting as an effective collective act after that election.
The paradox of voting:
- Payoff of an individual vote is effectively zero
- Cost of voting (in time/effort) is non-zero
- People vote anyway
This is well known and well studied! This guy could acknowledge that instead of acting like it's a new discovery he's made!
Writing “I’m not responsible for other people” in an op-ed which by its very nature is an attempt to persuade other people is a breathtaking act of contempt for your audience.
