I like this...

[ceebeegee]

From a Washington Post chat today about Americans who don't vote:

Dunn Loring, Va.: ...[T]he issue of non-voting...is an example of "free-rider" behavior: people trying to take advantage of not participating in collective activity. The classic free-rider situation is in battle when soldiers decide whether to fight or flee. If one soldier flees, he hurts the group only slightly (he is only one soldier) but he helps his own survival immensely. If lots of soldiers flee, they will be routed and even those who flee will be killed.

Although economists haven't really studied this issue formally, there is a notion of ethics that affects people's behavior in collective situations. People feel bad if they let down the group--and they should. [my emphasis]

...Did you sense any sense of guilt [because] they were not participating in democracy when they clearly benefit from having it?

And do you think that maybe many people don't vote in country because society has not made it clear that voting is not just a privilege but a duty, and not voting is just as unacceptable as fleeing the enemy in combat?

To paraphrase Shawshank Redemption: Get busy voting, or get busy leaving the democracy. You can't have it both ways--you can't take advantage of the democratic process if you don't participate.

Comments

[foulpost.livejournal.com]

"Thou shalt not kill"

Another sweeping statement which doesn't take into account everyone's belief system.

Doesn't mean it still ain't the truth.

[mysticblaze.livejournal.com]

The difference: "Thou shalt not kill" is a sweeping statement that is entrenched in our consciousness so that we as people on this planet can survive with some modicum of civility. Voting, in comparison, is a more recent human construct that is not necessarily a widely held belief. Nation states have survived for centuries without it.

[foulpost.livejournal.com]

Modicum of civility? Oh spare me. And this is coming from the same one who says kill the elderly, kill the kids, kill the parents? And now semantics suddenly apply? Gimme a break, Heidi.

It really bothers me that you can casually dismiss the voting process as an act of democracy unto itself. It isn't. It shows contempt for a country that took you in and provided you the freedom and opportunity to live a decent, dignified life. That didn't come from apathy, it came from generations of people who got off their ass and got involved.

A lot of good people died to protect your right to blithely spit on the flag. I fought for it, so did Mike, so are millions of others. But I'm sure you don't care.

[mysticblaze.livejournal.com]

Read my latest entry. It explains my decision. There was no casual dismissal of the voting process, there is no contempt, there is no blithely spitting on the flag... the fact that I choose not to be involved in this election does not mean that I am not otherwise involved in what is going on in this country or that I would not vote in another election. My decision is particular to this election alone, and for you to assume otherwise is simply incorrect.

Saying and doing are two entirely different things. I haven't killed anyone, and a release of negative energy allows for just that.

Oh, and if I didn't care, I would have left this country a long time ago.

[foulpost.livejournal.com]

You know something? In the time I've known you I can not recall you ever uttering anything but criticism about this country. That tells me a lot.

I really don't think you care, not at all. And weren't you just telling us recently that you planned to leave the country anyway?

[mysticblaze.livejournal.com]

I am not the only person who has ever been critical about this country. That also doesn't mean that there aren't things about it that I agree with, but that I don't discuss them as often... but they have been discussed, just not in the recent past (ie since everyone became so diametrically divided over this election).

It is your opinion that I don't care. Perhaps I don't care as much on issues that are so general as to not apply to me, but I do care for those that affect my every day life. As for leaving the country, I have many reasons to leave, and this election isn't at the top. The reason that is at the top is the need for a change in life and finding my place in this world should the current one not work out.