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]

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.