Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

Statistically there's no point in me voting. I'm in a 90% dominated (R) area. So I won't be and I encourage others to do the same.

Democracy is real, but a state which is two party FPTP is only barely within the definition. It is set up so there is no legitimate third choice, and even if there was they would have no power to accomplish anything anyway.

Whatever we currently have exists to make us feel like we have just enough choice to keep us quiet and passive, "wait for the next election" they say, "you can change things" they lie, but statistically almost nobody in the country has the power to perform real change (less than 10% of states, and even in those states only a relatively small swing-district minority).

Go vote, but you've fallen into their trap. The trap of believing that US "democracy" isn't fundamentally broken/useless. Until the baby boomers and older literally die off the whole thing has no purpose at all (unless you happen to be in the 1% of voters that matter).

Why would participating in a broken democratic system automatically imply you believe it isn't broken? It's all you can do to have even the tiniest amount of influence. Sure, your vote might not be worth much now, but that influence accumulates. It's literally the only thing you can do that has any impact at all, but you don't want to? Refusing to participate is not going to change anything, it's not going to fix the system.

As to your first point: "I don't vote, because not enough people vote for what I want" is a self-defeating argument. It's a dangerous argument, too, because it just reinforces the status quo even more. If you're unhappy with the current numbers, the very least you can do is make your tiny part of a percentage change.

Just to correct a math error, you probably live in an area thats only 45% R, maybe 5% D, and 50% disenfranchised. Never forget at least half the population chooses not to vote. This election they're expecting to set an all time record in my home town of just under 60%.

I don't want to throw away my vote, so I'm voting "L" party on my ballot.

I do enjoy Rozeff's explanation of why he doesn't vote. "I do not wish to endorse a system that has produced and continues to produce what I think are pragmatically bad results"

http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff224.html

I'm in the same boat, I live in Texas and the Congressman for my district has been in office since before I was even born and the other candidate is Green party with no chance of winning.

As for the gubernatorial election, after hearing the insane amount of mudslinging on TV and radio from both candidates, I definitely wouldn't vote for either. I don't feel as though any candidates on the ballot, for any office, represent me or my beliefs.

There are 4 candidates running for each of the statewide positions, do none of them share your views? Have you seen this? http://www.lwvtexas.org/voters%20guide/2014gevg/gevg2014.pdf

That may be true, but do you have any local propositions or initiatives worth voting for? I feel that those are often overlooked in most elections.

This is a good point and largely the reason I vote. Many local initiatives have low enough turnout that you can actually make an impact. In a decent number of cases they also don't split directly along party lines, so your vote can matter regardless of the party split of your area. They also tend to be more pertinent to your community.

> Statistically there's no point in me voting. I'm in a 90% dominated (R) area.

Me too but I still voted. I protested by finding actual policy stances for the candidates participating in the races I voted. I was genuinely surprised by the amount of politicians that took the stance of 'not Obama' and stopped at that, like that is a viable policy for anything. Unfortunately, a lot of these people will be voted in due to the people who live in this area but I can't really complain unless I at least try to change things, therefore I vote.

Along with Governor, my (worthless) State Rep both national and local, there were important ballot measures felt compelled to vote on. I suppose I have the same attitude that my votes will more or less be null and void but maybe if enough like minded folks feel the same way, we (my area) might actually get a politician that is not a complete tool.

> Until the baby boomers and older literally die off the whole thing has no purpose at all

This is just ridiculous. You know why the boomers dictate so much of what happens in the country? Because they actually go vote! They show up.

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