Word: voting
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...right not to vote represents our freedom not to define ourselves around politics–the freedom, in fact, not to follow politics at all. It is the choice to govern one’s own life directly—not by way of Washington—as well as the ability to refrain from interfering in the lives of others. It is the freedom to withhold our approval from government...
...should I vote? Some argue that I should vote to change the result of the election. But the chance of a presidential election coming down to one vote is on the order of one in ten million (and imagine the scandal and litigation if it actually happened...
...Some argue that I should vote because if everybody did not vote, democracy would not work. But this is a deeply silly argument. One does not control everybody’s vote, but only one’s own. Besides, if we imagined that everybody else would act the same way as ourselves, voting would be unnecessary–we could just unanimously decide on a candidate. Not voting is a form of dissent; like those who choose to vote, I do it because I disagree with others...
...Some argue that I should vote to express myself. But is it impossible to find a better way to express oneself than pulling a lever in a closed booth and marking down the name of a proxy with which one barely agrees...
...Some argue that it is my civic responsibility to vote. But many voters fail to fulfill a far greater responsibility–understanding the issues. Surveys have repeatedly demonstrated the colossal ignorance of the average citizen. A 2004 Cato Institute analysis of election surveys found that voters were startlingly unaware of relevant information. For example, in the 2000 National Election Study, the average respondent correctly answered only 14.4 questions out of 31. Only 50 percent correctly identified which party controlled the Senate before the election; only 11 percent of the survey respondents could identify the post held by William Rehnquist...