As my faith in the democratic process has slowly been crumbling over the years, I begin wondering about the importance of voting and motivation to do so
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Well statistically speaking the chances that your vote will make a difference are, strictly speaking, pretty small. Very few elections are decided by a single vote.
But I think they have strong symbolic value too. An election in which one candidate wins by a landslide produces a different political reality than an election that's really close.
You could say that not voting has symbolic value also in that it expresses frustration with the system. But the problem with that is that not voting can be interpreted in so many ways. It could tell the political establishment that people like you are apathetic about the issues or don't care enough to stay informed. It could tell them that they're not doing enough to pander to your demographic. There's no telling how it would be interpreted.
I'm certainly not going to defend the system, because I think it's fundamentally flawed in a lot of ways. I have no idea why measures to strengthen the mechanisms of democracy never make it to the debated national issues. And nobody would be happier than me to see big, structural changes. But I don't think anything is gained by walking away from the current electoral system unless and until a better one is put in place.
But I think they have strong symbolic value too. An election in which one candidate wins by a landslide produces a different political reality than an election that's really close.
You could say that not voting has symbolic value also in that it expresses frustration with the system. But the problem with that is that not voting can be interpreted in so many ways. It could tell the political establishment that people like you are apathetic about the issues or don't care enough to stay informed. It could tell them that they're not doing enough to pander to your demographic. There's no telling how it would be interpreted.
I'm certainly not going to defend the system, because I think it's fundamentally flawed in a lot of ways. I have no idea why measures to strengthen the mechanisms of democracy never make it to the debated national issues. And nobody would be happier than me to see big, structural changes. But I don't think anything is gained by walking away from the current electoral system unless and until a better one is put in place.
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