Advance Auction Day
Heh. You thought we were daft. But our argument against voting has turned into a meme among mainstream sources.
Staying away from the polling place “feels like a third choice,” a Wisconsin librarian told NBC News recently. “We tend to think we have two choices because third parties are not viable. But there is a third choice — to let other people decide because sometimes either choice goes against everything we believe in.”
What happens when the political class destroys confidence in the very system they game?
“Just shut up, Sophia,” a commenter at the celebrity dish site TMZ put it more bluntly.
Sophia Bush: I’m, like, so pissed off about Mitt Romney…
“Tabloid Diva” is fed up with the actress Sophia Bush telling nonvoters they should be ashamed. “Shut up, Sophia… and everyone else talking crap about nonvoters. I have always voted since I was 18, but this year, I’m not. I can’t pick a candidate I don’t believe in.”
National Public Radio (NPR) put out a query on its Facebook page, asking nonvoters why they abstain. “Answers — and answerers — were all over the map. Conservative voters in predominantly liberal states — and vice versa — just didn’t see the point.”
“It is not rational for the average citizen to vote,” said Philip Husom, a grad student from Minnesota. “The amount of time and energy required to make oneself a truly informed voter is not worth the minuscule benefit gained.”
Here in Maryland, we haven’t seen one presidential campaign ad. Given its proximity to Washington, D.C., it’s as blue a state as you can find in the union. No need for either party to spend a dime here.
Last Friday, the Pew Research Center released a survey revealing 43% of voting-age Americans in 2008 didn’t bother going to the polls. Or perhaps actively stayed away.
“For the first time in my life,” Kevin Mathews, a writer at the do-gooding social network site Care2.com, “I didn’t view it as an irresponsible mind-set.” Mr. Mathews came to his conclusion after sitting down with about 30 self-described activists. “The activists argued that voting was a form of legitimizing the corruption,” he says, “When they cast a vote, they feel it gives the impression that they had a say when they really did not.”
Not that the sentiment is a new in American politics:
H.L. Mencken: The Sage Of Baltimore, 1919
Either way, we’re sure you’re going to do today what you were going to do anyway.
Cheers,
Addison Wiggin
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