You do not want to vote? Here’s Plato for you:
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
Short and sweet.
PS: my Political Science instructor once told our class that a person does not have the right to complain against the government if that person has not participated in the formation of the government (read: elections). Makes sense. Unless, of course, you are disenfranchised. Unless, of course, if the election is rigged.
I have in my sidebar the reason why we should vote. We old folks have gone through so many elections. I have voted in every election since turning 18. Its not about me anymore, its for you, the youth who will be left holding the mess our leaders have made. Vote and fight for your future.
Plato also thought that democracy was a pretty lousy form of government 😛
I fell in love with that.
Lumang na yan, walang karapatang umangal. BUT those people who choose to abstain do make a statement: they don’t trust our government, and/or they don’t want to get their hands dirty.
Josh, to be honest, I don’t like Plato. I prefer Aristotle.
Shari, I’d let two other people refute the abstain-as-statement people:
These are not ordinary times, and to throw in the towel because “they are all the same” is a cop-out.
All it takes for this electoral process to become a farce is that we do nothing.
Unfortunately, Shari, when they don’t vote, they get their hands dirty, too. It’s also a lousy way of doing it.
Schumey, unfortunately, there are those who chose to surrender at this point. That is sad.
I’m not going to vote, not because I’m trying to make a statement, but because I’m 99.99999% sure that my vote won’t have any effect on the outcome. I’m not being cynical. Mathematically, one vote really has zero statistical significance.
There are other things people can do to make more of a difference than merely casting a vote…. Tell everyone you know about the candidates and platforms you support. Donate money to your favorite party list group. Volunteer for campaigns. Blog like Arbet does 😉
I don’t think it’s fair for someone who doesn’t do any of those thing to say that he’s a better citizen than I am just because he votes and I don’t. When Plato said “participate in politics,” he sure didn’t mean “vote.” For the Greeks, to participate in politics is to speak up in the agora. I hope that more Filipinos will participate in politics this way.
P.S. Like Plato, Aristotle was also not a fan of democracy 😀