Crossposted from Docudharma
Half of the eligible voters in America do not vote.
More than half of America does not vote in Mid Terms.
Not voting does not equal a protest, it equals fading into the wall paper and allowing others to decide your fate....and the fate of the poor....and the fate of Iraqis and Afghans....and now the fate of the planet itself.
It does NOT register as a protest to The Powers That Be.
It registers a victory for The Powers That Be.
The less The People participate in the one way we have left to us to alter or at least affect the world, the more the The Powers That Be rub their hands together in glee.
I understand the impulse, I understand the anger, the despair, the feeling of powerlessness and the urge to send a message. I didn't vote in 1984, lol, in disgust at what America had become, voting for a freaking ACTOR, fer gawds sake. And a bad one at that.
My not voting, my not participating, did not make one whit of difference. In fact things only got progressively (pun intended) worse.
My participating, my making my voice heard, my voting.....makes about exactly one whit of difference. And that one whit is good enough for me.
If you do not vote, no one anywhere will notice.
If, however, you start a movement, write a petition, post diaries, make a web site, make a FUSS ....about why you are choosing to protest the system by not voting......maybe someone WILL notice.
Personally I think it is bad, bad strategy to do exactly what "they" want.
And what they want is to drive as many people out of the political process as possible so that they can run roughshod over everything we hold dear.
On the other hand I can completely empathize with and understand the impulse.
But allow me to reiterate what I think is the most important point. Half the people in America already don't vote.
You not voting will not be taken as a protest.
If it is noticed at all....
It will be taken as a victory.
It will not be noticed except as further evidence that the American People have given up and that "they" have won. It will have exactly no effect other than that.
You starting or participating in a movement to withhold your vote.....and your money....will be noticed, will have an effect, will make at least a whit of difference.
I am not going to condemn anyone for not participating on principle in a system so obviously corrupt. Your vote is yours, do what you feel is right.
My nose is permanently black and blue from holding it every two years to vote for Democrats, for the lesser of two evils.
But I am damned if I am going to let "them" drive ME out of the system.