Ask Lemmy

Lazy idiots, misguided idiots, deluded idiots who have made every progressive goal more difficult to achieve, just out of reach for the rest of our lives

People who don’t vote don’t get to complain if things don’t go their way. I mean they can, but it’s pretty silly. It’s like writing a review for a restaurant that your friends have eaten at, but that you haven’t. No one should take that review seriously.

I think voting should be mandatory for people who have registered to vote. I don’t think anyone should be required to register, but if you are registered you should have to vote or be fined, imo.

Vote in what?

I've been taught people vote on their opinions, opinions form based on how the politicians resonate with them, and that in turn happens due to how good or bad they are.

Last year yielded only the most questionable choices for the presidency in the US. Is it any wonder some people didn't vote? Any politician that judges non-voters only hints at the kind of aura that may have caused them to lose in the first place.

If I don't vote, I'll get judged. If I vote third party, I'll get judged. If I vote for the person we're taught to hate, I'll get judged. What does everyone want? Non-democracy?

I'm not sure about what election you're referring to. If you mean in the recent US presidential election, most of them weren't in a position to realistically affect the outcome anyway; they'd need to be in a swing state, a state that wasn't already very probably going to go one way or the other.

That being said, if they didn't vote for the President, they probably also didn't vote for other things on the ballot that probably affect them as well. It's not just about electing the President.

and what if government tomorrow or (maybe far future) announced that they will be announcing fines for people who didn't vote in order to maximize participation, would you agree with that decision?

I'm not going to get on their case. I think that's okay if they genuinely don't care or don't know what's good for them.

Quiet contempt, mostly. Their arguments for doing so, while passionate, simply don’t hold up under scrutiny. However, trying to talk to them about it just strengthens their resolve, so I don’t bother.

Everyone get's what they asked for. The thing about the ubiquitous trolley problem is it has clear outcomes. That's why it works. Whatever's happening down the track, here we are. We had a lever we didn't pull. Best learn to live with the choice, because there was a choice.