Should everyone try to vote?

It is relatively important to vote, but it's also true that you shouldn't vote for a party that doesn't represent your core values. If there are no such party, well that's just the way things are.

With that said, you could also vote for a party because you are extremely against another party. So say there's a party that wants to ban Homosexuality, well you can be sure that I'd go vote for the party that supports Homosexuality.

 

I get what you're saying. I didn't vote in the last Irish elections either (Mostly because I had just turned 18 and forgot to register) but there is no clear distinction like there is in the U.S. for example. For me personally though, I will be voting for Fianna Fail or Labour next time as they offically endorse same sex marriage, whereas Fine Gael won't declare a position on it (although they seem to be in favour). Plus in Ireland people tend to vote based on local politics rather than on the national scale - e.g. my mother always votes for the same local politician who managed to get a pedestrian crossing put in in our town. I do lots of politics modules in college and it always seems ridiculous to me that economy, civil rights, etc. come seondary to those more trivial things.

Back to the original question. Ideally everyone in a society would vote and have their opinions heard. However if you don't feel particularly strongly towards any party then you really don't have to. You have the right to vote and it's your decision whether you choose to exercise that right or not.

 

I've never had the chance to vote in national elections before but I'll be able to in 2014. I have the same problem as you, there just aren't any parties that should be voted into parliament and I don't want to vote for any of the ones that are already in parliament. But I will vote but don't know yet how. My only aim is to keep the radical right from winning the elections!

And to answers your question, no, I don't think everyone should vote but what I mean is, everyone who wants to vote should be made to pass a very basic test, just to make sure they understand what they're voting for. Because sadly, there are many people who vote but they have absolutely no idea what it means. Some of them are literally told where to put the X and they just do it.. That makes me wonder what percentage of the votes are made up by ignorant people.

 

At least spoil your ballot if you don't want to vote for a party. That way you actually register your disillusionment.

 

I fully agree with Australia on this. If you don't vote, you get fined.

It should be compulsory. Apathy is no excuse.

 

“If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.”
--Emma Goldman

 

Perhaps not the best quote considering how many states in the US tried to change their voting laws to hamper citizens from voting (the alleged Voter ID Fraud), and changing the voting schedules to inconvenient times at the last elections.

 

It's extremely important to vote. Unless shit really, really, really, really hits the fan, there will always be a lesser of two evils. Am I completely satisfied with my Democratic Party? No, but it's a heck of a lot better than the Republican Party right now! I know people want to be part of a different/third party, but it's not practical in the current political climate. We have to be smart and realize it is not perfect.

 

Living in the United States, I have no illusions that the two-party system is anything other than a machine for working cruelty. However, I still think we're morally compelled to reject the greater evil of the two until revolutionary insurrection becomes a feasible option.

What I kept telling people last year is that I was not an Obama supporter but a Romney rejector.

 

I'm of the opinion that voting is a responsibility rather than a right. If you don't like the choices that exist then get out there and volunteer for a party you believe in. Sitting at home and doing nothing because you don't like the way things are is unconscionable and self defeating.

 

Politics is a completely different ball game in places like Ireland though. If I lived in the U.S. like most of the other posters here I would definitely feel compelled to vote as the main political parties differ so greatly in their ideals, and in this context I feel that voting is most definitely a responsibility. In Ireland all of the political parties are practically the same but with different names. When we vote, I think it's fair to say that we don't think of government on the grand scale, it's more a case of what your local TD (Your local political representative, I don't know what you call them in the U.S.) can do for you and your local community. It genuinely is the case that your vote really won't make that much of a difference there.

 

Are there other measures you vote on besides political representatives?

 

In my experience, not really. It's really messed up and allows for our politicians to become complacent. We have two main political parties - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael (both right wing, but moderate). They are practically the same in every aspect. Of course they argue all the time and the oppostion (currently Fianna Fail) never agrees with what the government does (Fine Gael), but should they ever come to power again they will just follow the same policies, so there is no point in voting on that basis. Therefore people tend to base everything on local politics. Even worse some people vote for a particular party simply because their family has voted for that party for decades so they just follow suit without actually engaging with what is happening in the country and what needs to be done. So Beware Of You is quite right in saying that his vote probably won't make a difference.

 

statistically your vote won't do anything, so do what you like with it.

 

I don´t like my country, and I don´t like it´s people either, sooo why should I try to vote?
I´m working on getting away from here as soon as possible.

 

While I do believe voting is a civic duty, I also completely understand how you feel. I've only voted twice before and I certainly wasn't voting for the party currently in power. I don't know if it's just our age group (early-mid twenties) but political apathy seems to be the norm these days. In many ways, not a lot changes from party to party so who really cares who gets elected?

As JPC said, living in the United States would inspire much more interest and passion in politics than most other places. Because you can be damn sure that if the choice of who is going to lead the free world comes down to a Harvard educated lawyer or a dumbass Mormon corporate weasel, your vote is going to matter a whole lot more lol.

 

>revolutionary insurrection
top lel