I’ve heard the arguments. It’s my responsibility. People have died for me to have the right to vote. It’s a privilege. Et cetera.
That’s cool, and I hear you. And I agree.
However, like other aspects of my life, if a system or process isn’t working properly, I choose not to support it, because by supporting a flawed process, one merely supports its continuation.
My decision not to vote is a protest of a system. I believe in democracy (though I recognize there really is no such thing), but I do feel like my vote does not matter. Sure, my vote could help someone get elected. But if I am not happy with any candidate, it does not matter which is elected.
I don’t want to go into a huge diatribe about this, but I do not believe in a two-party system. I feel our choices are severely limited, especially given that we live in the land of choice. No respectable individuals seem to run for office (why are all the people you would love to be in charge nowhere near politics?). I loathe current campaign practices, and I do not trust any campaign promises. Given this, I do not see why I would vote.
I encourage you to think about why there are only two major parties, why your best friend is never a politician, why political ads make you feel dirty, and why they don’t serve beer at the polls.
Comments
9 responses to “No, I didn’t vote”
I’m with you, 100%
After living in Australia, where the Greens are steadily gaining power and a Socialist was elected to city council for the first time in 60 years, I agree with your disgust of a two-party system in the United States.
However, simply failing to support a product, a system, or a candidate doesn’t initiate change. It’s your creation or support of an alternative that will establish a foundation for a better system.
Isn’t interaction design about building a better mousetrap?
From an interaction design standpoint, you might ask why we have mousetraps? Are mice the real problem? How do mice get into areas where you would then want to trap them? The solution to the problem may not have anything to do with a mousetrap at all.
Hence, interaction design is not about building a better mousetrap.
In choosing (not failing) not to support a product or a system, I am casting a vote against the system. By making my opinion public, and generating a discussion about the problem, I am arguing for an alternative (albeit unnamed) and perhaps initiating change.
Although I support “not voting” as a political position, it is neither an act of protest nor is it casting a vote against the system. Acts of ommission and commission are substantively different.
This is not to argue against your decision not to vote (like I said, I believe choosing not to vote is a valid political position), only that it needs to be accurately labeled and put in perspective.
If not voting is not an act of protest, nor a vote against the system, it seems like quite a lame political position. Perhaps that was Courtney’s point earlier.
But since we don’t have votes of no confidence in our political system, how would one cast a vote against the system?
that’s the bitch of the system… you can’t vote against it (at least not truly).
You may not be able to vote against it, but you can act against in any number of ways. Most obvious is that you could work to build multiple party alternatives.
Also, you can vote at the local level, where it does make a difference (from gov to city council) . A big difference.
Another question to ask though is “why rely on the government?” Why not take action directly into the community. If the community leads the way, often, the government will follow.
Voting at the federal level may or may not change things. But direct action, of any sort, it where change begins.
Think about it from the perspective of design, – how can you *make* society different?
Getting back to interaction design, you’ve merely outlined the type of questions interaction designers may consider. However, they are considering those issues because they are trying to solve a problem; they are attempting to create a more usable and effective product or system — a better mousetrap.
The only reason I brought interaction design into this is because I find it interesting that the same person who is embarking upon a path to actively question, analyze, and create better experiences/products is the same person who decided that not voting was actually doing something.
I think I haven’t been clear about my decision not to vote. While I did say I think not voting is an act of protest, I do not actually think that my decision was actually doing something. Given the feedback, I retract the “act of protest.”
It seems I defined the problem within the narrow limits of the current system. Therefore, I only considered the two obvious options: voting and not voting. Both, in the circumstances of this past election (but in other elections as well), I saw as equally ineffective.
In my original post, I did not mean to imply that I was making an effort to change the system. I was merely airing my frustration with the current system. I admit my decision not to vote contributes nothing toward change.
If I were to try to affect change, I believe Carl’s suggestion of perspective is dead on.