People tell me that because I don’t vote I don’t have a right to complain. I think the opposite: those who vote play the game (legitimise the system) and shouldn’t be salty that their preferred candidate didn’t win; they should say ggwp and vote harder next time.
Just throwing that out there so people don’t feel pressured into becoming voters. “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” said someone once.
If I could vote in a place where invalid votes were counted as invalid and if most votes came in as invalid it would invalidate the election I’d be crossing out the ballot in every election. Unfortunately in most places invalid votes don’t count (they’re simply a statistic) or they get counted as part of the winning party/candidate’s vote (fuck that).
That said, I like how the DPRK chooses candidates. (Ideally) they’re chosen through discussion and then a Yes/No vote is done to confirm there is an overwhelming consensus. Hence the Western propaganda against DPRK saying they have one candidate on the ballot and the candidate gets over 90% of the vote.
Remember, choice to keep the Soviet Union won the most votes and they dissolved it anyway.
No one asked me if I want to live in a capitalist system, until they do, I have no reason to go out and vote.
You seem to have rustled some feathers with your post.
Anyway, don’t let people guilt trip you into voting if you don’t see a worthy candidate. I kept voting on the ‘next best thing’ only to be fucked over again and again and again. I regained my faith in politics only when I joined a party that looked beyond voting and instead wanted to take direct action against things happening around me. There are a million things you could do that are more effective than voting. Maybe you should lok around you and join orgs that actually have an impact, if you haven’t already.
I actually have joined an international solidarity organisation, in addition to the individual activism/direct action I otherwise do.
Lesser evilism and voting against a political party cause they’re “evil” (according to another political party) never made much sense to me.