A consequence of not voting
You might not be aware of it, but on October 2nd Brazilians had to vote for mayors and city counsellors. On the grand scheme of things, a fairly minor event quite unworthy of notice. But something rather interesting happened: the citizens of São Paulo didn't.
Let me situate you. In Brazil, voting is obligatory - yes, I know. São Paulo, the country's largest city, has 12 million people, give or take, and 8 million of them are registered voters. The city has an interesting story with elections: in 1959, a rhinoceros from the city zoo called Cacareco got 100 thousand votes for city council. Enéias Carneiro, a politician famous (or rather, infamous) in Brazil for being borderline mad, has achieved the mark of 1.56 million votes running for congress - the highest in Brazilian history. From that you should take that the citizens of São Paulo love to protest with their vote (and have a great sense of humour).
So, on October 2nd, 1.7 million voters didn't show up and over 900 thousand voted for no one. Over 33% of voters didn't bother voting in a compulsory election!
Maybe you'll think that's because people are starting to lose interest in politics. But that's certainly not the case in Brazil. A president just got impeached amidst the largest corruption scandal in the country's history, being taken down by a young generation of judges and prosecutors that became nothing less than heroes to the people. Every week Brazilians turn on their TVs to see who are the noble and aristocratic thieves being now arrested. Hope is back into people's lives. It is a witch-hunt, but one where the witches deserve what's coming for them.
No, Brazilians have actually never been so much into politics.
What happen in São Paulo was a protest against a State deeply involved in abuse, tyranny and corruption - a "Brazilian spring" that might actually work. And now for the bad news: even in Brazil, their protest have barely been noticed. There's an old claim by libertarians that one should not vote, for voting legitimises government. If you take to that idea, then you should consider carefully what happened in São Paulo. A silent protest might easily become a silenced protest.
Edit: corrected typos.
Excellent point. Everything in this life is determined by those who show up. Those who don't (whether they are protesting or are simply lazy) just get completely ignored.
Quote well put and, unfortunatelly, true!!!
It is pretty simple only Patriots vote, if citizens fail to vote then all their non-votes are ignored and someone is declared a winner . . .
Personally why would someone decide not to vote ? No one in Washington cares what large groups of citizens do or are affected by. We saw that when the White House simply let those people die for days in Hurricane Katrina.
We saw inter-office memos of a bus trip to Toast Marshmallows as Ferguson burned. Once it was reported the fires were not as large nor extensive as expect those who had paid up for bus seats were refunded their money and the bus road trip cancelled . . .
Simply if 25 people vote, then whoever gets 13 votes or more will be declared the winner and five political scientists will get to write articles about why 9 million people failed to vote.
So make sure your vote counts in November, if you cannot find an honest Candidate to elect then simply say to your current sitting Representative " You're Fired ! ! ! " and ' Unemploy ' them, its that easy ! ! !
I vote on issues because I see that as self defense . Usually vote for local offices but for the most part see voting for one corrupt asshole over another one as being a complete waste of time. Democracy is 3 wolves and 2 sheep voting on what's for dinner. Parafrased quote by Ben Franklin
I totally agree, except by voting you get to put some working for welfare scum out of Congress and reduce the welfare payments they will be entitled to slightly . . .
oted for the last 35 years. Can't see as it did a thing but support a corrupt system. And I pay more taxes than ever . I even ran for office a a minimalist. The wolves voted for their dinner.
Does not really matter ; the system must get worse before enough sheep decide that the French knew how to treat politicians 200 years ago . . .
The man who invented the guillotine wanted a system that would gross people out so much that capital punishment such as the death penalty would become socially abhorrent.
Man was he wrong, people loved cutting each others heads off so much over one hundred thousand people have lost their heads with the last Frenchman losing his head to the " National Razor " in 1977 . . .
Hopefully one day society will truly gain the will to show Professional Politicians the real respect they have earned and deserve ! ! !
Plus imagine the saving on welfare benefits for Representatives . . .
I geuss my point is that I no longer see a need for politicians at all. We as a people need self empowerment. The less energy we give them the better. France and there Red hats deffinately was a step in the right direction.
(nested 6 posts deep) I totally agree : BUT imagine you had power and did not need to work or anything would your just give it all up and go apply to Walmart?
That is assuming that Walmart even has an open policy of hiring ex-politicians . . .
Remember they were failed Lawyers so they cannot even go back to practicing law ! ! !
Voting is pretty simple , whomever is your sitting Congress Representatives find out who they are and then simply say to them " You're Fired " with your once every few years vote . . .
When I become World Dictator my new laws will make it mandatory after one term in Congress they become a public servant holding U S Army Firing Range targets. Since soldiers are so well trained there should not be to many accidental gun shot wounds ! ! !
Yeah ; but I fail to understand how an entire country can get all excited over a guy who was to silly to realize flying a kite in a lightning storm was not the smartest idea . . .
However with a SCIENTIST on " The BENJAMIN " is possibly the only reason USA Currency is worth anything, after all who wants an old rag with a politician's image on it ! ! !
At least they are the best politicians ; deceased...
To claim that voters are noticed by politicians or even respected by them is not very realistic. It is not at all hard to find evidence that voters and non voters are both disregarded by politicians.
Voting has no practical effect on defending one's interests. Influencing large number of voters may have that effect, but voting does not. Not voting, on the other hand, pays out immediately. He who decides not to vote immediately earns some free time. I don't mean the time not spent on voting, but the time not spent on watching liars debate, reading lies on newspapers and getting informed of all the lies each liar team tells.
There is more to it. Not voting may indeed hurt the so called legitimacy of a government.
Lula in Brazil was very proud of the millions of votes he got. So did all the other presidents. Usually, however, most of those votes were simply votes against the other guy. No one remember that after the election.
Think for a moment. In two years people will not say that Hillary won the election because people didn't want Trump. They'll simply say she won.
Voting is an act of submission. An act of submission has an external effect of legitimizing tyranny, but a more important internal effect of submitting.
I know it is hard to admit it because most of us have voted before and are not willing to conceive that the very act we thought could help get us free was a surrender to the slave owners. Unfortunately, it was.
Have you never heard that people should learn to vote? That the country can never prosper unless people stop voting on corrupt politicians? These ideas clearly state that those who voted on thieves are partially responsible for the theft. They state that voters legitimized anything, I repeat, anything that the politicians did afterwards. Also, one should note that people usually accept that. I once asked on a forum why the US dropped the second nuclear bomb. I was bombarded with comments that considered that a stupid question, legitimizing the act of murdering thousands of innocent people. Those people were simply identifying the act of a past government as their own.
It may be that those who are silent won't be heard. It is also true that those who ask their master for freedom have surrendered it to them.
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