10.02.2008

with apologies to plato

disclaimer: I put off writing this post many times to avoid offending anyone, but this topic keeps coming up and it's on my mind, which means it's on this page.

I am by no means what anyone would call a renaissance man, with a wide range of passions and varying talents.  I would be the first to admit that I'm more or less, a pretty simple guy with a few interests and a handful of skills that might be called proficient, or at least adequate.  As such it is quite often the case that I find myself involved in conversations about say, soccer, or sailing, or travel, or art, or politics, or any of the many subjects upon which I am woefully ill equipped to tread, where I have both nothing constructive to add nor the faintest inkling of the issues being tossed about.

Having become accustomed to such situations I usually try to ask some intelligent (or at least intelligent sounding) questions.  Maybe I'll make an observation or, more commonly, agree with someone else's.  Sometimes I wind up just nodding like an idiot, but however it's done I've learned to get by without railroading the discussion or dying of boredom.  Lately though it feels like something has changed in one particular arena; talk of elections.

Did I miss a meeting?

Maybe it's just that there's so much crazy shit going on in the world that average folks can't do much about that gives this one act so much meaning for so many.  I'm curious what the correlation coefficient of voter turnout to world crisis looks like.  Somehow, somewhere along the line my political ignorance has made me a thing to be vilified, to be cured.  I've become every acquaintances "lost soul" who absolutely must hear their reasoning to lead me back to the golden path towards a ballot box in a school gymnasium.

I find myself subject to a dizzying array of "reasoning" meant to assuage my errant civic nonchalance: "It's your civic duty", "If you don't vote, you can't complain when the government does something you don't like", "You should at least go and spoil your ballot, that'll demonstrate your unhappiness with the candidates", "My grandfather DIED protecting your right to vote, does his sacrifice mean nothing to you?", "There are people all over the world who would kill / have killed / are killing for the right to vote, would you toss yours aside so easily?",  "If everyone thought like you, the system would fall apart!".

An endless stream of rhetoric with no real impact.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not some anarchist peddling anti-establishment nonsense, I'm glad people smarter than me are in charge and making the important decisions.  I'm glad better informed citizens are out there choosing leaders they feel best represent them.  And I'm REALLY glad everyone does not think like me, or the world would be one big mottled clump of dive bars serving cheap whiskey, cartoons, GHz, and Doritos.

But really ... spoil my ballot?  What a colossal waste!  A waste of my time, the time of the real voters in line behind me, the time of the ballot counters, the trees carved up for that ballot, etc.  Your grandfather gave his life in a war?  I'm sorry to hear that, and I laude his valiance and his sacrifice.  My fathers grandfather also made sacrifices in war, but not to protect my right to vote.  He was protecting my freedom, and my very right to breathe.  What kind of freedom demands that I vote?  Am I not free to leave those decisions in the hands of those more capable than me?

I'm not trying to dissuade decided voters out there, and I'm not inviting debate about my stance on the issue (If you feel you must vocalize your disapproval, feel free to insult me in the comments below.  It will probably be shorter than your argument.)  I'm just tired of being made to feel like some sort of lesser creature for being honest about my position.

Consider the argument of those trapped under dictatorships out there with no right to vote and their struggle.  I have no doubt that they would leap at the chance to elect a leader of their choosing, but let's take that line of reasoning a bit further.  Do you think they would rather be given just the right to vote, or would they prefer to live in a country so safe, so clean, so prosperous, and so free that they could choose never to vote and still live long and prosper?  A country like this one?

I think they would.  I know I do.

3 comments:

ポール said...

It is an interesting phenomenon at least that folks in north america are generally apathetic to the entire process. I remember a time not so long ago when there was actually a point to voting in Canada, and it was possible to actually vote for someone that you felt would best represent your interests. Unfortunately those days are long gone, amidst the race to unify parties on both sides. The current two party system that Canada has reduced itself to is no better than the US one these days. Now it is no longer a matter of seeking best-fit representation, it's far more a matter of making sure you vote against who you don't want representing you instead. I complained about it briefly in my never-updated english blog several years ago, here. Which incidentally is around the time I stopped following Canadian politics. To some extent, it is the apathetic nature of the society in general that created this situation, but it's very much a cyclical thing, as the idea that one is unable to cause change is something that comes out of it. You should always remember that politicians are there to represent you, and if you don't agree with what they are doing, you have the ability to do something about that. This sort of mentality is far more visible in countries where voter turnout is close to 100%, and obviously excludes north america in its entirety. Your reasons for not feeling compelled to vote are similar to my reasons for not planning on ever moving back to the country or continent proper.

Another thing to consider is that while you may not feel compelled to vote, or actively pay attention to politics, these are things that will impact you directly regardless of whether you choose to be involved or not. Given the recent trouble and the fact you work in a bloody financial institution of all places would suggest that perhaps you ought to start taking a more serious look at cause and effect, as well as the long-term implications for change. This is especially true if you are concerned about your investments and long-term planning.

Beyond that, the first thing that jumped out at me from your post was the notion that smarter people than you are in charge. While this is a pretty fanciful ideal, it's almost certainly not the case. These are simply people that are focused on a completely different problem space, but tend to maintain an equally narrow view on things, relying heavily on their constituents to provide meaningful input on matters of policy and so forth. Failure to provide that sort of feedback pretty much ensures that the issues you care about go either completely unnoticed or just generally ignored. The other thing to consider is that if there is particular legislation being drafted that you are unhappy with, you can also bring this to the attention of the policy makers and explain your rationale. Most of the time you can even get your MP on the phone and make sure they are aware of your concerns, even if you don't feel compelled to write a more formal letter.

In any event, I'll still be casting my vote, regardless of the fact there is no longer adequate political diversification in the country. I'll just adopt the same methodology in Canadian federal elections as I do in US presidential elections, vote for whoever has the best chance on the opposition side against the party you don't want to see in office. Whether the opposition is capable or actually going to represent your interests or not is largely secondary to that. This is unfortunately how two party systems go, which unfortunately is where Canada has ended up.

Don't even get me started on Japanese politics..

Anonymous said...

That was a beautiful defense right there, Crazy Fish. I'll never hassle you about it again. It would be hypocritical, anyway - I was so busy covering the federal election I didn't make it to the polls myself.

At any rate, I'm growing more cynical about the whole thing. With apologies to Aristotle, I'm starting to suspect that the whole thing is one big sideshow designed to fool the plebes into thinking that they have a say in what goes on. To further bastardize my man Aris, is democracy even a good idea? I mean, a sick man wouldn't ask everyone on the street what to do and then take the most popular advice - he'd seek out an expert. Is governance so different? I'm certainly not proposing totalitarianism, but it makes me wonder.

Unknown said...

Saw thistoday and had to put it here ...