A List of Reasons Why People Do or Purportedly Should Vote

Why People Do or

(Purportedly) Should Vote

Voting, as Fred Reed piquantly stated, is “collusion in one’s own suckering.” Voting creates a psychological buy-in and association which inhibits a principled indictment and denunciation of the system. The political establishment relies upon the public being indoctrinated with a particular view of democracy and the legitimacy of government which keeps them psychologically and emotionally invested in the system. Elections are essentially periodic ceremonial brain-washings. Voting serves to placate, deflate, or misdirect citizen disenchantment with the government, and create a sense of complicity with, and responsibility for, its attendant evils. Nonetheless, below is a list of the purported reasons for voting:

People do vote (or should vote) because…

Voting feels good; it boosts self-esteem, self-worth.
1. Makes you feel like a responsible person.
2. Makes you feel caring or scrupulous.
3. Makes you feel admirable or praiseworthy.
4. Makes you feel proud.
5. Makes you feel patriotic.
6. Makes you feel righteous.

Voting avoids feelings of guilt or shame; it maintains an image.
7. Avoids a sense of guilt or shame.
8. Creates or sustains a self-image or public-image.
9. Assuages your conscience.
10. Complies with social norms or moral imperatives.
11. Shows you are not irresponsible or lazy.
12. Contributes. Avoids being viewed as a “free-rider.”
13. Demonstrates your selflessness, altruism, and caring.
14. Rewards you with an “I voted” sticker to advertise your civic conscientiousness.
15. Earns congratulations and praise, or avoids embarrassment and disdain.
16. Allows you in the future to be able to say (truthfully) that you voted.
17. Helps you to feel morally superior to non-voters.
18. Conforms to peer pressure.

Voting discharges a duty or obligation; it fulfills a debt.
19. Allows you to “do your part.”
20. Fulfills a perceived “civic” duty.
21. Provides peace of mind in knowing you tried to make a difference.
22. Shows gratitude toward the Founding Fathers or other political figures.
23. Honors history or military sacrifices.
24. Abides by a sense of patriotism, support of the “homeland,” or nationalistic pride.
25. Pays tribute to the Constitution or to an ethic of freedom.
26. Allows you to participate in the selection of your government.

Voting provides a sense of belonging and participation.
27. Helps you feel connected through a sort of ritualistic civic fellowship.
28. Allows you to experience a sense of communal participation and belonging.
29. Allows you to participate in something “larger than yourself.”
30. Allows you to be involved in or associated with something significant.
31. Allows you to be a part of current events, or in the future to have been part of historic events.
32. Makes you feel content in having contributed in some way to your community.
33. Allows you to take a stand and affiliate yourself with an ideological perspective.
34. Makes you feel part of a movement or involved in the pursuit of an ideal.
35. Allows you to support your “team” and to be allied with a winning effort.
36. Gives you a feeling of exhilaration in fighting for something you believe in, together with others who are passionate about the same thing.

Voting allows you to express yourself or to “make your voice heard.”
37. Allows you to “make your voice heard” or “have your say.”
38. Provides opportunity to “voice your opinion in something that really matters.”
39. Allows you to express your opinion, and believe it was received and considered.
40. Allows you to feel you have made a statement or declaration.
41. Allows you to feel your opinion has value or counts for something.
42. Helps you to feel like you have a say in the things that happen around you.
43. Allows a sense of satisfaction in expressing support for, or opposition to, particular policies or candidates.
44. Allows you to feel you have influenced the election or the direction of the government.

Voting allows you to vent anger or frustration, and to advocate for change.
45. Vents frustration.
46. Communicates your dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
47. Helps in “getting us out of this mess we are in.”
48. Prevents the country from being destroyed. Contributes to “taking back” the country.
49. Expresses your anger with, or hatred of, some politician, party, or ideology.
50. Allows you to feel you are “fighting back” against injustices or immorality.
51. Can prevent the embarrassment of having a “stupid” or “irritating” leader.
52. Can prevent the country and Americans from being ridiculed or despised abroad.
53. Provides a way to “send a message” to incumbents.
54. Retaliates for some particularly offensive policy initiative.
55. Serves as an outlet to respond to the fears encouraged by the political establishment.
56. Allows you to express an indiscriminate dissatisfaction with the status quo.
57. Allows you to express a desire for some amorphous “positive change.”

Voting cultivates a sense of empowerment, efficacy, and exculpation.
58. Helps you feel empowered; less helpless.
59. Provides a sense of personal efficacy or agency.
60. Allows you to take action, believing things are not hopeless or beyond your control.
61. Helps you to feel as if you are confronting challenges.
62. Allows you to feel you have played a role in shaping society’s future.
63. Allows you to feel as if you are doing something that could make your life better.
64. Produces a sense of pride and accomplishment in picking or supporting a winner.
65. Earns you the right to complain about any results you disagree with.
66. Establishes a pre-emptive absolution for yourself regarding responsibility for future government actions. (“It’s not my fault, I voted for the other candidate.” “I did what I could.”)

Voting produces good end results.
67. Can change the direction of the government.
68. Can prevent change to the direction of the government.
69. Contributes toward the realization of progressive values.
70. Contributes toward the preservation of traditional values.
71. Determines who controls future Supreme Court appointments.
72. Allows you to support or protest particular governmental policies.
73. Can remove an objectionable politician from office.
74. Encourages government to deal with and solve more problems.
75. Creates a better world for future generations.
76. Helps to “save the world” from misfortunes and calamities.
77. Sets a good example and encourages others to vote.
78. Helps you to become better informed about the world.
79. Eases the psychological stress which stems from being disadvantaged.
80. Encourages acceptance of the system and its results. “Manufactures consent.”

Voting prevents bad things from happening.
81. “Prevents other people from making decisions for you.”
82. “Prevents electing the ‘wrong’ candidate.”
83. “Supports majoritarianism and prevents anarchy and bloodshed.”
84. “Prevents elections from being determined by stupid people.”
85. “Prevents government from functioning defectively.”
86. “Prevents things from getting any worse than they already are.”
87. “Prevents close elections from being stolen.”
88. “Prevents the greater evil, by choosing the lesser.”
89. “Saves the country from radicals.”
90. “Prevents politicians from ignoring the public or becoming completely corrupt.”
91. “Keeps politicians obedient to the public, and in fear of losing their jobs.”
92. “Counteracts the influence of money and special interests.”
93. “Prevents waking up some day in a country where you can’t vote.”
94. “Prevents another four years of the devastation we have just seen.”
95. Prevents tax-increases and benefits-reductions.
96. Defends yourself from those aligned against your interests.
97. Prevents the end of anything “as we know it.”
98. Prevents tyranny, fascism, or loss of liberty.
99. Prevents all manner of partisan political bogeymen from running rampant.

Voting informs the government.
100. Conveys information on the perceived value of government services to political leaders.
101. Prevents a winner from, or encourages him to, consider his win a “mandate.”
102. Sends a message regarding policy popularity, whether your candidate wins or not.
103. Builds vote totals and influences political calculations, or creates “establishment concern.”
104. Ensures that politicians consider it important to pander to your demographic.

Voting responds to a moral duty to improve the world.
105. Allows you to improve the condition of the world. To “leave a better world for our children.”
106. Allows you to push the government toward the establishment of greater social justice.
107. Allows you to support policy beneficence or altruism.
108. Allows you to advocate for a more equitable distribution of wealth.
109. Supports a government which is “attempting to make all lives better.”
110. Allows you to encourage society to alleviate suffering and exhibit compassion.
111. Fulfills a moral responsibility. To do through government what is right or good. To prevent government from doing what is wrong or bad.

Voting matters; it’s important.
112. “Every vote counts.” “It may come down to just a few votes.”
113. “This election matters more.”
114. “It truly makes a difference who is elected this time.”
115. “In this election, the choice is obvious.”
116. “The next government will decide some really pivotal issues.”
117. “Your vote can really be influential and lead to positive change.”
118. “By voting, you improve your chances of getting what you want from the government.”
119. “You need to fight for your fair share of federal money.”
120. Because a certain issue is particularly salient to you.
121. Because participating in the system produces more good than abstaining does.
122. Because, “like it or not, this is the way our political system functions, and voting is the prescribed manner in which we constitute our government, and influence political outcomes.”

-----

“It’s because of the apathy of (nonvoting) people like you that our system isn’t working properly.”
Examine the logical implications of this statement: The statement asserts that, by having non-voters vote, the public will get better results than by having only voters vote, i.e., that non-voters are—relatively speaking—smarter, more moral, or more inclined to make the right choices, than are voters. ...
Isn’t that precisely contradictory to the original argument? The course of action chosen by “smarter” or “more moral” people is to not vote.

– Trenton Fervor,

The Myth of American Democracy

The above material was excerpted and or adapted from the book

“THE MYTH OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:

The Deification of Democratic Governance and the Subversion of Individual Liberty”

available at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and other booksellers worldwide.

All material on this entire website is subject to the

Please reference the "Use of Material" page on this website to learn about specific additional

allowances the author has granted for excerption and reproduction of this material:

[ Guidelines for Use of Material on this Site ]