The “not voting” thing is actually a little complicated.
First off - there are many people who don’t vote. The reasons are not always simple.
Yes there are lazy asshats who would support non-ghouls and could easily do it and don’t. You can shit on them.
But they aren’t necessarily the majority.
There are numerous hurdles that on their own aren’t tough, but that overlap and stack sometimes and when added up act as a significant obstacle that many just don’t see the benefit to trying to overcome :
Polling places aren’t open on weekends or holidays. And there really isn’t strong protections for workers being given time to wait in long lines to vote. Many people work 40+ hrs a week at places that - although legally technically have to give you time to go vote, really have middle management types that WILL retaliate against you in a way that is technically hazy enough that any sort of legal consequence for them doing so isn’t worth pursuing if you are barely getting by and making poverty-line income.
The Rs close polling stations ANYWHERE near poorer areas they can. That’s why places like Houston have like ONE polling station for a county with literal millions of voters. They know no one wants to stand for 4 hours in line in 105F Texas heat just to drop a ballot in a box that they also think won’t win because of how often the Rs like Cruz, Abbott, etc. keep winning or just holding on to their seats.
Democratic officials voluntarily water down their own legislation in a stupid attempt to “reach out” and seek middle ground, which only lessens the motivation for voters… like instead of “we’re going to wipe out all medical debt” you get stuff like “we’re going to allow voters to go to a website (that barely functions) and they can fill out a 12 page form that will allow them to apply for a 1-time partial percentage-based rebate that changes depending on your income and insurance information for the past 3 years.”
All this shit adds up to only make people feel discouraged or that their vote wouldn’t matter anyway, or that there’s nothing really to show up to fight for.
Yes that sucks, yes people should understand that by not showing up, they then FORFEIT various EXISTING rights like the right to an abortion… but that’s not how people think. People show up for a REWARD… not to defend what they already have but don’t know what they might lose.
Like - here’s my favorite way to help people better understand this because I get into arguments all the time about that last point :
In the US, people show up for Black Friday sales, because the reward they imagine they’ll get is a motivating factor. Now imagine if instead of getting a shitty 65" TV for 75% off, Best Buy said “come in on Black Friday and fill out a form to protect your right to get a refund within 90 days when products are defective.”
No one would show up. And when Best Buy then decided because no one showed up to fill out the form to now no longer allow refunds, suddenly would a bunch of assholes saying “TOLD YOU TO SIGN UP FOR THE BEST BUY PROTECT YOUR PURCHASES FORM! SUCKS TO SUCK LOLOLOL!” be in the right? Yeah… I guess… but - again - showing up en masse to do something that protects a possible loss isn’t how people generally think when making decisions to do or not do something that asks them to inconvenience themselves.
Yes that sucks, yes people should understand that by not showing up, they then FORFEIT various EXISTING rights like the right to an abortion… but that’s not how people think. People show up for a REWARD… not to defend what they already have but don’t know what they might lose.
Then I find it difficult to feel sorry for their losses. The history books are filled with people losing rights that they refused to defend, and we’re all taught the contents of those history books in school. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and no one born in America has any excuse for not realizing this.
The history books are filled with people losing rights that they refused to defend, and we’re all taught the contents of those history books in school. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and no one born in America has any excuse for not realizing this.
you simply have too much faith in the collective school system to teach these kinds of principles to everyone, particularly when Republicans are systematically attempting to gut public education in most of the country. most Americans, in any case, have an exceptionally warped understanding of what “freedom” is, and a lot of them do think it’s perfectly reconcilable (and in fact necessary) to be preserved through what Florida is doing right now.
you simply have too much faith in the collective school system to teach these kinds of principles to everyone, particularly when Republicans are systematically attempting to gut public education in most of the country.
This explanation doesn’t seem plausible. Most young people do not subscribe to Republican nonsense, and the gutting of public education wasn’t a thing yet when the older generations were in school.
most Americans, in any case, have an exceptionally warped understanding of what “freedom” is, and a lot of them do think it’s perfectly reconcilable (and in fact necessary) to be preserved through what Florida is doing right now.
Then they chose to believe lies, and they don’t have the excuse of never being exposed to the truth.
This explanation doesn’t seem plausible. Most young people do not subscribe to Republican nonsense, and the gutting of public education wasn’t a thing yet when the older generations were in school.
this is because most young people are so fatalistic about this shithole of a country that they literally reject the American conception of freedom—correctly, in my opinion—as psychotic and responsible for more human suffering than almost any other ideological premise in world history. it’s not that they want freedom, it’s that they want it destroyed because American “freedom” fucking sucks and so do the vast majority of people who swear by it.
Then it’s their responsibility to vote in the Democratic primary and yank the Overton window back where it belongs. Throwing up their hands and refusing to vote is a tacit endorsement of the very status quo they think they’re rebelling against.
And these are young, energetic people with the knowledge of the world at their fingertips, so what’s their excuse for not realizing this? I realized the importance of voting when I was their age, and I didn’t have the benefit of Wikipedia and insightful online commentary to guide me to that conclusion.
Agreed. I’m finding little patience for people being discouraged from voting or not being motivated by the Dems not doing enough. People need to grow up, be adults, and realize that whether you sit at home or not the election will happen. And you either get not doing enough, or you get literal fascists taking your rights away. These voters are not children who don’t know any better. The best part of requiring voters to be 18+ is each and every person who can vote is an adult. They need to act like it and do their damn responsibility. If the Dems aren’t doing enough then vote for more progressive Dems in the primary. But then not doing enough is not an excuse for allowing fascism to become implemented without taking action
The “not voting” thing is actually a little complicated.
First off - there are many people who don’t vote. The reasons are not always simple.
Yes there are lazy asshats who would support non-ghouls and could easily do it and don’t. You can shit on them.
But they aren’t necessarily the majority.
There are numerous hurdles that on their own aren’t tough, but that overlap and stack sometimes and when added up act as a significant obstacle that many just don’t see the benefit to trying to overcome :
Polling places aren’t open on weekends or holidays. And there really isn’t strong protections for workers being given time to wait in long lines to vote. Many people work 40+ hrs a week at places that - although legally technically have to give you time to go vote, really have middle management types that WILL retaliate against you in a way that is technically hazy enough that any sort of legal consequence for them doing so isn’t worth pursuing if you are barely getting by and making poverty-line income.
The Rs close polling stations ANYWHERE near poorer areas they can. That’s why places like Houston have like ONE polling station for a county with literal millions of voters. They know no one wants to stand for 4 hours in line in 105F Texas heat just to drop a ballot in a box that they also think won’t win because of how often the Rs like Cruz, Abbott, etc. keep winning or just holding on to their seats.
Democratic officials voluntarily water down their own legislation in a stupid attempt to “reach out” and seek middle ground, which only lessens the motivation for voters… like instead of “we’re going to wipe out all medical debt” you get stuff like “we’re going to allow voters to go to a website (that barely functions) and they can fill out a 12 page form that will allow them to apply for a 1-time partial percentage-based rebate that changes depending on your income and insurance information for the past 3 years.”
All this shit adds up to only make people feel discouraged or that their vote wouldn’t matter anyway, or that there’s nothing really to show up to fight for.
Yes that sucks, yes people should understand that by not showing up, they then FORFEIT various EXISTING rights like the right to an abortion… but that’s not how people think. People show up for a REWARD… not to defend what they already have but don’t know what they might lose.
Like - here’s my favorite way to help people better understand this because I get into arguments all the time about that last point :
In the US, people show up for Black Friday sales, because the reward they imagine they’ll get is a motivating factor. Now imagine if instead of getting a shitty 65" TV for 75% off, Best Buy said “come in on Black Friday and fill out a form to protect your right to get a refund within 90 days when products are defective.”
No one would show up. And when Best Buy then decided because no one showed up to fill out the form to now no longer allow refunds, suddenly would a bunch of assholes saying “TOLD YOU TO SIGN UP FOR THE BEST BUY PROTECT YOUR PURCHASES FORM! SUCKS TO SUCK LOLOLOL!” be in the right? Yeah… I guess… but - again - showing up en masse to do something that protects a possible loss isn’t how people generally think when making decisions to do or not do something that asks them to inconvenience themselves.
Then I find it difficult to feel sorry for their losses. The history books are filled with people losing rights that they refused to defend, and we’re all taught the contents of those history books in school. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and no one born in America has any excuse for not realizing this.
you simply have too much faith in the collective school system to teach these kinds of principles to everyone, particularly when Republicans are systematically attempting to gut public education in most of the country. most Americans, in any case, have an exceptionally warped understanding of what “freedom” is, and a lot of them do think it’s perfectly reconcilable (and in fact necessary) to be preserved through what Florida is doing right now.
This explanation doesn’t seem plausible. Most young people do not subscribe to Republican nonsense, and the gutting of public education wasn’t a thing yet when the older generations were in school.
Then they chose to believe lies, and they don’t have the excuse of never being exposed to the truth.
this is because most young people are so fatalistic about this shithole of a country that they literally reject the American conception of freedom—correctly, in my opinion—as psychotic and responsible for more human suffering than almost any other ideological premise in world history. it’s not that they want freedom, it’s that they want it destroyed because American “freedom” fucking sucks and so do the vast majority of people who swear by it.
Then it’s their responsibility to vote in the Democratic primary and yank the Overton window back where it belongs. Throwing up their hands and refusing to vote is a tacit endorsement of the very status quo they think they’re rebelling against.
And these are young, energetic people with the knowledge of the world at their fingertips, so what’s their excuse for not realizing this? I realized the importance of voting when I was their age, and I didn’t have the benefit of Wikipedia and insightful online commentary to guide me to that conclusion.
Agreed. I’m finding little patience for people being discouraged from voting or not being motivated by the Dems not doing enough. People need to grow up, be adults, and realize that whether you sit at home or not the election will happen. And you either get not doing enough, or you get literal fascists taking your rights away. These voters are not children who don’t know any better. The best part of requiring voters to be 18+ is each and every person who can vote is an adult. They need to act like it and do their damn responsibility. If the Dems aren’t doing enough then vote for more progressive Dems in the primary. But then not doing enough is not an excuse for allowing fascism to become implemented without taking action