Tuesday, 7 November 2006, is election day in America. If on that day you don't vote or you have not already voted--and you could have--then you are a parasitic loser who deserves exactly what the rest of us want to shove down your oxygen-thieving throat. Sound harsh? Don't like it? Tough! If you don't vote, you're not doing your civic duty and I'm not obligated to care what you think or what you like. You have waived your right to matter.



     On the other hand, if you do vote, but don't get what you want, then I feel your pain, no matter what candidate or party you choose, even if I disagree with everything you care about. It's not fun to lose, especially if you genuinely care about the causes you support, but your vote matters more to me than who or what you vote for. If you get what you vote for, whatever goes wrong afterwards is partially your fault, but that's ok too because that's what being a grownup and a citizen is all about. Sometimes you do good, sometimes you don't, but at least you're participating in our democracy, not just letting other people take up your slack. You matter.



     And if by chance you normally vote, but this time around you think not voting is the best choice--that it's even a choice at all--then you are very confused. Voting matters. Your vote matters. Voting is not a fashion choice, and it's not a protest banner, or a cool way to oppose something; and it's not like anyone else knows who votes or who doesn't, and it is not like an abstention, where a non-vote is at least recognized as an opinion. When you don't vote, you are the sound that a falling tree makes in the forest. No one hears, no one knows, and no one cares...



     This is not about having no choice, it's about making the best choice, given what you've got to work with, even if you have to do a write-in, or vote for an independent. I actually voted for Nader in the 2000 election, not because I wanted him to be President as much as I didn't want either of the other two candidates. And you know what? A lot of other people felt the same, but didn't bother to vote, and look what happened. Funny how it wasn't that way in 2004!


     No matter what lame excuse you can come up with to justify not voting, I don't want to hear it, it's all just white noise to my ears. The fact is, if you don't vote, and you could, then you are just too lazy to exercise your rights, and too ignorant to understand the value of voting, even if you don't get what you want. Voting counts, writing to your representatives counts, organizing people to complain or running a recall on a crummy representative counts. Sitting out election day is just mental masturbation. You think it feels good, but nothing actually happens.



     Not voting is doing nothing, and lest you think otherwise, consider that your non-vote carries exactly as much weight and has just as much importance as the non-vote of a convicted felon, an illegal immigrant, a European socialist, or a homeless wino lying in a puddle of his own urine out back of the Jolly Roger store... Great company, eh?


     Think about it. If you don't vote, what have you done? Nothing. Zip, nada, nicht! Made a point? What point? Get a clue! Get an original idea! Get involved. People have died so you could vote. The least you could do is take the time to thank them by doing so.









      Minor edits were made to this essay on 2 Sep 07