Wednesday, May 31st 2006
Voter apathy kicks in
The primary election is in less than a week. I, for one, will not be voting. It could be because I’ll be too busy with work to make time for the polls. Or it could be because I’m too lazy to vote early or vote through the mail. The preceeding reasons are more or less true, but the real reason is that I just don’t care anymore.
I’ve voted in every election since I turned 18 (the Recall being my first). Not only did I vote, but I had fun voting. I always knew that my picks would be going down hard, but that didn’t bother me. So why stop now?
I just don’t feel like it’ll make a difference if I vote or not. The reason for primaries is for people to guide the direction that a party will be going. But, for the Republican primary at least, the winners are predetermined by default or because of negligible competition, or a race is between two people that are basically the same (on the issues). I’d personally like to see libertarians challenging conservatives in the primaries, but it seems like the libertarians have given up. If nothing will change, why bother with primaries at all?
So this is the way it’s going to be. I’ll probably vote in fall, if only to support Tom McClintock in his close race. But I’m not even so sure about that. First you skip the primaries. Then you skip the midterm elections. Finally, you don’t even bother for the Presidential elections. I think that’s how it goes. Whatever.
Pat, if you’re still registered in OC, you may want to take a look at Measure A. It’s an attempt to curb eminent domain abuses, and it should pass handily, but an extra vote for safety couldn’t hurt.
Comment by jfullmer — 5/31/2006 @ 5:15 pm
Open primaries would make June 6th a lot more fun.
Comment by John W. — 5/31/2006 @ 7:06 pm
Pre-school!
Comment by Beetle — 5/31/2006 @ 7:13 pm
I was hoping this was satire, like this style of your posting tends to be. That’s pretty disappointing Pat, isn’t this what we complain about on campus constantly? What happened to voting as a civic duty and responsibility, whether or not “your vote counts”? Maybe this is what happens when we follow ASUC politics too closely.
Comment by funsize — 6/1/2006 @ 11:13 am
I’ll admit that my vote might count for the propositions. I doubt that those races will be close though, though I haven’t looked at any polling data.
My main gripe is with the Republican primary.
Governor: no real challenges to Arnold. I’m still undecided whether I’ll vote for him or not in the Fall.
Lt. Gov: McClintock is a shoo-in, which is good since he’s the only GOP candidate I’d feel good about voting for. My vote won’t matter in this race.
Controller: This one actually seems like a race. I’d support Strickland over Maldonado since he seems the more fiscally conservative of the top two. But I’ve read some shady stories about him, so I don’t know.
Sec of State/Att. General/Insurance Commissioner: No choices there. Dems will win anyway.
Senator: No choice yet again. Mountjoy doesn’t represent my views so I’ll be voting third party come Fall. Doesn’t matter though since the guy doesn’t even stand a chance against Feinstein.
Comment by patr — 6/1/2006 @ 1:46 pm
Funsize I already voted. I want to express my patriotism, not to one party but to the representative democracy in general. I would deplore living in Saudi Arabia under their inhuman treatment of women - professed by their oil-owning government.
Comment by what — 6/1/2006 @ 7:41 pm
That’s a nice gesture what, but democracy doesn’t guarantee equal treatment. In it’s purest form, a slight majority can oppress the minority. Even when certain inalienable rights are recognized, that’s still no guarantee (slavery in America for example). Liberty and democracy aren’t necessarily correlated.
Comment by patr — 6/1/2006 @ 9:13 pm
“That’s a nice gesture what, but democracy doesn’t guarantee equal treatment. ”
You are correct. But neither can any other system. The Founders wrote and understood that the system was flawed - that was not a secret. It just doesn’t get brought up much. Kingship can be benevolent or tyrannical or between. Between direct democracy and one-man kingship, the U.S. government lays. Anyone like to propose a perfect utopia, please be my guest.
Comment by what — 6/2/2006 @ 11:31 am