Does Voting Even Matter?

Why Should We Vote?

Many of us take voting to be our sacred civic duty, and consider it a moral activity. But could it be the case that we're overrating the importance of voting? And are there better ways to particpiate to the betterment of society? We'll try and figure it out in this video on the philosophy and ethics of voting (and not voting.)

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Written by Michael Burns and Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Henry Arrambide
Produced by Olivia Redden

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

#voting #2024elections #culture

© 2024 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[loyandrus]

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and stock traders. I litterally rolled my eyes at those.

[korautoti]

As a non-american, i'm enjoying watching American politics. It's like watching the fall of the Roman empire but with Wifi

[brandenmanuel]

2020: Grumpy Old Men

2024: Grumpier Older Men

[mysteriousginge]

For me personally, the big flaw in Žižek's argument is that in the current state of US politics, the empty space has already been primarily taken up by Christian Nationalism. Not voting isn't opening up a synthesis for the left to move forward on, it's just abdication.

[tizkit]

Voting is both essential and insufficient

[docken]

As an Australian living with compulsary voting, I can say it's one of (if not the most) important reasons why our politics has stayed relatively even keeled over the years. That and having the ABS organise electoral boundaries in a scientific, completely non-partisan manner.

Voluntary voting is completely nuts when you think about it - causes only the most extreme talking points to gain primacy and incentivises the worst elements in society as well. Little wonder America is descending into a polarised hellhole (politically speaking),

[Taycatte]

21:00 shoutout to the me and my college roommates 10 years ago who never talked about anyone never doing chores until cockroaches appeared and then continuing to not talk about that. I didn't know that level of passive-aggressiveness could exist, but damn I felt it.

[Alberto-Anarquia]

The also rolled my eyes he mentioned Entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalist, Venture Capitalists, and Stock Trade being part of virtue of voting. I mean c'mon dude they hardly care for democracy.

[MrAmvg]

As a Black Man, I don’t hate anyone at all, but I know the country isn’t really built for me. I’m not offended, I just want a little piece of the pie for me and my family. Voting helps on a small level. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[furuthebat]

We need an "All Candidates are sh*t, do something else" vote

[buckweaver]

Library cards are free and give you more access to things than you think.. it also helps them justify funding for the community when they can show how much community spaces are used..they even stream audiobooks/digital books/digital comics and manga/shows/movies

[lorriechristian]

Michael next week:

"That video didn't do well"

[KC-Mitch]

We should have a _None of the Above_ option. That'll solve a lot of voting issues. It delegitimizes the status quo of the two parties, giving rise to better, less garbage candidates. It also lowers percentages a candidate gets, allowing participation. It's what they do in the UK ("spoiling a ballot", technically). It gets counted as a vote for no one, lowering a candidate's total percentafe while allowing civic engagement.

In the US we play a game of "Choose which one" between two terrible options and have to choose one or just not play the game.

[pawned]

Hey I watched the home schooling video! I’m sorry it was your lowest views. It was good. 👍

[exokan]

Fun story. I once got an A on a paper about Bartleby in undergrad by simply writing "I'd rather not".

[cjmoss]

The issue I have with Contrapoints' takes is that when other candidates (Sanders, Stein, Nader et al) offered more, liberals screeched at black folk that "they cant win" among a bunch of other excuses. No matter who steps up or what they stand for, they will inevitably get trashed in the primary b/c the donors have already chosen the candidate. Nader was a Dem, Bernie currently is and they STILL rigged the primary against him.

Refusing to acknowledge that that this has been the SOP for the last 35+yrs is in bad faith. The people she is punching at in those tweets are black; she just doesnt want the public blowback for outright saying it so she codes it behind "anti-electoralist left" Dems have literally done almost everything they can to lose this election; When they do, they will blame the "anti-electoralist left" she is punching at here.

[sandhillfarmer]

BRB writing the next big romance novel based on the plot Michael came up with. Will list you as a co-author.

Will call it “A Candidate for Love” or “Red, White, and You” or “Running Mates” or “Heart-shaped Ballot Box” or something

[comicfoil]

I like Zizek’s stance theoretically, but in practice I don’t know if I can justify doing nothing. I don’t think a lower turnout of voters is going to stop those in power from abusing their positions, and I don’t think enough people are going to follow through with any useful revolution that would make abstaining really mean something. Plus, our two party system is a prisoners dilemma that would require massive amount of voters on both signs to agree to this kind of civic ceasefire.

Like for me, while I hate a lot of what Biden’s done, I think Trump would do the same but worse. And given Trump’s more restrictive policies against LGBT rights and Women’s Reproductive rights, two issues that are really important to me, I can’t justify abstaining from a vote the would help Biden win. I feel that to abstain would be in a small way sacrificing the security of LGBT people and women for the sake of making a point.

Again though I realize there’s a lot of nuance here but I just don’t find Zizek’s quotes helpful here, just kind of interesting.

[satyasyasatyasya]

*Voting is like washing your hands;* its the least you can do, its common sense, its harm reduction, its preparation for the real work to be done. You do it and move-on to bigger better and more effective and important things like community building, community education, helping people, community gardens, outreach, medical or other material assistance etc.
*We think and talk too much about voting, when we do, we don't vote enough, and never do the daily work afterwards.*

[Xob_Driesestig]

Well these arguments (and Brennan's papers) tacitly assume that we're voting in a deterministic election (e.g. the US general election), but these arguments do not generalize to all types of elections. The recent philosophical article "Should we vote in non-deterministic elections?" points out that the duty to vote is *stronger* in non-deterministic elections (mostly for instrumental reasons).