[reddozen]

> I have never voted and never will.

Thank you for putting the reason at the top to disregard the rest of your post-hoc justification. Your prescriptions literally don't matter because you will never engage with the political system.

[card_zero]

In general, people's ideas matter regardless of what they do.

[reddozen]

Maybe, in general. But in the realm of American democracy, the literal discussion at hand, their actions mean their voice matters absolutely none.

[himata4113]

I can influence politics without ever voting myself so this statement is just wrong. In fact, politicians usually don't vote and if they do they make it into a spectacle.

Moreover, it should be acceptable to be fustrated with the political system and bring broader change, something I don't have the energy to do myself since I generally don't believe I'll stay where I am in the forseeable future as I "vote" by simply leaving my country.

Of course when you're talking about superpowers such as United States the story is different as your vote can impact the global state of the world, but that is a whole different conversation and I am luckily not apart of it.

[himata4113]

I don't vote because I am uneducated enough in local politics to do so I would only be corrupting the vote and dilluting votes that are that of people who did their research.

This is an opinionated take, but voting just to vote is pointless and does more harm than good. I guess I should have positioned that at the end instead of making that the opening statement.

[reddozen]

> I don't vote because I am uneducated enough in local politics to do so I would only be corrupting the vote and dilluting votes that are that of people who did their research.

I'm going to tell you a secret it doesn't tell you on the ballot: You don't have to fill in all the bubbles like you're being graded in middle school. You can chose to only vote for things you are opinionated on.

Just kidding, every ballot already explains this. Next time just admit you're lazy to cast a ballot and lead with that. Its the same outcome, no reason for anyone to read the next 10 paragraphs.

[himata4113]

"Democracy sounds nice, but it assumes people want to participate in it: actively validate facts, find truthful information not just vote whoever promises more of what you like."

[libertine]

Have at least some conversations with people you trust, that's the bare minimum.

Saying you're uneducated in local politics is just an excuse you're making to justify your actions.

Local politics isn't filled with much drama, and probably isn't that entertaining, but that exactly the problem with global and national politics - it's all driven by dopamine.

You shouldn't vote just to vote, you should vote to make some sort of change (or not), and it's ok to be wrong in this decision. That's why democracy is great, it renews itself every X years.

[xboxnolifes]

This used to also be my stance, but I eventually changed it on the reasoning that the "people who did their research" that I was diluting, did not in fact exist in any meaningful number. If you believe yourself to be a somewhat intelligent person, doing even a small amount of intentional research into what you are voting on puts you way ahead of the average voter on how informed you are.

[gymbeaux]

I think most people just vote for whoever’s mailer they like more. Where I live, the Republican candidate just sends out a mailer with him standing next to a firefighter and a cop and that’s really it. Maybe some garb about reducing crime and taxes at the same time. That’s enough for many (most?) to decide whether that’s the candidate they want to vote for.

[AngryData]

I would agree, but no information voters who don't even think about that fact are already a large percentage of voters. Just being able to recognize your own flaws puts you above many others.