This year, fewer than 40% of voting age Americans will actually vote.
A serious glitch in self-marketing, I think.
If you don't vote because you're trying to teach politicians a lesson, you're tragically misguided in your strategy. The very politicians you're trying to send a message to don't want you to vote. Since 1960, voting turnouts in mid-term elections are down significantly, and there's one reason: because of TV advertising.
Political TV advertising is designed to do only one thing: suppress the turnout of the opponent's supporters. If the TV ads can turn you off enough not to vote (“they're all bums”) then their strategy has succeeded.
The astonishing thing is that voters haven't figured this out. As the scumminess and nastiness of campaigning and governing has escalated and the flakiness of candidates appears to have escalated as well, we've largely abdicated the high ground and permitted selfish partisans on both sides to hijack the system.
Voting is free. It's fairly fast. It doesn't make you responsible for the outcome, but it sure has an impact on what we have to live with going forward. The only thing that would make it better is free snacks.
Even if you're disgusted, vote. Vote for your least unfavorite choice. But go vote.
Phi Beta Iota: In the Presidential election year, 54.6% or so voted, meaning that the majority within that number that barely elected the incumbent President represented 30% of the eligible voters. Incumbents are now the clear majority non-party in the USA, but because of decades of “bi-partisan” criminal conspiracy against the public, open ballot access, instant run-off, and liberal absentee ballot use by the poor that cannot juggle work, buses, and voting, have been denied–there are nine specific things that must be done in the way of Electoral Reform. That is the public challenge between now and 2012.
