Thursday, February 07, 2008

Does Voting Even Matter?

The cynically realistic part of me says "Probably not."

There are a few reasons why:

First, electronic votes can't be verified by the voter, there is no vote-by-vote paper trail for backup, and the software used is not open-source. Therefore, the process itself is entirely suspect.

Second, (and perhaps because of reason #1) it's possible that the whole thing is rigged by players on the stage and powers behind the scenes. There are billions of dollars at stake & I just can't imagine everything's on the up & up. David Schuster on Countdown was talking about the so-called Super Delegates, mostly non-elected party officials who make up 40% of the primary vote. The election system is made with safeguards to prevent the plebian mob from picking the 'wrong' candidate.

So... why bother?...
I think my own selfish motivation is simply so I can argue politics & policy with people and not have it thrown back in my face that I don't vote. My vote seems like a grain of sand on a beach, pretty insignificant. But it makes me feel like a responsible citizen, so it serves some function I guess.

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