Easy to let despondence & cynicism override reality, but if it were true that voting does nothing, nobody would put such effort into discouraging us from voting; into confusing us so much that we disengage.
Standing in line to tick may feel too tiny to count, but everything counts, from the mysterious interactions of subatomic particles to your most basic civic interaction with the rest of your nation (voting).
Voting can have an effect, of course, but whether it does is dependent on many things.
if it were true that voting does nothing, nobody would put such effort into discouraging us from voting
This is not necessarily correct.
Never assume that the thing that an opponent loudly and visibly opposes is their actual goal; it may very well be a distraction to keep you from their real goal/ or the real threat to them. That’s not some abstract hypothetical, either; this is done all the time in politics. Putting non-starter provisions in bills in order to expend your opponents’ political capital killing the extreme provisions in order to get your real goals passed, is a common practice, as one example.
An inexperienced opponent telegraphs their real moves unwittingly. An experienced one feints.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !politics@beehaw.org
In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it’s a political happening, you can post it here.
Guidelines for submissions:
Where possible, post the original source of information.
If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
Easy to let despondence & cynicism override reality, but if it were true that voting does nothing, nobody would put such effort into discouraging us from voting; into confusing us so much that we disengage.
Standing in line to tick may feel too tiny to count, but everything counts, from the mysterious interactions of subatomic particles to your most basic civic interaction with the rest of your nation (voting).
https://adst.org/2016/10/2000-presidential-election-florida-recount/
Except this one time pinky swear. Also the electoral college can override any vote the peasants cast.
Voting can have an effect, of course, but whether it does is dependent on many things.
This is not necessarily correct.
Never assume that the thing that an opponent loudly and visibly opposes is their actual goal; it may very well be a distraction to keep you from their real goal/ or the real threat to them. That’s not some abstract hypothetical, either; this is done all the time in politics. Putting non-starter provisions in bills in order to expend your opponents’ political capital killing the extreme provisions in order to get your real goals passed, is a common practice, as one example.
An inexperienced opponent telegraphs their real moves unwittingly. An experienced one feints.