Now, whether or not we vote, the government still plays a HUGE part in all of our lives. Many things are provided by them and they use our money to do it (taxes). We enter into this Contract, and by doing so, we are agreeing to give up our sovereignty to the government. This shouldn't be taken lightly -- think about it! You would potentially (in a world without government) have the power to do just about whatever you want. That's not such a bad deal for you, is it? That guy who has been bothering you? Kill him. You want the new iPhone but the price is a little steep? Steal it. However, via this Contract, we are brought out of that system (that state of nature) and agree to abide by the rules that the government may set for us. In a total-welfare-maximizing-way this is extremely good for us as a society. So, we have basically agreed to give up our ability to do "bad" things (killing, stealing, etc.) and in return we receive the aforementioned things. And on November 6th we will elect a new head of The Executive Branch of the United States.
So, this guy:
Or this guy:
Or maybe Jill:
(This is Jill Stein of the Green Party, by the way)
will be the President of the government which has such a large impact on your life. They will have power over how our country is run and will exercise it in a way they see fit. And, no matter who you think is best, or even if you think they all stink, it is our duty to go to the polls on election day and vote.
Therefore, YOU HAVE TO VOTE! One more time: YOU NEED TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6TH, 2012! You need to exercise your most basic right in the United States of America that was granted to you by a social contract. The Social Contract of the United States requires that we vote for our public officials; and because of this, The Social Contract of the U.S. is one of the most powerful and most representative in the world.
There are plenty of countries in the world that are not in a system which grants their citizens the right to vote. Albeit, they are out of the state of nature, and they do (for the most part) have a ruler that trades certain rights for certain entitlements, what really sets them apart is that they can't vote. We, as citizens of the United States of America, are incredibly lucky to have a social contract that is at least indirectly voted upon often.
Not only is it an obligatory act of being an citizen of this great country, you should want to vote. You should care who runs the mechanism that will spend trillions of your dollars, that will handle trillions of your dollars, and that will run the most essential programs to us. So, instead of looking at your ex-significant-other's Facebook page (who really cares anyway?) register to vote and do some research on who you want to be the head of your country. Check out this site or this one for some good (somewhat) unbiased information. Most importantly, mark your calendars for November 6th!
Photos taken from:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama
https://www.mittromney.com/donate
http://www.gp.org/candidates/2012-display.php?Campaign_CLName=Jill%20Stein
(respectively)
Brandon, I do agree that we are very fortunate that our social contract gives us the right to vote for the person who will be dictating how our trillions of tax dollars will be spent. However, this is the first election that I have been eligible to vote in and as a young voter, I have come to realize that many people around me seem to have very undeveloped and illogical reasons for why they are choosing a candidate. I agree that everyone should vote who is educated on the political issues and ideals of each candidate, but strongly discourage those who are voting just to vote. I don't believe we should vote just because we can, but instead believe we should vote if we are educated enough to formulate our own opinions.
ReplyDeleteSo my advice is: If you are an uneducated voter, do not vote just to vote. Stay at home this November 6th. If you do not know what you are voting for, then you will just be swaying the election that could ultimately have a negative impact on the election's results.
Brandon, this is a fitting blog post for the upcoming week, however, I do agree with Jack (above me), in some regards. People should not just vote for the sake of voting. People without an educated background of the candidates and what they stand for should not vote for one or the other. In fact, if people are educated and still do not care for any of the candidates, I think they still fulfill the social contract by not voting. It shows that they are not approving of their government, which ties in with our first amendment of freedom of speech. This is valid for this reason: why would you vote for something/someone that you think would be a detriment to your safety or well-being? This now involves our state of nature, and constantly wanting security. I come from a very politically divided family; my dad is one of those individuals who says he will not be voting. My stepfather is an extreme Anti-Obama enthusiast, but not a Tea Party advocate. My mother and older brother are Democrats, with my brother being a strong left-wing liberal. Then comes me. I'm still unsure of my views, and being thrown in the middle of this forces me to sometimes have conflicting views. These conflicting views, however, empower me to make my own decisions, and this is where I think you overlooked a crucial part of our social contract with the government. When voting, our contract calls on us to distinguish things for ourselves, and if after some thought, we decide against voting altogether, so be it. Still, I am a first-year voter, and I will certainly be voting in this election. It is a shame to hear that so many people claim that they think both candidates are "not good enough," especially in one of the most important elections in our nation's great history.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, c’mon, you neither have nor need to vote. When I don’t vote on whenever voting day is, nothing’s going to happen to me. Furthermore, you and I both know that Jill is not going to win. You show me someone who actually thinks she’s going to win and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Anyway, I’m not going to vote and I don’t see anything wrong with that. Is not the purpose of voting to determine the collective desire of the people and then do it? If someone doesn’t have a strong opinion isn’t encouraging that person to vote corrupting the system? Who’s the right person to get America back on track? Personally, I have often asked myself if it can be brought back on track at all. Regardless of who wins, I don’t see things getting significantly better or significantly worse, and at the end of the day, my one vote is going to have pretty much no effect. The obvious response to that is to ask “What if everyone thought like that?”, but everyone doesn’t think like that, and for every left-leaning person who thinks like that there’s probably another right-leaning person who thinks the same way, so in the end I doubt it’ll really matter. Why should I waste my time voting if not only is my vote insignificant, but even if it wasn’t, I don’t think influencing the election either way would really fix much that’s wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments, I don't think that voting is really necessary to fulfill a Social Contract with the US. Some people, and I even dare to say most people, are ignorant when it comes to both candidates. Despite broad media coverage of both parties, I still believe that the media only plays stories to get paid--and therefore remains in a sort of corrupt state. The media broadcasts headlines that they feel will increase viewership and thus sometimes even blatantly ignores facts. Therefore, most people are exposed to contrasting arguments and facts and do not have the time or energy or motivation to look up the truth (if that can really ever be determined in the first place). As a result, we are left with two people constantly analyzed under the media's careful watch that we don't really know. Those who do not know what they are talking about because they neither care or listen could get others in the US into deep trouble over the coming years.
ReplyDeleteYet, I also feel the need to say that votes are significant. You have the right to believe what you want, vote or not vote for who you want, but I think on basic principle everyone should believe that their vote is significant. Once people believe that I think our whole system of government is in danger.
Brandon, first off, let me tell you a little story that I'm a little miffed about that doesn't really have to do with the relation to class. I registered to vote by mail a year ago when I turned 18. I was so excited to be able to impact our nation's politics. Come to find out about a month and a half ago, I was unable to file an absentee ballot because, according to Michigan law, you must vote in person your first time if you registered to vote by mail, and you must vote in person at your local precinct, which is an hour and a half away from A^2. Alas, you can probably tell that I was very upset that I couldn't voice my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let me start of by saying that the timing for this post was perfect, but I don't necessarily agree with everything you said. Most of it, yes. When you said that I should want to vote, you're right. Everyone should want to vote, but the problem is that many people shouldn't vote because they would make uninformed decisions. Everyone should vote if they actually form their own opinions on something through research and general knowledge. Now, I know this doesn't happen all the time because a lot of voters are just bandwagon political activists who get their opinions from their friends or family without knowing their own voice. This often leads to uninformed opinions. For one, I kept seeing all over Facebook Romney supporters angry that Obama won and kept talking about unemployment being high because of Obama, and when I looked at the chart provided by the US Department of Labor, I noticed that once Obama's policies took effect, unemployment actually steadily decreased. These people went around making these claims that were totally untrue, and they didn't care. Now, I'm not saying you should be an Obama fan because of that, but I am saying that you shouldn't be a fan of Romney just because you think that Obama caused unemployment, which is outlandish and untrue. All I am saying is that a lot of people should make their own opinions based on facts rather than hearsay, which seems to be the general transmitter of "knowledge" right now. That being said, if people are informed and didn't have to go through the voting issue that I had to deal with, they should definitely voice their opinions!