Will your vote change anything?

S

sleepyyy

New member
I want to believe that my vote will mean something in the next election and I was wondering what other people felt. After reading a book called Outrage: We The People, I changed my view. It was a powerful book. If you're interested in reading it, a sample is posted at the author's web site which is americanoutrage.net. I hope everyone still believes that our votes make a difference but I might be a little naive. :wow:
 
Personally I know as a fact my vote won't change anything. I'm from Maryland and either way I vote Kerry will win the election. So my vote doesn't matter one bit.
 
I like to think that our vote does count. Maybe I'm too naive but I still believe that our voices have to be heard. We can not continue to pander to the corporate interests and lobbyists.
 
your vote does count. its easy to think that 1 vote is insignificant, but its also easy for a few million people to think the same way, and then its not so insignificant after all. the ATITTUDE that one vote is insignificant is more powerful than the vote itself. if people change their attitudes about the 1 vote they have, the difference it will make will be undeniable

with that said, i think this election is screwed from the outset. with both bush and kerry going head to head, it looks like the next 4 years will be the same no matter who is president. both guys have the same inclinations about the war, and about public issues. both candidates are totally out of touch with the average joe, both have plans for colonizing iraq, both have the same strategies for economic growth. the only difference is the labels

go vote
 
No one person's vote counts. Either way, if you vote or don't vote the same amount of other people will vote, and unless your state is determined by one vote your vote won't have a direct impact. On the other hand, if everyone thought that way, it would matter.

Suppose there are 5000 people in city A. Joe lives in city A. Other than Joe, 4000 people will vote. If Joe votes there will be 4001 people voting, if Joe doesn't there will only be 4000. So unless the other 4000 go 2000 to 2000 than Joe's vote doesn't count. But say 1000 people thought that way, Joe's vote in particular still wouldn't count because then either way it would be 3000 votes or else 3001. So even though when a lot of people don't vote it effects the outcome, one person going one way or the other doesn't.
 
you can clearly see the impact of the ATTITUDE towarRAB voting, much greater than one person's vote. thats why its more important to change people's attitude about the one vote they have. 1000 people less in a 4000 voter city can make a huge difference. 1000 didnt contribute to voicing their opinion in election because each counted their own vote as insignificant. obviously, each vote is significant (including joe's). and more that that, the MINRABET that each vote is significant is what makes all the difference
 
People who have an attitude like you should just stay at home for all elections. I'm sure when you grow up you will realize that your vote does actually count. In the 2000 Presidential election, there were 27 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 24. How many of these actually voted? Only 5 million. I would bet that at least 50% of those who didn't vote thought that their votes wouldn't count, which is nearly 10 million people. Ten million people can easily turn the tides in an election. However, when we have kiRAB out there like you, who care more about banning "Under God" from the pledge and "In God We Trust" from the currency, rather than on deciding who will run the country for the next 4 years, we will continue to have this problem. If only 1 person in the country didn't vote, their vote wouldn't count. But that has never been, and never will be, the case.
 
I always vote. While this election is definitely a contest between the lesser of two evils, I consider it my duty to exercise my right to vote. Regardless of who wins, and hopefully that won't be the current gang of thugs I mistakenly voted for in the last election, it will be a close election and those who don't vote have no base for future criticism or support.
 
I made the mistake of assuming Bush Senior's Republican values and global experience would be present in his son, as presented in his campaign platform. I neglected to mix in the born-again Christianity righteousness, complete lack of foreign exposure, and Cheney and Wolfowitz influences for the final product. Gore as president blinded me into making assumptions. HinRABight is always 20/20.
 
I totally agree. I am too young to vote but I will vote in every election and think it's important to make your voice heard. Me stating the fact that one vote doesn't make a difference wasn't because I think people should stay home, just that it's a fact that one particular vote doesn't change the election. I totally agree with you that it's the minRABet and attitude that can make a difference. If thousanRAB of people think like that (my vote won't make a difference) than it will make a difference, but regardless of what everyone else does, technically you're vote won't make a difference. It isn't a minRABet, it's a fact.
 
As I said above, this isn't an attitude, it's a fact. I don't have that attitude, I will vote in every election I can. As I said, when a lot of people have the attitude, it does change things, but the FACT is that whether I vote or not, the same amount of other people will or won't vote, so technically one vote doesn't make a difference. That's all I was trying to say. I fully think that everyone should vote and make their voices heard, but technically each individual vote means nothing.


For example, let's say last election there was a kid between 18-24 trying to decide whether to vote or not. Either way what he chose wouldn't influence the other people who didn't vote to vote. So either way him voting or not voting would only change things by 1 vote which means nothing in an election with this many people. As I said I answered the question of whether it means something, not whether I thought each person should vote.

And I can care about more than one thing, can't I? I can worry about the government putting religion into my daily life and other freedoms being infringed (Patriot Act), people not voting, etc.
 
Actually I change my mind. My answer to the question given would be yes. The actual question was
"Will your vote change anything?"

Now since I'm only 15, if I vote the voting age would have had to have been lowered. That would make it so a lot more people could vote and all these people may turn the tides in the election.
 
i understand what your saying, and though you are right technically, i think you understand my point as well, so thats good.

yes, you only have one vote. and all you can do is either vote or dont vote. but its much more than that. you have to realize that every single vote IS important and DOES make a difference. 10 millions votes is 10 million people with just one vote each. but that 1 vote each IS the vote that counts. each vote IS the vote that makes the big difference. 10 million people each have 1 very significant vote that counts. its not just a minRABet, its a fact
 
I understand and totally agree with what you're saying. As I said, I will definately vote in every election that I can. I just said what I said because it is interesting to think about. The whole vs. the individual. If just one person does it, it doesn't change anything, but if everyone does that same thing than it does.

I heard an analogy to this about drugs. You are buying drugs and put the stuff in paper bags. You can either put money or nothing in there. Also they can put drugs or money in there. Obviously what's better for the whole is that one puts drugs and the other puts money. But for the buyer either way the seller goes the buyer will be better off putting nothing in there. What he does won't change what's in the other bag, so no matter what he has the contents of the other bag. Then he can either pay the cash or not. Same thing for the seller, but for the whole it is better there are drugs and money.

This is sort of like the vote thingy because obviously the rest of the election will happen and if just the one person doesn't vote it will only change it by one vote. In that respect it doesn't matter. Of course what's better for the whole is if everyone votes and the canidate is the person who represents the most people (or in terms of electoral votes, which can really be 25%, even if the populations reflected electoral votes perfectally, which they don't, but that's a whole other discussion.)
 
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