Take the Blame

When asking someone in America why they don’t vote, the most common response is probably, “I don’t have time,” but how can that be when we are allowed some time off work in order to make it to the polls to vote? We are able to vote by mail or go to the polls to vote. Voting by mail allows us to vote when we do have time and dropping our votes off would take less than a minute. Actually going to the polls on Election Day to vote would not take a long time, but still, people use the excuse of time. As citizens, it is our duty to vote on issues that come up in our city, but most people choose not to.

There are other reasons that people say they don’t vote, such as thinking their vote does not matter, not knowing enough about the issues to vote, or just simply being lazy. These reasons may be true, but when results from these elections are put into effect, it affects everyone, including those that do not vote. Many people end up not being happy with the results, but they chose not to vote for their views.

I think one of the reasons people do not vote is because, subconsciously, we do not want any part of the blame when something goes wrong. With politics, there is a lot of blaming of the other party and no one wanting to take blame. If we do not vote, we can blame the others that did vote for the issue that did not help the city or the political leader that is doing a bad job. When things go wrong, people like to blame the government and those who voted the people into power. It is much easier for people to blame others rather than taking the blame yourself and learning from the mistakes that happened. If you don’t vote, you take none of the blame and feel you can blame others and complain about others, but that is not the case because you chose not to make your voice heard until it was too late. Not voting just gives a better chance for things not to go your way because the people who do vote may not have the same opinions as you. What may be hurting you could actually be helping others.

By choosing to not vote, you choose not to use your voice. If you vote and the law or person you vote for does not win, at least you took a stance and choose to try to make a difference. Every law passed or person voted into power will affect the way you live, so why not take a few minutes out of your day to make your voice heard? I feel that people do not have a right to complain if they did not even take the time to vote for what they believe in. Many people just like to complain and do nothing about it, but when the time comes to vote again, they will choose not to vote again and this endless cycle of complaining and not voting will happen. If you complain about the problems, but do not at least try to change it, by voting, nothing will get done.

The consequences of our choice to not vote would be the way the laws affect our own lives and the environment around us. People only complain when laws don’t go our way and don’t help us. By choosing not to vote, you show that you do not care about what happens around you or to you.

If voting appealed to the average person more, I think more people would take the time to vote. The affects of different laws should be explained and shown to people so that people can have an opinion about whether or not they like the outcomes of the law. If they don’t like the outcomes, I think more people would be willing to go out and vote against it because they know they won’t like the outcome and can stop it from happening. On the other hand, if people do like the outcomes of a law, they can go out and vote for it to pass because others could be voting against it. If people are shown beforehand how things will play out, I think they will be much more willing to vote to make the change or not.