If You Didn’t Vote — Complain Away
People say, “If you didn’t vote, you can’t complain.”
If that makes sense, then what about the guys who voted for the person who won the election? Can they complain? They’re much more responsible for him being in office than the people who just abstained from voting.
What about the people who didn’t vote — not because they were lazy, but because they thought both candidates would probably be OK? If I think both candidates are decent, then why should I wait in long voting lines, and by doing so, make everyone else who votes wait a little longer? Then, let’s say it turns out the guy who won the election is really awful and messes up the country.* Is it my fault that I didn’t magically know that this guy was going to be bad, and go vote against him? Even if I had voted, I might have voted for him!
What if I think both candidates are rotten? What am I supposed to do — go vote for one of them at random, just so I “can complain” about the bad things the winner does when he’s in office?
Everybody, regardless of who they voted for, or even whether they voted at all, can complain. And I encourage them to do so.
The only substantial benefit of democracy is that it allows administrations to be given the boot if they’re significantly disrupting the normal process of society. And complaining about that disruption is a big part of that.
*No, I’m not talking about Obama. Not yet, anyway. He gets four years to prove himself. Hint: Stop spending billions per month in Iraq. Just stop it. Doesn’t matter who started it. Stop it.
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