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Contrariwise...
Jun. 10th, 2004 02:40 pmDemocracy is not 'about' voting. Voting is a key part of democracy, certainly, but if democracy is 'about' anything, it is about providing a rich selection of options to vote for, and encouraging the electorate to be informed about and aware of those options.
That's a lot of work, and can be expensive, and can mean giving air-time to people whose opinions we'd rather not hear, but if we don't make the effort to do it, then we don't have any right to complain if people don't vote. And in that case, the people who don't vote certainly do have a right to complain about the results, because the result they'd have wanted was ruled out a long time before polling day.
Of course, some people don't vote because they can't be bothered despite everyone's best efforts. But my post's not about them.
That's a lot of work, and can be expensive, and can mean giving air-time to people whose opinions we'd rather not hear, but if we don't make the effort to do it, then we don't have any right to complain if people don't vote. And in that case, the people who don't vote certainly do have a right to complain about the results, because the result they'd have wanted was ruled out a long time before polling day.
Of course, some people don't vote because they can't be bothered despite everyone's best efforts. But my post's not about them.
