Erm. Um. By voting you are seldom utilising direct influence on decision-making. I vote for John Smith, John Smith then makes the decisions. I do not directly influence what decisions he makes. Even in a referendum, you aren't utilising direct influence because referendums, god bless them, are usually stacked in favour of the way the government wants them to come out. Why don't we have a republic? Is it because a) a majority of Australians don't want a republic or b) because we had a referendum specifically designed to manipulate people's confusion and result in a no vote? A vote is a good tool but it's not a direct one.
Also, voting is not your only vehicle fo exercising power. Joining political parties, trade unions, professional societies, even charities is a powerful thing to do. Some of these help you influence power more directly (eg, the political party) some of these are simply strong enough lobby groups to have a fair chance of influencing governmental decisions (eg professional societies).
I agree that people should vote but I largely disagree with your reasoning.
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zvi
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-04 23:26 (UTC)Erm. Um. By voting you are seldom utilising direct influence on decision-making. I vote
for John Smith, John Smith then makes the decisions. I do not directly influence what decisions
he makes. Even in a referendum, you aren't utilising direct influence because referendums, god
bless them, are usually stacked in favour of the way the government wants them to come out. Why
don't we have a republic? Is it because a) a majority of Australians don't want a republic or
b) because we had a referendum specifically designed to manipulate people's confusion and result
in a no vote? A vote is a good tool but it's not a direct one.
Also, voting is not your only vehicle fo exercising power. Joining political parties, trade
unions, professional societies, even charities is a powerful thing to do. Some of these help
you influence power more directly (eg, the political party) some of these are simply strong
enough lobby groups to have a fair chance of influencing governmental decisions (eg professional
societies).
I agree that people should vote but I largely disagree with your reasoning.