On Thu, 7 Sep 2006, Doug Henwood wrote:
> I've been voting for 34 years now, and except when I was pretty young,
> never expected it to change anything. Wonder why I keep doing it.
I imagine it's for the same reason most of us political motormouths to it. Because it's easier than not voting.
There is a large class of people who will rag on you if answer the question "Who did you vote for?" with answer "I didn't." You could argue with them, if you wanted. You could beat them even. But it's more work than voting. Or at so you probably concluded early on and now it's habit.
You could lie, of course. But for a person who prides himself on well-founded convictions, that's more stress and effort than voting.
In short, it's the pressure of a norm. It's easier to give in than to resist.
And it's only worth the effort of resisting if you think *that* will change something. Which in this case it won't. Or if it will gain you points in a distinction game. Which unless you make a special cause of it (more work!), it won't. Because the group of people who don't vote, considered as as whole, are even lamer than the group who do.
Michael