Sewing-Machine comments on Any existential risk angles to the US presidential election? - Less Wrong

-9 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 20 September 2012 09:44AM

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Comment author: Eugine_Nier 29 September 2012 08:21:13PM 1 point [-]

Consider how many people you affect when you go to the store to buy breakfast. You practically effect nearly everyone else on the planet by a very small value.

You're effectively choosing the administration under which people will live until the next election. This is a much larger effect than the marginal change to the economy from you buying breakfast.

I bet that higher voter turn out makes the result of the elections seem more legitimate to the populace emboldening the government for decisive action.

To through your other argument around back at you. What's the marginal effect of one person refusing to vote. Probably less than for one person voting since most people who don't vote do so out of laziness with no deeper philosophical motive behind it. Let's put it this way: a candidate with a majority (or even a plurality in some systems) becomes the office holder, whereas less than 50% turnout doesn't cause a revolution; and even if it did, it would probably not be the revolution you want.

Let's put it this way, the two reasons you've given for not voting are:

1) You're unlikely to affect the outcome anyway.

2) If enough people don't vote the government will have less legitimacy and this can have positive effects.

Since the logic of these two reasons contradict, would you mind telling me which is your true rejection?

If one desires small government the state having little legitimacy sounds like a good idea.

We still want the state to have enough legitimacy to secure property rights and enforce contracts.

Comment author: [deleted] 30 September 2012 04:30:59PM 3 points [-]

Let's put it this way, the two reasons you've given for not voting are:

1) You're unlikely to affect the outcome anyway.

2) If enough people don't vote the government will have less legitimacy and this can have positive effects.

Since the logic of these two reasons contradict, would you mind telling me which is your true rejection?

I'm another non-voter, largely (or medium-largely) for the reasons Konkvistador gives. But it's not the legitimacy of government that I wish to weaken. Places where government, even bad government, is not taken seriously are not nice places to live. If there's an institution or a cultural value that I wish to see weakened it's the people's romance.

In general I see nothing inconsistent about a democracy where most people voluntarily abstain from voting. A norm of not voting would require low amounts of sectarian conflict and large amounts of social trust, which don't exist in very many democracies. But as goals go I think low levels of sectarianism and high levels of social trust are superior to (and at cross-purposes with) high levels of voting.