I abstain (from voting:D)

[Sneakgab]

As weak-willed and disheartened as this may seem, I am beggining to see little point for the typical intellectual to bother voting in the current political climate (atleast in my case). In S.A we have a multitude of parties, but the leading party has gained such a popular following among the masses (not to mention it's ''suspicious'' activity tends to up it's votes a notch) that one comes to feel that unles he votes for one of the major parties his vote has no effect.

Usually this would not be as bad a problem, as atleast one is given a choice, but when their is only one major party their is no choice. A vote on any other party is thus wasted.

Amusingly enough however, this effect may be self perpetuating; since so many people voted for a certain party because that party held the majority, even more people subsequently voted for the party as it came to have an even bigger majority.

Although this is unlikely, and certainly giving the stupid,complacent and non-progressive populace of my country to much credit (as it is much more likely that they were simply foolish in their voting), I would prefer to abstain from voting all-together under these circumstances... especially since their are few parties I know of that are particularly appealing (although their are probably so many unkown to me as a result of the political overshadowing of the major parties) and no parties with enough votes for my vote to weaken the chances of the ruling party much more than the absence of my vote would (such are the terms of relativity in my country)

It could be that the general populace of my country is not as foolish as I thought in their reasons for their voter apathy, but it is far more likely that they simply no longer care about their goverment.

Of those who did vote, most seemed to automatically vote for the traditional ruling party despite their (r@ppy performance and inaction.

Such is the sheep herd mentality,conservatism,complacency, and lack of thought of the people in my country that trying to muster up some support for some minor leftist party is completely useless (or perhaps it is my demoralized state that says this). It seems that people in this country do not make their decisions based on merit but rather the dramaticness of the decision; the less dramatic, the better.

Considering the complacency of the populace, it is no wonder they endured something as absurd as apartheid for 80 years until nearly the end of the 20th century, whilst most of the rest of the world had changed at a much faster rate. Much more dramatic revolutions in goverment had occured under much more dire consequences at much quicker rates than here in most places

Since it is quite late at night where I am, I end off simply by saying that I am atleast fortunate to live in a country of govermental possibility. One day it may be possible to get some people to do something about their goverment or to atleast think logically. Atleast the democratic process is very open (physically, if you know what I mean)

Others are not so fortunate, like in the case of America where the choice lied between two very similar, very poor candidates. In that case, a person certainly has more reason that a defeatist attitude and demoralized mood to abstain from voting. Simply put, a person in such a position would rather none of the two lead, and the best the person can do to that effect is simply to not vote (although that does not help much, it atleast gives an indication to an observer)

Although I am not to knowleadgeable on American politics, the situation from what I know seems to be akin in effect to the yes/no ''voting'' of the Stalinist goverment

[K4^Raimund]

Well, then tell your story to the world...go to CNN or whatever you have and make a difference

[Edric O]

It's not a personal story, it's the story of the South African political system...

Sneakgab, I don't know enough about South Africa to be able to give any specific advice, but I can say this: If you refuse to get involved in politics because the government disgusts you, then you're helping the government win. Remember the saying "all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".

Every great political party started out small. And every great rise to power of any new party in a democracy was made possible only by great popular support. Apathy can be beaten by giving the people a real choice - that is, by putting forward a platform that is (a) realistic, (b) fundamentally different from the current system, and © attuned to the needs and desires of the people.

[Caid Ivik]

Believe me or not, but I agree with you  ;D  You must ignore electoral pragmatism, propaganda of media forcing you to accept some "unchangable reality", which in fact is true only for a moment.

[gunner154]

Then why did so many people vote for Kerry, and well, some for Nader?

[nemafakei]

Because while, according to this proposition, they should have voted for Nader, they did in fact succumb to the tunnel-vision media.

[Acriku]

People in the U.S. vote for third parties to make a statement more than anything.

[gunner154]

Tunnel-vision? You mean narrow?

[Sneakgab]

Well, thanks for the morale boost. Much needed... However, these modern forms of propoganda,trickery and foolishness of the masses may be as hard to beat as the tyrannical kings of the middles ages. Yet, the fact that such defeat and progress is inevitable is good enough for my state of mind:D