By: Jessica

In reply to Jessica.

There are a great deal of people who aren’t voting because they are lazy, apathetic, and disillusioned – but I know enough people who are none of those things and don’t vote to feel uncomfortable making broad sweeping generalizations (vote – responsible, don’t vote – irresponsible).

Many people I know who work for social justice and equity do vote and encourage others to do so – but they don’t take the sanctimonious attitude or create the false dichotomy, which is what I have a problem with.

We probably do disagree (as an anti-statist, I’m not keen on corporate representative democracy as a governing mechanism) when it comes to whether or not the system is fundamentally flawed. But I would disagree that voting power is what makes people stand up and take notice and forces inclusion of marginalized groups. The example of voting itself demonstrates that in most cases, broad-scale social change requires direct action and community organizing. Men of color have had the right to vote since 1870; their voting rights were not actually protected until the Civil Rights movement (a large-scale direct action social movement that forced legislative change).