By: Jessica

In reply to Jessica.

Regarding the legitimacy part, I partially agree, which is why I ultimately decided to vote. The system is in place and is legitimate in the sense of existing, and for me, casting a vote is an acknowledgment of its existence. Unfortunately, it also means I am (passively) complicit in certain crimes against humanity, which is not something I feel proud about or want to boast about. The people with whom I’ve had these conversations (and whose arguments I’ve read) are out there working for change – that’s the point I was making. They are just not working for change within the framework of a representative democracy. They’re not waiting for a future utopian day – they’re doing that work bit by bit, but it’s not immediately recognizable if you’re operating within a certain paradigm.

Secondly, in certain ways I agree that we might as well vote since (unless you end up waiting for seven hours in Florida, or unless you had to fight new voter ID and disenfranchisement laws) it’s a basic act that does not necessarily require much time or energy. What angers me is people who feel entitled to shame other people, who are doing important work, because they aren’t practicing civil engagement according to their rules. Everyone has different time constraints and obstacles, but I also think everyone has different priorities – and for many people, taking the time to actually try to create change from the ground up and work towards an equitable society isn’t one of those priorities.

A lot of my reasoning behind eventually voting was the position of privilege I am in, as a white upper middle-class cis female who has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. Because voting ISN’T the one chance everyone has to have their say; once upon a time it was the chance for property-owning white men, then it was the chance for all white men, then the chance for men “regardless of skin color” (although not really until 1965), then for men and women (although still not really people of color), then for anyone who has never been convicted of a felony (people who are imprisoned cannot vote, people on probation often cannot vote, and in states such as Florida, people convicted of a felony who have finished serving their time and probation still cannot vote for up to 5-7 years). That history is complicated; it means I come at voting from a position of privilege, but it also means I am engaging in a discriminatory system with a history of discrimination. I came to one answer and decided to vote, but I’m not going to shame or belittle others for coming to different conclusions. I don’t think it’s my place to judge people who have decided not to engage with a fundamentally flawed, inequitable system based on a history of discrimination that doesn’t necessarily represent their interests.