If you didn’t go and vote others decided for you.

With the current EU-elections having come and gone we should all consider that many people don’t participate in the democratic process. EU-elections have a history of having a low turn out when it comes to participation. Now with this article I would like to bring up a few reasons why you should go and vote. I will also try to refute some common statements why people don’t vote.

Everything is awful!

There are certain kinds of people who are the first to complain about the way things are politically. What I find especially frustrating is when you try to have a conversation with some of them about these topics it becomes very apparent that this person is not as informed as it may have seeemed. A lot of people who are unhappy and don’t vote usually say that none of the candidates deserves their vote. 

I find this take incredibly naive in it’s thinking. Democracy is about compromises and agreeing to disagree if need be. If I look at the candidates there are plenty of good choices to chose from. Almost all the candidates are well informed individuals. Sometimes people have to get down from their high horse and accept that there are no parties tailor made to fit them.

If you don’t change anything, you have no right to complain.

This point goes hand in hand with the first one. My dad sometimes says:“If you don’t like it, do something.“. I think this approach can be applied to politics aswell. In a world of constant negativity, where people only seem to be able to communitcate through complaining, perhaps we should take a step back and think first before we say something. Maybe we are a part of the problem too.

In conclusion…

Overall democracy lives and dies with the amount of effort people put into the system. In short you can say that democracy is not dead yet since there are still plenty of intressted people who are involved in politics. This article is not meant to paint a picture of an apathetic culture. However we must not forget that these people still exist even if political nerds such as myself sometimes want to.  

Stay curious  and definitly keep on voting!