I’m going to make the case for non-voting. Before all else, you shouldn’t be voting if you don’t have a grasp on the issues. It can be dangerous for the nation when you blindly cast your ballot. When you don’t know what it is you’re really voting for, bad outcomes can come forward. It’s wrong when people pressure others into voting hoping that they will vote for the same candidate as them.  It’s immoral for people to garner votes by making others feel like they’ve done something wrong. These people feel that those blind votes will do some good as they cancel out the blind votes from the other candidates. And there really are only two candidates who have a shot, so when a new voter comes around, her vote counts for two since she’s deprived the other candidate of her vote.  It’s better for the country to have well-informed citizens than to have those who are uninformed and/or easily manipulated.

Informed non-voters who don’t support any of the candidates are told that they are letting other people choose for them. They’re told that if they don’t vote, they don’t have the right to complain when the results are in. But the basis of that argument is that we all agreed to our system of democracy. We’ve agreed to a system where everyone’s voices will be carried by one candidate or another (which can never be the case) and where the majority gets to decide the future of our country.  And if that’s the case, no one really has the right to “complain”. Non-voters can’t speak about issues because they never took the actions to let their thoughts be heard. Supporters of the losing candidate have to keep their mouths shut because they agreed to uphold the majority vote. And supporters of the winning candidate have to sit in silence as they take the heat for all the dreadful actions coming ahead because of their binding contract, regardless if they felt that they fought for the lesser of two evils. Non-voters, as well as any other citizen, should be able to voice their dissent when things go wrong. Non-voters are just taking the steps to show that they carry no allegiances.

I understand that this is an election unlike any other in recent American history. There are many people voting against candidates out of spite to keep them away from power. For many, the concerns of the election have little to do with policy and are more about preserving good. But those who feel that none of the candidates would be capable of being the president should not be looked down on.