It's true. No general election has ever been decided by one vote. Nor even Florida elections.

The problem is that people think if everyone thought like that, there'd be no democracy. This may be the case; however, this shouldn't affect my individual decision on whether to vote. My choice doesn't affect anyone else's decision to vote - that's a case of magical thinking. Forget any meaningless notions of duty. My not voting will not make others not vote. My vote will not decide the election. (Or at least, it is very unlikely to do so). So it's not worth the effort it takes for me to walk to the polling station and mark the ballot paper.

One could say that I have no right to complain about what the government does if I didn't vote. But hang on: if I voted for the opposition, do I have the right to complain? Yes. I didn't ask for this government. And if I voted for the side that got in? Yes, if I don't like what they are doing. I am not deciding their policies. What difference does it make whether I voted for or against them, or whether I voted at all? What do we mean by a right to complain?

If you don't vote, you are implicitly supporting the party you like least, the one you would NEVER EVER vote.

Suppose there are three different political parties: A, B and C. You have no preference between parties A and B (which could be, for example, Democrats and Republicans), so you decide not to vote. But party C is a radical Nazi party that you wouldn't vote for a million dollars (for example, because you're an orthodox Jew and they killed your little dog). Then, if you don't vote, you're supporting party C!

This may seem stupid or exaggerated, but it's the plain truth, and there's no way to get rid of it. Before you decided not to vote, you had two options: to vote or not to vote. If you had decided to vote, you would obviously have voted party A or B, and the value of each vote (at least in most democracies worldwide) is inversely proportional to the number of people who votes, so you would have decreased the proportion of votes for party C. So, if you decide not to vote, you're renouncing to do this, and are thus giving an "ethereal vote" to party C. An ethereal vote is to a vote what a hole is to an electron, and holes are powerful! (see semiconductor)

So... what to do? Throw dice and vote A or B. But there's still a problem. What can you do if you don't want to vote in order to show your disagreement with the system? This is a tricky problem that has no good solution in current democracies, because if you don't vote you're still supporting party C. In my humble opinion, empty seats should be left at the Chambers for people who do not want to vote. That way, people who didn't vote would also decide - and would not be implicitly voting party C.

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