"If you don't vote, you can't complain about the government"

EDIT: If a mod could please change the "can't" in the title to "shouldn't", I'd greatly appreciate it.
I phrased it wrong and it caused some misunderstandings.


If you don't vote at all, you shouldn't complain about the government.
This was something my middle school teacher once said and it got me thinking.


Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
This does not apply to people who legally can't vote.

 

I agree. I don't vote. Yet i know our government is fucked up with rats and money schemes, yet i don't really care to complain. Not like anything will happen.

 

Disagree.

My first response would be "why".

Then, I would ask that if this could be applied across the board. If you've never been to Nazi Germany, don't complain about it. If you've never been to China, don't complain about it. If you've never been to Libya, don't complain about it.

 

I understand what you mean, I should of been more specific. I'm talking about you shouldn't complain about the government in the country you live in if you don't vote even if you are able to.

 

That's like saying you can't complain about yourself, only about others. Correct?

 

Disagree, even if you voted, it's very unlikely that your one vote will make such a difference to who wins the election.


Let's say you're the only person in the country who doesn't vote, it is highly unlikely should you then decide to vote, that your vote will influence who comes to power.

People have the right of free speech, and can exercise it.

 

Agree. Believe it or not, 1 vote per person does actually make a difference even if it doesn't look so.

Giving a vote means that you are actually trying to change the government whether you like it or not. If you don't vote, it shows that the state of the government does not bother you so you can't complain as your not willing to take such a small action by voting. If you want a change, vote. Every vote counts. That's my 2 cent.

 

One man can't change the world all on his own.

Its possible that some people do not vote, as they don't like any of the parties standing for election. Their are not 100s of parties on a ballot paper... There are a selection, and some people may not be represented in this selection, and so do not vote.

 

This may apply for the president of the USA, but he doesn't represent the government as a whole. There's still the entirety of three other governmental branches, and with all the elected positions in all the different places such as governor/governess, commissioners, etc; there's no possible way for one person to vote in every pole and therefore influence the government as a whole.

So I don't believe in the statement "if you don't vote, don't complain" because no one can vote in every pole

 

Disagree; first the voting part not once have I ever seen an election won by one vote because it never really comes to that because people will win elections by more than one vote that win by one vote stuff only really happens in the movies. Second if one is a taxpayer or a citizen regardless of whether they vote or not then they deserve to complain about the government because they contribute to the nation in one way or another therefore should be able to criticize the governing body. However complaining about the government may not be safe/accepted in some nations.

 

Not really elections would probably turn out the same either way. I still vote though.

 

Torn on this one. One vote probably won't make a difference, but if several thousand people (or more in national elections) use the same logic, the it could effect an election. Not sure if that justifies saying that since you didn't vote, you shouldn't voice an opinion though.

On a related note, if everyone in the U.S. gave me a penny, they wouldn't notice a difference, but I'd be a millionaire (wishful thinking).

 

That saying is just stupid.

Votes do add up but more than half the time its not what chooses who going to win or what bill passes. I still believe our system is corrupt to its core, they give us the image that we choose what we want, to keep us contained.

 

Agree.

And to all those saying "1 vote doesn't matter".

Well, if 1,000,000 people thought that, just like you all do, then that 1,000,000 less votes. And what if they were, to put an example of last election, mainly voters of McCain? Well, that could have made a big impact.

 

I think that if you don't put in the effort to vote, you do not have a right to complain about the governmental decisions (complaining about the system is different entirely).

If you have the effort to vote but willingly abstain, then you have a right to complain about governmental decisions.

This is what Aristotle basically said and what I agree with.

 

I feel there's a difference between 'can't' and 'shouldn't'. Of course you can still complain all you want but, if you don't vote because you cbf, then you shouldn't be whining about to the point of making a spectacle of yourself

 

Disagree, some people just feel that voting is pointless because the entire system is corrupt. Aka if they voted they'd only be legitimizing it and instead of saying "I think this is shit" it would just be "I'll take the least shitty canidate".

 

Disagree ^ Do you realize how many people think like that, and because of that do not vote? Go figure. If everyone ditched that point of view, we'd all be voting and probably change a lot of problems, or maybe make them worse - who knows.

Hell. I just vote for whoever makes the most sense, logically, and doesn't seem like some corrupt asshole. Although that's near impossible to tell during campaigning as they all seem flawless, or try to. Idgaf if there democrat, republican, more-so right wing\left wing\whatever.

Although I'm democratic\Liberal so I tend to look at them first

 

I would agree if you vote it shows you care about who wins. If you don't vote you don't. So therefor you don't care about how our government is runned because you don't care which candidate wins. So you should have no reason to complain about what happens in the government.

 

Disagree. There are many people that don't vote because they believe one vote won't make a difference and at the end the government that will set place will still be dissatisfying to them.