[ExI] Conscientious objections

[BillK]

On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 8:14 AM, Max More wrote:
> How is voting "effective action"? You must know that it is, in fact,
> completely ineffective. To pretend that it is effective as more than an
> (invisible) act of signaling, you have to make some extreme assumptions (the
> race depends on the outcome in one state, and that outcome depends on YOUR
> vote).
>
> There are many kinds of (much more effective) action than voting.
>
> I confess, I did vote in a general election once (back in England). I washed
> my hands immediately after. I won't do it again unless my views are well
> represented by a third party that has some significant change of winning.
>
>

I see voting for minority parties as essential to provoke change.
In the UK as in USA, politics is dominated by two large parties who
effectively take turns at being in charge and continuing much the same
policies as before.

Minority parties need encouragement. They are not suddenly one year
going to get 50% of the vote. They need to get 5% this year, then 7%
the next, and so on.
Opting out from voting means that minority parties have no chance of
ever changing the status quo.


BillK