Why don't people vote?

In the next election, I am definitely casting a vote. Yes, I realize the hypocrisy of ranting about people who don't vote and me, not making it to the last election. In my defense, I wanted to vote but was naive, confused and intimidated about the entire voting process that I felt like I was going to pass it up and just worry about my own life.

But for some reason, it really irks me when people are like why do we bother voting? I mean, I'm not a patriot or anything, but why do you bother living in a democracy if you don't vote? I mean, might as well move to a country under dictatorship since you really don't care about the future of your country. Maybe the system's not working? Quite frankly, the system is not going to work if no one votes. Ever complain about how the new bylaws and bills only really favor the rich white people? Well, those are really the only people who vote so logically, whatever they ask for, they get from the politicians.

The system's corrupt, whatever we do won't make a difference. This is a harder beast to wrangle. I mean, yes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think we should all remember that no matter what these politicians do, they are still, in the end, accountable to the public. Yes, they can be bought off so the bills that benefit the rich will be passed first. But at some point, they still need to keep their voting base happy so they can get re-elected. This is where voting comes in. But no one votes except a small demographic! So basically those rich white people get what they want... twofold.

The system's not working for the people? I'm not really an expert on political systems, but I have spent a year studying communism and dictatorships and quite frankly, democracy seems to be the best bet here. Communism is horrible and ends up in a dictatorship. Does anarchy work? I don't think so. As a student of Russian history, when there is no authority system or some kind of system to keep everyone in check, nothing good comes out of it. Starvation is rampant, people die. In fact, cannibalism was quite popular because no one was farming or producing any goods. Everyone was too worried about being randomly attacked. I mean, who has the time to advance technology when you're constantly worrying about where to get food or if you're going to be attacked while trying to look for food.

I also have a suspicion that anarchy might just lead to some kind of authoritarian structure. I think people would naturally want to band together to have some security and some functionality. And these bands would fight against other bands until there's a clear winner. Then comes the execution and elimination so everyone can assimilate into one big band. And bam, you've got some kind of system going. Well, that's what happened to the Bolsheviks anyway.

I guess maybe I am just a believer of the power of the people.

Rant Over.

Nicole Out.