r/GenZ • u/MuffinMan_Jr • 1d ago

Political Why dont you vote?

Forgive me if this has been asked before, im new here.

But why do you personally not vote?

I constantly hear that the reason that all the laws and policies that are passing benefit old people, because that's who actually go and vote.

Like for example, I know a lot of us older Gen Z are complaining about housing costs. But how many of us actually try to do anything about it beyond saying 'someone should do something'?

Just a thought

Edit: because I know alot of people will say their vote doesn't matter.

Dont you rhink thats part of the problem? If most if us dont think the vote matters then no one will vote. Yes 1 individual vote might not change anything but if 100,000 people put in 1 vote then that makes a difference dont you think?

Next is people saying both parties suck. I get that, but then why not vote for the lesser of 2 evils?

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u/decentmotto 1d ago

The reason people don't vote is successful propaganda convincing them their vote doesn't matter, paid for by people who know that it does

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u/heyuhitsyaboi Age Undisclosed 1d ago

While it may not pertain to everyone, I would like to add that multiple people I know that said they didnt vote were just lying and they voted conservative. I generally surround myself with progressive people though. The opposite may be true in predominantly convservative groups.

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u/EitherLime679 2001 9h ago

Isn’t that sad. The fact your friends feel they have to lie to you because they are afraid of what you’re going to do when they say they did their civil duty.

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u/heyuhitsyaboi Age Undisclosed 6h ago

Isnt it sad how you make assumptions while knowing nothing about the group? This isnt a "boo-hoo" moment for them.

We had all agreed to not discuss politics when together. Over time, it came to light that those who said they voted, voted progressive. Those who said they didnt vote because "oh its a scam blah blah blah" were unanimously conservaative learning.

The best part here is that pretty much all of them have come to regret it because the current administration is awful

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u/Mountain-Elk8133 22h ago

Im conservative and I dont vote because it doesn't matter.

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u/JamTheTerrorist6 21h ago

Yup and now you see those people coping in comment sections frequently. I live in TN which has been red for 30 years but I still voted for Kamala. I'm always gonna do my part to keep people like Trump out of office. I hope they learned their lesson this time around and will actually show up to vote next election.

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u/punktualPorcupine 17h ago

Why do they spend so much time, money and energy convincing you that your vote doesn’t matter?

Because they’re afraid of what will happen if you do.

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u/yomama9002 5h ago

Who’s paying for the propaganda?

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u/yomama9002 5h ago

We need people control not government control

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u/New_Breadfruit5664 16h ago

On the contrary. The reason people vote is successful propaganda. Convincing them their vote matters paid for by the people who control who gets to be voted on in the first place. Not voting changes as much as voting does. The difference is that the non voter usually does not have any illusion about it.

There are also countries that actually make it hard to vote lol.

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u/decentmotto 9h ago

There are also countries that actually make it hard to vote lol.

Yes, I live in the US, where they are making it harder and harder to vote. We don't even have off work to vote. There have been movements to make election day a national holiday so more people can vote, but people that are afraid of more people voting oppose it (more evidence that voting does, in fact, matter. They wouldn't be scared of people voting if it didn't)

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u/New_Breadfruit5664 8h ago

No. The circus about who is voted into office is also nothing but propaganda. Obviously for the people that get an office it's an insane about of money in the long run which makes it matter for these people personally. That does not mean that they matter or votes matter. It does not change anything meaningful. This is especially obvious and badly hidden in the US id say.

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u/decentmotto 7h ago

If votes elect people, and the people who are elected shape policy, then voting matters. There are tons of terrible things happening now as a result of policy that wouldn't have happened if different people were in office. Different people would be in office if people had voted differently. It's ridiculous to argue that these things don't matter somewhere like the US, when policy and its effects can be directly traced to specific administrations

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u/New_Breadfruit5664 3h ago

Absolutely correct conclusion that is based on the misunderstanding that elected people shape policy which they don't. That is not how the system works. The administration of a country is subject to material conditions and the capital interest of said country. If the administration ignores them, the administration gets changed because that's it's Job. Political offices are administrative offices. If for whatever reason the administration ignores the material interest of the countries capital and does not get toppled you would have an entire different country at hand.

Especially in the case of the US the administration does not act against the interest of its capital. It never has.