"Obligated to vote" is not how I'd put it, personally. Choosing not to vote is your right, but frequently the arguments I hear from people against doing so are things like "It doesn't make a difference, they're both liars" or "I don't follow politics". I don't find these reasons, on their own, to be particularly good reasons not to vote. It's the apathy that gets the choir singing. People are well within their rights to not vote, but my experience has been that the majority of people I've spoken with simply do not care to understand the impact that one candidate being elected over another may have on their lives, their family's lives. I find that irresponsible. Long story short, I support not voting insofar as the person not voting has given it some modicum of thoughtful consideration, and understands the ways in which the candidates, however terrible they might be, will affect our country if elected.
> but my experience has been that the majority of people I've spoken with simply do not care to understand the impact that one candidate being elected over another may have on their lives
Here's the impact. If you vote for my team everything will be super cool and awesome. Vote for the other team and democracy dies and the terrorists win.
This has been the political narrative since the beginning of time.
I'll go ahead and argue the unpopular opinion. The more dismissive the population is of politics the more empowered they are to take direct action and have a real impact of their livelihood.
Instead of binging on mainstream news for a hours a night, you could be broadening your horizons in terms of fitness, education and building on personal relationships.
In my experience people who are nuanced in mainstream national politics are divisive and generally unpleasant to be around because they think they know what's best for you. There's a reason it's socially unacceptable to bring up politics (and religion). It's polarizing and devoid of objectivity.
There are more than two decisions. Vote for a third party. Help them get federal funding and onto the debate stage.
No, you should not spend every evening absorbing politics. But you should spend a few hours one time looking at (all of) the options and their positions.
Voting supports a broken collectivist system, and even worse pollutes one's own mind. It's pop culture that rots one's brain even worse than TMZ, because it masquerades as Serious Business.
The actors play people's discontent while differentiating themselves by promising top-down solutions to divisive personal issues. The fundamental meta-issues fucking our society are permanently off the table - eg sane monetary policy so a middle class can save again, or restoring the rule of law and putting the NSA traitors in prison [0].
The bad policies of the next salesperson are already written, and whether the Idiot or the Criminal wins this popularity contest only affects which companies' folders they come out of. After election, the winner's job will switch to selling the status quo to their supporter-victims. This further destroys people's rationality as they double down to justify their mistake.
[0] I'll preemptively head off the "third party" comment - it's just another level of control. The idiotic divisive politics are the result of emergent behavior based on what appeals to your average person. In the event the Libertarian party actually starts picking up steam, the same thing will happen to it as happened to the Tea Party. The fundamental problem is the centralization itself, of which our blind worship of Democracy is a pillar.
Wouldn't it be better for uninformed people to not mess up the results rather than voting for whoever sounds good or looks nice?
I mean, how many people are really putting in the necessary research and deep consideration for choosing the person most well qualified to run the (currently) most powerful country in the world?
Probably not many.
It seems more like two competing hype machines. Which bandwagon do you want to jump on? Except we're not choosing our favorite sports teams. The repercussions can change the fate of billions.
I would rather the uninformed/uninterested stay out of it than voting randomly. Yes, I think everyone should be able to vote. But no, I don't think everyone should.
