But....you HAVE to vote

I particularly enjoyed our conversation about rational abstention in voting because I think it echoes exactly how I feel about voting. That being said, I think most of the people belong to the class that believes voting is something they have to do (seen by the fact that the majority of the population DOES actually vote. So I was watching TV the other day and an episode of South Park came on. I know, I know, not the most academic of shows, but I think some of the episodes have some merit. Sometimes the episodes have a way of satirizing a general point of view to exaggerate certain points, which although the exaggeration isn't in any way accurate, the idea that they portray is (sometimes).

In this piece of the episode, Stan decides that he doesn't want to vote. His friends and parents both can't accept this decision and claim that they have to make him understand the importance of voting, that "people died so you can have the right to vote." They believe that even if he doesn't like or support either of the "candidates," he should just vote. I've run into this a little myself when I tell people I don't vote. Personally I think it's better or me not to vote when I have no idea what I'm actually voting on, but many people think I should vote just because I CAN vote. Either way, this episode does show some of the general arguments used to try to persuade someone to vote.