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whatever So yesterday in Elections class (Poli75) we learned about the utility of voting. Kinda a fun thing to think about. By which I most nearly mean, fun for me, and since this is my journal, we're going to talk about it now.
Whether someone should vote is determined by the following formula (according to some guy):
U = pB - C
U is the utility of voting, basically how good it is to vote, etc.
p is the probability that your vote makes a difference in the outcome
B is the benefit you derive from your preferred outcome coming to pass.
C is the cost of voting in terms of time, money, research, whatever it takes you to vote in terms of your life and personal resources.
Basically you only want to vote if U is positive (another way to look at it is if pB>C)
Of course, p, is generally infantessimally small, and B, is finite (you won't usually be shot in the streets when Republicans get elected instead of Democrats, as much as some of you might think). So pB = ~0. So assuming that C isn't 0 then no one should vote. Interestingly enough though, people do vote, people vote a lot. 50% turnouts not so bad when you think about the fact that probably no one has a vested interest in they themselves voting.
There's a variable missing here though, and that's the benefit you get from voting regardless of the utimate outcome. So it's interesting to ponder what people think they get out of voting. So I leave my journal with a question: do you vote (or will you when you get the chance) and why?
----Stephen
July 15 2005, 13:05:34 UTC 6 years ago
Because I feel that even if I am in an area where my vote will not mean much, I still believe that it's important to voice your opinion.
July 15 2005, 16:53:24 UTC 6 years ago
~no, really i vote out of a sense of duty and futility. (i hate politics.)~
July 16 2005, 22:02:12 UTC 6 years ago
Why I vote
I vote. Plato said that the price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. In a sea of votes, my individual vote may not have much weight. But like all other people, I am entitled to one vote. If all the people who want change vote for it, change may still yet not come to pass. But if none of them vote because they all think their vote will not matter, then it is certain that there will be no change. We have to try our best. Even if it isn't enough, it's better than nothing. If there is an evil thing, and I want to draw a sword and cut off its head, but I can't, and the worst thing I can do is prick it with a pin, I would still do it. Some people may not understand that, but it is what I believe and it's important to me. I believe it is possible for an evil thing to die of a million pinpricks. But even if I knew that there were no other million people with pins, that it was just me with my one pin, I would still give the evil thing one pinprick. I want the evil to know that I am not afraid of it, and that even though I may have very little power, I have chosen to devote all the power I have to killing it, every single day, until one of us is dead. It may be able to kill me anyway, but even all its power cannot stop me from giving it one pinprick. I want the evil to know that.So that's why I vote. It's also why when I'm sexually harassed I keep walking. I want to go down Franklin St. beyond Lime & Basil and down to the little shops. I know I can't do that without some man/men saying something degrading to me. I can't keep them from saying something; they can't keep me from walking through "their" part of the street. It's all the same thing. I can't keep Bush from being President; he can't keep me from voting against him. I can make the men on Franklin St. get snubbed and ignored by a woman they think should want to have sex with them; I can make Bush know that I did not choose him to be my President. No matter what the issue is, it's all the same concept. Last night on the way to dinner & back, five different groups of men gave me filthy looks. But I still got to go where I chose to go. They didn't get sex with me. Sure, they could have taken it. There were more of them, and they didn't look like the kinds of guys that are going to cower in terror at the thought of being hit with Thanh's umbrella. They could have raped me. But they weren't willing to go that far; that was their choice. It's not about being able to affect the final outcome. It's about making the evil thing know that even though it can take what it wants, it can't make me give it to it willingly. And that's important.
July 22 2005, 22:57:05 UTC 6 years ago
Stephen I, Emperor of Maine!
General Erin, reporting in for duty! I tried to friend you, but could find no button! Yes, I know, I'm blind. But if it pleases you, you should friend me, so I can friend you back.::hugs and NCSSM love::
July 23 2005, 18:47:43 UTC 6 years ago
General Erin, Commander of the Imperial Mainian Forces in Asheville
General Erin, I have justly friended you. However you have failed to answer the all important question, why exactly is it that you vote? (presuming that you vote.)Anyways, great to be back in touch with you and all, let me know when you'll be back in Asheville, we might get lucky and have some overlap, I'd love to catch up.
---Stephen I, Emperor of Maine