Will casting your ballot change anything?

In case you haven't seen the hundreds of thousands of plastic lawn signs everywhere, the spectacle of elections is upon us. The sensational attack ads, the speeches, the gossip and the constant manipulation of polls clog the media, as if nothing else mattered.

We are urged to vote everywhere we go. But if voting really mattered how come so few of us do it. Why is it that even though we are bombarded with pro-voting propaganda by almost every coercive force in society (government, schools, mainstream media) only half of those eligible to vote (even less in the U.S.) choose not to? If voting really mattered and we all truly did have a say they wouldn't need to beg us to take part in their charade.

Is it really that shocking that people don't want to be ‘represented' by politicians who appropriate our power to serve their own agendas? What choice do we really have in this, or any, election?

Even those of us who do vote mostly do this because we aren't presented with any other options than those on the ballot. It's a small chore that we do so that we can complain later when everything we voted for isn't respected. Hence the term “If you don't vote you can't complain.” However, it is the opposite. Those who do vote should not complain because by voting they opted to have others represent them and their views instead of representing themselves.

If all you do is vote, you can't complain, but that goes for not voting too. Voting in this election is secondary to the way we live our lives everyday. Every minute we vote with our actions and that's what actually matters.

By shopping at the malls we are voting for sweatshops.

By driving big cars we're voting for resource wars and climate change. These are the votes that count.

Voting will not solve our problems. Only by taking action and directly addressing these problems as individuals and as communities can we hope to affect change. Voting Green will not stop global warming; only curbing our own consumption patterns, influencing others in our communities to do the same, and confronting those who profit from the earth's destruction can solve that problem.

Voting NDP will not solve poverty; only through mutual aid, solidarity (not charity), and confronting the greedy can we achieve equality.

I'm not saying everybody should boycott the election. What I'm saying is that whether or not you plan on voting you should be planning to do much more than just that. Don't limit yourself to the options they give you. Cut out the middleman and create your own solutions to the problems in your community. Democracy means having a voice between elections too.

Sometimes when we consider our one tiny vote, it does seem like we are completely powerless. But once we start to think outside the (ballot) box, we realize that even though one vote cannot change much, one person can.

You will change the world today. You probably already have in some way or another. Every single action we choose to take has continuously intensifying ripple effects, either positive or negative, on the earth and other people. This is why we must never think of our actions or our lives as insignificant or unimportant.

If we choose to act directly and cooperatively with others who share our interests we can take the power back from all those who wish to dominate us. We can re-appropriate our voice from our so-called representatives, disrupt business-as-usual, and inspire others to do the same.

Just recently an arms fair in Ottawa was cancelled because of the likelihood of civil unrest disrupting it with direct action. Not only does this prove that direct action works, it proves that even the threat of direct action is more effective than going through ‘the proper channels'.

Gandhi said ‘be the change you wish to see in the world' not ‘vote for change'. Don't wait until October 14th, take direct action now!

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.