When one votes, are they participating in the process whereby, if 51% agree on something, they are declairibg their desire to initiate violent force against peaceable people to make them (the 49% that voted against) to comply, or die (assuming, as demonstrated continually, resistance will escalate to deadly force)? Is that process moral or immoral? If one participates by voting, is that a moral, or immoral act?
immoral. b/c all voting does is encourage & legitimize the corrupt, crooked bastards.
We vote for someone who’ll uphold our ideals, not instantly write-off their opponent’s supporters … as we’re now experiencing at the executive level in the USA. If anyone’s looking for an excuse not to make a choice, and hasn’t the guts to run themselves, this appears the post for them
@OldHippieAtHeart My statement stands, and you’re either asking a convoluted question, playing games, or scrounging points. Which is it?
NOT VOTING is endorsing the status quo. Period.
@OldHippieAtHeart Ummm, what? You do realize we have the "government' we have now because the majority stayed home? And what, exactly about, my post seemed "religious" to you???!!!
@OldHippieAtHeart Voting is "ruling others"??????? Huh, I was taught it is taking part in a society. And Nothing "supernatural" about it. Sorry, I thought I was talking to a rational human being......bu-bye
The type of voting must be questioned here. If like in the UK and USA a First Past the Post/winner take all is used, then this can be immoral but not always. Then the rest who use some sort of proportional representation method may be more moral and inclusive, but produces a little for all and no clear winner much of the time.
Morality is subjective, what was moral for a Roman of the 1st Century is not moral for me a man in the 21st. In other words, NAZIs carried out acts of morality based upon their rules and norms, which in the pre-NAZI era would be seen as immoral. Here I am talking about removal of the rights to vote not the holocaust.
In quick conclusion - it is moral to vote if that is the cultural norm of your society to do so. It is immoral to force a vote if it is not. With the later, imagine soldiers having to vote for or against every order they were given.
I suggest reading Machiavelli Discourses on Livvi. He argues that the involvement of the many in voting reduces the extreme potential from leaders.
Any philosophy majors want to take a crack at this? So much to define first - like morality. Then, the rules governing the type of voting. Is it possibly neither? There are times when doing a moral deed brings an immoral consequence and vice versa.