This will probably typify most people s thinking on their way to the polls this year, as it has in years past. But it does not make for a better society. Voting offers us a way to responsibly improve society. If you don t care about improvement, you better hope that those who do go to the polls advocate your interests. Societal improvement is a somewhat nebulous concept because change is rarely teleological and it rests in the whims of the populace.
Most people think that a candidate who wins an election can make the world a better place.
This has rarely happened in history. It is the people, or the ruled, who make the world a better place by behavioral changes, and the ruler is usually only a by-product of this collective phenomenon. The process of voting, because it demands sharing of information, requires people to gain knowledge about their world. It offers an opportunity to question whether they accept the tenets of their representatives and of their society. When this occurs, people get informed, people can communicate their distastes, and their hopes.