If You Don't Vote, You *Can* Complain

Cross posted from 200-Proof Liberals

In some of my previous posts, I’ve explained why there is no duty to vote. But maybe you should vote for a different reason—you can’t complain if you don’t vote. As I write in my book:

I take this objection particularly seriously. Why? Because, as my friends, family, co-workers, department chair, students, head of human resources, office manager, neighbors, mail carrier, barber, editor, doctor, veterinarian, daycare providers, Uber drivers, flight attendants, and baristas will tell you, the right to complain is something I hold sacred.

But I contend that you can complain even if you don’t vote. Typically when we say that you can’t complain about X if you don’t do Y, it’s because doing Y would prevent X. Consider:

“Ugh, my lower back is always sore.”

“No problem—here are a few simple exercises you can do to easily alleviate the pain.”

“Eh, I’d rather not.”

“Okay, then don’t complain when your back is sore!”

Here it does seem like you shouldn’t complain about your sore back. You can take steps (at a reasonable cost to yourself, etc.) to fix your sore back and so you have no one to blame but yourself if your back isn’t fixed. Now compare:

“Ugh, I’ve got a terrible cold. It’s a bummer because as we all know, there is no cure.”

“Why don’t you use my healing crystals?”

“Wait, will those actually help?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then I’ll pass.”

“Okay, then don’t complain about your cold!”

Here it seems like you do retain the right to complain about your cold despite not using the healing crystals--using the healing crystals wouldn’t cure your cold. Similarly, you retain the right to complain about politics even if you don’t vote because casting a vote wouldn’t change political outcomes.