The questionable power of the vote
Proponents of voting often exaggerate the significance of casting each possible vote. This is understandable given the existing cynicism, which is often interpreted as apathy. Few people don’t care, far more think their cares don’t matter.
Weak arguments are made about the power of the vote. I have a simple argument about much more powerful social activity.
When the vote was restricted to white men with property there were social movements that emerged to extend the franchise. If voting was most powerful, things would have never changed. The voters would have had their way and held on to their privilege. Instead, property-less white men, then black men including the previously enslaved, then women won the right to vote over the objection of voters.
How could this happen?
The answer is complex, but it includes the power of social movements. Some were non-violent protests, others involved full scale warfare. Everything in between came into play at some point.
Yes, voting is a means of exercising some power, but it is obviously not as powerful as the mass social movements that have even transformed voting.
Ed Whitfield is a social critic, writer and community activist who has lived in Greensboro since 1970. He is co-Managing Director of the Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC).
F4DC, a Greensboro, North Carolina based private foundation, supports community-based initiatives and institutions that foster authentic democracy to make communities better places to live.
