Debate on the Rationality of Voting

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/08/is-voting-rational.html



It annoys me when ppl start trying to attach bogus numbers to an even more bogus concept of "how much is my vote going to be worth?"



Remember that we're looking BACK now and calibrating these numbers. There is no way any voter, however informed he might be, will be able to come up with numbers for possible legislation differences and the resulting costs for each candidate, compounded by the complexity of the legislative process that depends on the composition of re-elected members. Even the politician and his / her team can't give you realistic numbers beyond their own hopes / guesses, which are often way off from what actually gets passed. You can assume that voters use the numbers that politicians announce via platform promises, but then each voter tweaks it based on his/her subjective beliefs. It's just all a stinking mess, not tractable in reasonable models that one can dream up, much less so in the head of the average voter.



My personal view of why people vote is a combination of subjective beliefs about one's likelihood to matter (I think most people won't get this number right, and to be honest I think many voters are slightly deluded, esp after Florida 2000), and the belief that voting is a right that many before us have fought so hard for, and should therefore be cherished. Well, maybe just in my simple mind...