BobDylan

Yes, macphysto, I've encountered many admitted non voters over the years, and their answers always boil down to saying voting doesn't really matter, because it either doesn't change anything or that the major parties are too much the same, for it to make any difference. I still vote, even if every general election vote for statewide or federal elections always turns out to be a vote for the lesser evil, or even a vote that won't matter, since I live in a red state, where voting blue is itself a wasted vote most of the time in statewide or fed elections. But I always vote in the primaries, because that is where my vote usually matters the most and where I can actually vote for my hopes, and for someone I actually support, rather than just a lesser evil..

It's esp., been true since the early 1970s, when the SC began ruling that campaign money was protected speech, and therefore couldn't be limited or regulated. This was long before their Citizen's United decision, which was more of a final nail in the coffin. It's really interesting to me, that the corporate media will occasionally mention how high our rate of non voting is in elections, compared to other developed democracies. But at the same time, the corporate media never does any studies, research, or analysis of why that is, esp. when it comes to asking registered voters why they don't vote. My take is that those voters see no real diff between the two major parties, esp. on economic issues and policy, and that's why they don't bother voting, esp. in fed elections. But the corporate media doesn't want to admit that, much less let those voters ever know about any third party or independent candidates, that offer a real option for voting outside the duopoly, and someone who isn't bought, because those parties and candidates don't have the money to buy ads in the corporate media, so the corporate media protects their big money clients, the major parties. And so it goes, on and on...

JNL- The last line of your comment sounds like my upcoming Thanksgiving trip to Oklahoma to see my two sisters. Driving several hours there from my home in Iowa, thru southwestern Missouri, eastern Kansas, and then the northeastern part of Oklahoma. Done it before, and it's a cultural wasteland, as far as radio, nothing but country music stations, Christian radio, and right wing talk radio. As before, I will bring a bunch of CDs to play and also just enjoy the silence for some of the ride by myself....