All you do is complain

Since I've been writing about free speech as of late, I think I should mention that I support the right to complain and criticize. I've already mentioned how I think the people who say you shouldn't criticize the government are pretty dumb, but it goes beyond that. A pet peeve of mine is when someone replies to criticism of an artistic work by saying something like, "Do you think YOU could do better?" Well, maybe not, but don't you think we should hold professional artists to a slightly higher standard, since they ARE getting paid for it and all? If I think some musician is a lousy guitar player, should I not be allowed to criticize him just because I can't play much on the guitar beyond "When The Saints Go Marchin' In"? Really, if you took that argument to its logical extreme, you'd pretty much HAVE to like every artist who's more skilled at a particular thing than you are, and that strikes me as ridiculous.

Mind you, I'm not saying that some complaints aren't unnecessary and annoying. They can also be quite rude in certain situations. Indeed, the same freedom that gives people the right to complain also gives you the right to say why you think a certain complaint is stupid. My point is mostly that everyone has the RIGHT to complain, whether or not their complaints are annoying and/or dumb.

Along these lines, I've seen a few comments to the effect that, if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about the government. The thing is, I agree with them in spirit. I think it's important to vote. In letter, though, these people are actually wrong. The Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, but doesn't contain a mandatory voting clause.

To go off on a tangent, I sometimes wonder if we SHOULD be required to vote. I guess a truly free republic has to give the freedom NOT to vote as well as the freedom to vote, though. For that matter, I have to wonder if countries where voting is mandatory have a system in place to stop people from turning in blank or spoiled ballots. That might sound like a purely hypothetical scenario, but there really are people who just refuse to vote, for whatever reason. I've heard the "Every candidate sucks, so why vote?" argument. I know that Andy Partridge of XTC, when discussing the song "Here Comes President Kill Again," said that he doesn't vote because he doesn't like the policies of any of the people running, especially in terms of killing in the name of the people. I can sympathize with this position, but I disagree that it's a good reason not to vote. I mean, you can write in the name of someone you know if you have to, right? (I really don't know for sure how British elections operate, but I assume they still have write-in votes.) Personally, I have to agree with the people who think getting Bush out is the most important thing in the upcoming presidential election.

That was quite a tangent, wasn't it? So, yeah, I think everybody has the right to complain, whether or not they vote, but you should still vote. It's not that hard to do. Of course, I didn't register to vote until after graduating from college, but, well, you should do as I say, not as I do. {g}