Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Voting with your feet



There is an inherent problem with voting with your feet. It is basically defeatist and negative. While voting with ones hand's doesn't seem as spectacular or quite as 'cool' a thing to do, it does exude a certain calmness and demonstrate a willingness to stick around and make things work. When you vote with your hands there is generally a higher degree of maturity demonstrated. It is a show of patience and openness to the democratic process. Sure I can walk away from the discussion but it really isn't voting, is it? It's just quitting. And what are the chances I'll vote with my feet again and again every time someone steps on my toes.

Hands that choose to vote, on the other hand, can always vote and make improvements. If there is a consensus demonstrated by a show of hands then there can be lots of improvement. If not, there is still usually a way of making some sort of improvement. A dry stone wall is kind of a structural 'show of hands'. It can and does make an improvement on the look of almost any property. Many hands working together get more things done in the way of dry stone improvements than just a couple of hands. It's really hard to build with one hand. It's even harder to build with your feet.