It was a slim majority of those who actually voted, so less than half of eligible voters. There are many, many people who are not happy with how things are going.
It doesn't matter. If it's not our (I'm from the U.S.) fault, then whose fault is it? We all, collectively, are ultimately responsible for the outcome of the election. It was our job to convince everyone, including those who didn't vote, to vote for the opposition instead. We failed.
People who are hurt by the policies of this administration aren't going to say "gee, one third of the United States really sucks." Nor should they. Right now, the United States sucks. The onus is on us, all of us, to fix it.
Every time there's a school shooting, somebody defends gun rights "because muh well-armed militias" - I'm yet to see that put into action. Or maybe the well-armed militias are happy with the "progress".
Sure, we’re quibbling over when we measure the status quo. I’m measuring it across the election, pre and post. If you don’t vote you effectively endorsed the outcome even if you came up with some bizarre logic around why that isn’t the case. (Similarly, a vote for a third party in a swing state is de facto a vote for the major candidate you wouldn’t have voted for.)
To the point here, Americans who didn’t vote bear responsibility for our current political situation.
In this particular election, it doesn’t feel like non-voters get a pass. Even people outside the US were constantly inundated by what was at stake. In 2016, sure, everyone was caught by surprise. In 2024, non-voters don’t get to complain about the result, they have themselves to blame.
This is true for all elections where majority rules and voting is optional. Not voting effectively is an endorsement of whoever ends up winning. By not voting you are saying "I am OK with whoever wins."
well, meny did not choose democracy in the first place, it's "inherited". and even if they choosen, did not choose the FPP voting system. even if they accepted FPP, can not express weighted favor to individual policies of either of the total sum of 2 parties programm.
and even if one fully agreed on a party's program at election time, there is no mechanism to express loss of confidentality (from the general public's side), kinda "un-vote", during reign. you are not responsible for something you have no control over. or other words: you have as much responsibility over something as much control you have over it.
so no, average Joe is so far removed from the executive and legistlative powers that he must not be considered responsible for them.
That’s a lazy excuse. For one, you vote representatives you expect to represent your political will. If they don’t do this as you would expect them to, you voted for the wrong party, and can correct that decision at the next election.
Second, democracy isn’t something that happens in Washington, asking the rest of the country about their opinion every four years. It happens every single day, everywhere. If you just resign and say „I couldn’t have made a difference anyway, so I do nothing“, you’re on the level of German Wehrmacht soldiers after World War II that were „just following orders“. If you’re unhappy with politics, get involved and stand up against it. It you don’t do that, nobody else will.
And lastly, even if you’re a Democrat, you’re living in a democratic country, and that means you carry the majority and take responsibility for it as a community.
Not voting means supporting the winner. You don’t get to just sit out of the game (for the vast majority of non voters who have no excuse other than apathy or laziness).
Yeah, I worked for relatively normal companies as a dev from 2013 to now most of the benefits were normal across the company apart from choice of machine and I guess going to a conference but my current employer doesn't offer that.
What counts as a book? The survey gives the impression it's just reading for pleasure?
This probably plays into the class divide, my wife hates reading (for pleasure) she says that comes from having to read a lot at work. I imagine a lot of people read quite a bit but maybe have less interest in reading in their free time for entertainment.
Perl is kinda less popular now. I use that at work. Used to write perl6/raku in my previous job, I loved the grammars made a nice way to try and Wirte an nginx configuration manager.
We still use it for all kinds of web services development work, mainly because there's years of in-house modules for everything and the malleability Perl has.
The notice period is kinda odd. I've known people who want to leave immediately and haven't had a lot of trouble doing so because the relationship with their employer has soured that much.
Paid by the doctor? I think sick pay comes from the employer initially and later statutory sick pay(state).
