to vote, or not to vote

i've always been a big fan of voting for various reasons. small-l libertarians as a group typically take the public choice argument that the benefits of voting are so small that they don't outweigh the costs and risks involved (time, gas, etc.). glen writes a good critique of this argument on his blog and proposes a more libertarian reason to vote.
besides the psychological satisfaction involved, there are other good reasons to vote and glen touches on some, although i realize it gets sticky when we start talking about social costs.
it remains, however, the sad fact that one vote doesn't make any difference, period. that's just math. but there's a bright side to it: growing up where i did, knowing the folks i did, it's hard to be TOO upset about it. i suppose i'm not a big fan of mass rule anyway, particularly rule by the aforementioned mass, so it might be for the best.

Labels: political