George Carlin on why he doesn’t vote:

Now, there is one thing you might have noticed that I DON’T complain about: Politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck.

Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and American universities, and they’re elected by American citizens.

THIS IS THE BEST WE CAN DO, FOLKS! This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: garbage in, garbage out.

If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders. And term limits aren’t gonna do you any good. You’re just gonna wind up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans.

So maybe it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here--like the PUBlic. Yeah, the public sucks. THERE’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody. The public sucks. Fuck hope!... Because if it’s REALly the fault of these politicians, then where are all the other bright people of conscience? Where are all the bright, honest Americans ready to step in and save the nation and lead the way? WE DON’T HAVE PEOPLE LIKE THAT IN THIS COUNTRY!

Everybody’s at the MALL, scratching his ass, picking his nose, taking his credit card out of his fanny pack and buying a pair of sneakers WITH LIGHTS IN THEM.

So I have solved this little political dilemma for myself in a very simple way: On election day, I STAY AT HOME! I don’t vote. FUCK THEM! Fuck them. I DON’T VOTE!

Two reasons, two reasons I don’t vote: First of all, it’s MEANingless. This country was bought and sold a long time ago. The shit they shuffle around every four years doesn’t mean a fucking thing.

And secondly I don’t vote because I believe if you vote, you have NO right to complain! People like to twist that around, I know. They say, “Well, if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.”

But where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up, well YOU are responsible for what they have done. You’ve caused the problem. YOU VOTED THEM IN. You have no right to complain!

I, on the other hand, who did not vote, who, in fact, did not even LEAVE the house on election day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and have every right to complain as loud as I want about the mess YOU created and that I had nothing to do with!