Why Do We Vote? It's Not For the Reasons You Think…

- Hey smart people, Joe here.

Okay, so voting, why do we do it?

- Everyone should get out and vote

no matter who they're voting for.

- I hope every American will turn out and vote.

- The choice is yours, America.

Please make the right one.

- From a young age, we're constantly reminded

how it's our civic duty to vote,

how it's good to participate in democracy,

and that voting is a privilege

many people around the world desperately want.

These are all true,

but I'm also not kidding myself about

how powerful my one vote actually is.

Statistically speaking,

my chances of casting the deciding vote in a major election

are smaller than my chances of getting hit by a car

on the way to vote.

Those odds don't seem like much of a reward for the hassle

of doing research, taking off work or school,

getting yourself to the polls.

And yet people turn out to vote in large numbers

time and time again, including me.

This is a paradox that's confused political thinkers

since the dawn of modern democracy.

But before making this video,

I realized I've never really asked myself why I vote.

Like, what motivates me to actually do it versus not voting?

Or why anyone chooses to vote or not.

Today we're searching for answers to those questions,

and those answers serve as a really weird reminder

that the actual reasons why we do things

might not be the reasons why we think we do things.

(playful music)

Hey, thanks so much for watching this video.

Before we get back to the video,

I wanna say a quick thank you to everyone

who supports the show on Patreon.