> don't think one can blame them, not voting can be a legit option for many reasons,

With the exception of people who have religious beliefs prohibiting voting, it’s saying that you don’t feel strongly enough about the differences between the two candidates to pick one. There are some people who can plead various hardships, but most people don’t have that excuse: it really did come down to thinking their life would be fine either way.

Or thinking they were sunk either way.

No, in the US electoral formula, not every vote for President will make a difference. Seven out of 50 states are close, so in 43 states it’s only a protest vote.

Then maybe its time to ask yourself: do you live in a democracy when you cannot make your vote count?

It still matters for the popular vote and all of the downstream candidates. People who stay home inevitably complain about local changes which also were on the ballot.

I strongly support national electoral vote reform but it’s important to remember that every election really does matter.

Their intend may have been another, but the outcome is that they supported whoever was winning.

Ridiculous. Do you blame all Venezuelans for their current government? You shouldn't.

In a democracy every citizen is responsible for the actions of their state.

Not the people who voted for the losing candidates!

In a healthy democracy there are more ways than just voting to influence the countrys political affairs. Democracy has a price, voting every four years is not enough.

Yes. Chavez was democratically elected. Maduro is not an alien he was born in Venezuela.

Why did Venezuela become what it is today? Every citizen is responsible for what their country turned into.

Ofcourse I do not expect anyone in the Venezuelan diaspora do any kind of introspection or soul-searching.

Venezuela was a beautiful South American Switzerland and it is all the fault of the evil Cubans.

as someone who has never voted, i am absolutely okay with this characterization. i often hold my tongue when it comes to complaining about political stuff because i dont really feel like i have the right to. i mean, of course i HAVE the right, but the hypocrisy isn’t. to be clear: this is not the same thing as being animated about general gov. malfeasance, which is something that everyone is in the right to complain about, as the operation of the government isn’t a politics-specific issue in a lot of cases.