Why Is This a Difficult Concept?

[kevin_standlee]

I just replied to this comment complaining about how you have to join Worldcon in order to vote for the Hugo Awards, which led off with "But I don't have to pay to vote for my government officials." This is not the first time that I've heard someone trot this out. I'll repeat here what I said there:

That's right, you don't. That's because "paying membership dues" is not one of the requirements for being a citizen of your country. But WSFS isn't a country. It's a club. If you want to join a club, you have to meet that club's membership requirements.

Why is the concept of having to pay membership dues to be a member of a club, and having to be a member of a club in order to vote on things that club decides, such a difficult concept for some people? Are these people who have never in their lives joined a club or society, have never had to pay membership dues, and simply assume that if the word "vote" is involved, it must be free to anyone who wants it just because voting for public officials doesn't have a direct cost associated with it?

I actually understand the "It costs too much" complaint. That can be translated as "The amount you're charging for membership is more than the value I place on the things I get from that membership." There's nothing inherently wrong with that; it's an economic value judgment like every other decision we make about what to buy or not buy. It's what sounds to me like whining that "but I want it, so it shouldn't cost me anything!" that gets on my nerves, because it's childish.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

You may be being a bit too harsh. Say you live in a state that doesn't have sales tax like Oregon, and you don't earn enough to owe income tax; you can still vote, even though you've paid no taxes. (Yes, I know there are other taxes, and property tax is hard to avoid, too, directly or indirectly.) Howeird talks of spending the entire year outside of the USA, which is one of the few ways I can think of avoiding all US taxes of any sort. Taxation and voting are not directly coupled. Some people vote without paying taxes; others pay tax without voting.