With the presidential election of 2012 being just days away and my excitement to cast my first ballot, questions of whom people from the past would vote for tend to surface. In this class we've read pieces by Voltaire and Camus, both writers who wrote pieces to make a specific point. Who would they vote for?
In reality voting is an American right, but people don't always exercise this right. In my opinion, even if Camus had the opportunity to vote in an election I don't think he would. In The Stranger Camus speaks on the topic of the absurd and the question "does our life have meaning?". I don't think Camus would vote because to him our voice doesn't matter. He paints the picture of our character Mersault that gives me the image of a man with no feelings. Why should it matter who I vote for? I don't care.
Looking at Voltaire, I don't think he would vote in this election or any election. From reading Candide we see that Voltaire is very humorous and he pokes fun at authority figures from priests to lords. If there was a way to vote in order to prove a satirical point that the American people are absurd for choosing either candidate, that would be the route I would take.
Sidenote: I'm voting democratic in the upcoming election, so to choose a side that is "ridiculous" from an outside stand point would be unfair (as in my point with Voltaire) but I believe that both of these men would opt to not vote based on their works that I've read.
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