Truth be told, you have no choice because not voting is also a “vote.” It may not be a vote for a candidate, but it is an expression of political preference, nevertheless.
A long time ago, a musical group called The Fugs asked the question, “Why are we always voting for the lesser of two evils?” For the original, see https://genius.com/The-fugs-wide-wide-river-lyrics. We vote for the “lesser of two evils” because we consider it better than the alternative.
In the “old days,” people just did what the tribal chiefs, kings, and/or queens told them to do. Originally, battles were fought over limited resources. I don’t know the degree to which limited resources influence war these days, but the battle lines are centuries old. For example, take a look at a partial listing of wars between France and England: “
As is true for the vast majority of men in our culture, I spent time in the military. Virtually all the men in my family spent at least some time in military service. For my father and my uncles, the wars were WWII and Korea. My mother grew up knowing older relatives who had fought in the U.S. Civil War. For me, the war was Vietnam. I am glad to say that my son has not been called to serve. With some luck, we will continue to reduce the necessity—and desire—for war. That is, I think, social progress.
At some point, we will “out grow” the need and desire for war. In the meantime, democracy is, perhaps, the best alternative to militarism. My sense is that voting for leadership is the best way to reduce the need and desire for war. People are much less inclined to go to war if/when they feel that they had a say in the outcome of elections. The more people who vote, the less likely one faction or another will want to go to war.
People who vote have a vested interest in democracy, even when their candidate loses. While having a vested interest in democracy is not quite the same as having a vested interest in peace, it is probably the next-best thing. Also a long time ago, John Lennon (of Beatles fame) and Yoko Ono suggested that we “Give Peace a Chance”: See
Truth be told, we haven’t given peace much of a chance at any point in history. We eventually, of course, get tired of waging constant wars. Perhaps we have reduced the number of conflicts (especially militarized conflicts) simply because we got tired of fighting. John Lennon was right: We really should give peace a chance….