Why not?
Someone who votes has influence; all the more so someone who votes in the Knesset.
After all, you’re an influential person.

Exactly. Just as it’s not true that someone who votes has influence, so too a Knesset member doesn’t really have influence. Writing and stirring up discussion has much more influence. And that’s aside from the fact that I have no interest whatsoever (and maybe not the skills either) for the political cesspool in the valley of mud-puddles.

Okay, as you wish.
I didn’t understand why the voter doesn’t influence things, and neither do the Knesset members—after all, social and religious laws are legislated in the Knesset, aren’t they?

With God's help, 7 Elul 5782

A Knesset member also has influence on the practical level by passing laws and budgets that advance goals important in his eyes, except that in order to do so one has to make “give-and-take” deals that also involve “painful compromises,” which doesn’t seem like it would suit Rabbi Michael Abraham.

Even a Knesset member who doesn’t enter the system of “deals” has influence by means of the extra media exposure his words receive, but in order to merit that he needs tens of thousands of voters to get him past the electoral threshold, which is not expected in the present case. Maybe by joining Derekh Eretz 🙂

Perhaps there is a more reasonable chance of getting Rabbi Michael Abraham onto the Supreme Court, as a “distinguished jurist,” a category that was invented in order to allow the appointment of Rabbi Professor Simcha Assaf as a Supreme Court justice (and based on this precedent, a similar proposal was made to Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky, who declined).

Regards,
Yaron Fishel Ordner

Thank you for leaving it to my own wishes. Consideration and compassion worthy of note :).
I’ve explained more than once why the voter has no influence. First of all, numerically: a single voter has never changed anything on the political map. Whether I go vote or not, the map will look exactly the same. (Therefore, without the categorical imperative there is no reason whatsoever to waste time on voting.) And second, they’re all more or less the same, so no matter what you vote for you’ll get the same result. Search here on the site for the story of the mail in Burma. And third, one Knesset member has no weight and no ability to influence substantive issues. Party discipline and coalition discipline neuter everything.

Rabbi Michael Abraham would presumably very much like Rashi’s comment (Ezekiel 36:3): “And the slander of the people — parliament in the vernacular” 🙂

Regards,
A reader who offers strength

Indeed, I like it very much.
As for Burma, I found it in column 127 (and see the surrounding discussion there).