Just Stay Home on Election Day
It's a fact that at least eighty million Americans who are eligible to vote are not registered to vote. It's a fact that less than one-half of all Americans who were registered to vote have actually voted in the last several national elections. And it's a fact that, notwithstanding the impact of the Electoral College, less than one-quarter of all Americans who could have voted elected the last four Presidents.
In view of these facts, I thought it might prove helpful to weigh in with my humble opinion on this important and timely issue. Rather than joining in the chorus of those hoping to create new voters from among the heretofore uninterested and complacent with only a couple of weeks until the election, I take the exact opposite approach. I suggest that those who don't make it their business to study the issues and form educated opinions about the myriad challenges facing our State and our Nation should stay home on Election Day. Those unconversant about our out-of-control Federal spending, or outsourcing of jobs overseas, or the mortgage meltdown mess, or privatizing Social Security, or the perennial, crippling spending and budget problems in Sacramento, or the interminable war on terror, or continued unacceptable levels of unemployment, or finally fixing illegal immigration once and for all, etc., etc., should simply stay home on Election Day.
I suggest that those who believe government creates any kind of jobs other than government jobs should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who want to increase taxes on the job-producing "wealthy," you know, the 5% who already pay almost half of all income taxes, should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who might choose to become involved only because of a single, burning, hot-button issue, like saving the whales or ending global warming (or whatever they choose to call it these days), should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who believe America owes them anything other than the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who believe in the forced redistribution of wealth from those who produce it to those who don't should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those college students who wouldn't know a W-2 if they tripped over it and who get all teary-eyed about "hope" and "change," should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who believe it's okay to hijack one-sixth of our economy on a strictly party-line vote late on a Christmas Eve with the intent of gutting what was the very best health care system on Earth should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who get their information about politics solely from watching TV ads from either party should stay home on Election Day. I suggest that those who can't decide between a candidate for Governor who created 15,000 jobs and one who managed to double Oakland's murder rate should stay home on Election Day. I, for one, am alarmed at the thought my vote might once again be marginalized by someone unwilling to educate and inform themselves on the issues, as have I. All good citizens should be as well.
So, I offer my thanks in advance to those with no business voting who decide to take my advice and stay home on Election Day. To all the others, I say, "See you at the polls on November 2nd!"
linked to here from bubbling cauldron...
ReplyDeleteinteresting post. you discount the fact that even the most educated and fiercly opinionated among us still reign that we are voting for the lesser of two evils in almost every electoral scenario, from the city through the federal level. i continue to vote third parties and am called crazy for throwing away my vote. i look at people who vote democrat or republican and call crazy anyone who would vote a party that, despite rhetoric, does the opposite of why they voted for them.
in light of this, i have more respect for the educated who sit out elections and work day to day on the ground level to affect policy whoever is in office (whatever their issue or politics may be) than the most civic minded and well educated among us who merely vote and then retreat to their lives for another two to four years while they trust that the victor they chose will lead them to the promised land.
towards that end, i think it is great that this groundswell of conservative populism that will be on such a high 24 hours from now will get the opportunity to experience the crushing feeling of disillusionment in 2 years when everything is exactly the same. its kinda cute, actually.
i liked your post, though.
Hey folkinhippy...
ReplyDeleteGood comments. Couldn't agree more with your premise, except that third-party protest votes almost never work out. Instead of the lesser of two evils, we sometimes are faced with the evil of two lessers...