As election time approaches, editorials and prognosticators will wax effusively about the effect that voter turnout will have on the outcome of races throughout the country. Voter apathy, weather and many other issues will be advanced as a reason why Mr. & Mrs American Voter might cast a ballot or sit the election out. Each will be dissected and evaluated to determine, in advance, which candidates will get to celebrate on the evening of Nov. 7th.
I would like to state, for the record, that this blog stands behind and, aggressively supports, low voter turnout. We here at isitjustme encourage people who are on the fence about dragging themselves to the polls, to stay the hell home. Don't come! We don't need you!
If that sounds a little harsh and even a little anti-American allow me to state the case.
Last Monday, the WSJ carried a column by Cynthia Crossen about why Americans don't vote. One of her conclusions is that turnout at the polls is low (and getting lower) because our registration system makes it impossible to cast a ballot on the spur of the moment. I say, "bravo". Do you really want your officials chosen by people who decided to vote because the weather is good and they really don't have any thing else to do that day? What sort of choices will be made by that crowd? (President Bush, please sit down.)
Voter registration was instituted to prevent spontaneous voting. In the last century, most of Chicago's elections were decided by voters that were dragged from alleys and nursing homes (many against their will) and driven to the polls. (The dead had to provide their own transportation.) At least with registration we have a system that provides for some control over who is electing our government.(and how many times)
Most candidates have been running for a year. They have spent millions explaining why they should be chosen to help run America.(They have also spent millions explaining how their opponent once shot a helpless bird in a tree.. The opponent was nine at the time.) Considering the tidal wave of media coverage that exists in America, it's virtually impossible not to have formed an opinion by now. However, if you have managed to ride the ignorance train for this long, don't jump off in Nov.
The United States is in the middle of a crisis. Whether you agree with administration policy or oppose it, it is almost impossible to imagine that any thinking person is disinterested enough to sit out the election.
Americans who opposed the war in Iraq had their opinions thwarted in 2004 by a viscous campaign that was decided on gay marriage and stem cell research. If that outcome didn't cause the American non-voting public to get off their collective asses and register to vote the next time around, then we should let them alone. If you're undecided about the direction that America has chosen then you are what is called in academic circles, a blockhead. Please, for the sake of anyone who has read a newspaper or shown any interest in what's going on in the world, don't help.
What were the lessons of '04? You had to hand it to Karl Rove and the Christian right,(and we did, "hand it to them"). They didn't wait until November to energize their supporters. There was no need for an "October Surprise". The Bush re-election people began scaring people early in the summer of and kept them frightened right thorough the election. Bone-headed Democrats, convinced that they had justice on their side, trusted that America would "see the light" come election day and pull a lever for John Kerry. Wrong! The Democratic elite believe that the American people are sheep who can be easily led. Republicans know that the electorate are cattle that must be driven.
Voting requires a little effort. First you have to register, then you have to make time to get to a poll. Making that effort indicates your level of commitment to the democratic process we profess to cherish and spill blood to export. It should also be a litmus test to determine your desire to participate in the process. Maybe we should adopt the Iraqi system and add an element of danger to the exercise. Iraqis didn't need to register. I guess one trip through the shooting gallery is enough.
Maybe I just hang around with the wrong people. I don't know anyone who is neutral about America's current situation. Forget Mark Foley. There are real issues to be decided. People are dying in Dafur and in Iraq. Nut-hatch dictators with bad hair and cheap suits are threatening the world with nuclear weapons. American citizens can't rely on their government to send a boat or a bottle of Poland Spring when the water is ten feet high and risin'.
If you have lived in this country for the last six years and haven't formed an opinion about whether to endorse or detest the present Congress then you are not likely to receive a message from God in the next three weeks (unless you're Pat Robertson). For the sake of the rest of us, stay in your Barcolounger, watch Oprah, go to WalMart, see Jackass II. Just stay away from your local polling place. We don't need you.
No comments:
Post a Comment