Just stay home

Background: Letter in the Metro Times complained about low voter turnout. Personally, I think quality beats quantity when it comes to electing a president.

A recent letter laments that while 97 million Americans voted in “American Idol”, not nearly as many will participate in the next presidential election. Actually, 122 million votes were cast in the 2004 election. This amounted to about 60 percent of those eligible.

Much ado is made about low voter turnout but that focuses attention on the wrong problem. If someone doesn’t have the motivation to spend a few minutes casting a vote on Election Day, they certainly don’t have the motivation to educate themselves on the candidates. If everything you know about a candidate comes from a handful of television ads, stay home. In addition, a voter’s responsibility doesn’t end with knowing a candidate’s positions on the issues. Understanding the Constitution and the proper, limited role of government in society should be prerequisites. Of course if that was the case, McCain, Obama, and Clinton would never have made it past the auditions.

[Letter to the Editor - The Metro Times. Published 06/11/2008.]