To Vote or Not To Vote. Sometimes, There’s No Question!
We are entering the primary season here in Indiana. Voters will go to the polls on May 2 and choose a number of candidates in different races, some contested but many more not. Also a number of organizations, each with their own agenda, will encourage people to get out and vote. Not to date myself, but I grew up watching MTV and its ‘Rock the Vote’ drives. And even then I had to ask myself the question, why should we have to explain to people why it’s important to vote? And if we have to explain it to them, then maybe they shouldn’t be voting. Allow me to explain.
To me, voting is more of a responsibility than a right. As citizens we have a duty to choose men and women of good character and occasionally good cunning and send them to the Capital, city hall, township or school board office of our choice to represent our interests and make tough decisions. I personally want the best and brightest candidate for the job, but to get that I have to do my homework and research the candidates. By studying the candidate and the issues I can make an informed decision. However, some people are no industrious.
To me, there is no greater danger to a democracy than an uninformed electorate. They tend to ignore the issues and once they decide to pay attention, make bad choices, which usually people like me have to deal with the consequences. So my advice to those people this election season who do not study issues or candidates, is do everyone a favor and stay home. That’s right, don’t vote!!!
Hear me out on this one. We don’t want bad cops enforcing the law. We don’t want bad doctors performing surgery. We don’t want bad teachers educating our children. So why would we want a bad voter casting a ballot. Why should my informed and educated decision be negated by a mouth-breathing, slack-jawed, sloping forehead, knuckle-dragging troglodyte? Exactly! The scary thing is deep down many of you feel this way, you just won’t admit it.
You may be thinking everyone has the right to vote, and they do. But just because we have the right to do something, doesn’t mean we should. And when our actions will do more harm than good then I think we have a responsibility to sit this one out. This applies whether the voter is a wealthy, suburban straight-ticket voter or inner city welfare recipient who supports the status quo.
I don’t want drunk drivers on the road and uneducated and uninformed voters walking into a ballot booth. They both do more harm than good in the long run. And while we can pass laws to crack down on drunk drivers, unfortunately we can’t do the same for idiots and morons. So my advice this election season is if you’re informed, educated and up on the issues please go vote. If this was Chicago were I grew up, I’d say do it early and do it often. But since this is Indiana, I’ll say just do it.
