Opus,44, Should We Encourage People To Vote?

There are certain points of accepted wisdom that I am beginning to question as I get older and do more thinking on my own.  One of them is this idea that we need to encourage people to vote.  I am not so sure that is a good idea.  I used to accept it and repeat it, but the more I am aware of the general quality of the potential voter, the more I question the wisdom of pushing voting.

I refuse to wear the “I have voted” sticker.  I accept them graciously and then stick them somewhere that no one will see them.  I work in a public school.  I am surrounded by educated, vocal sheep who tend to disagree with me on everything.  They don’t disagree because they have knowledge I don’t.  They can’t explain why they have the opinions they have.  They live in a bubble that was blown by their progressive professors and have not busted out.  These are the people who put up banners that proclaim if they can dream it, they can do it.  These are the people that threw out phonics because it was old fashioned.  If they forget to vote, I figure the country is better off.

People who care enough about the issues make sure that they vote.  Others do it because it seems the right thing to do or because their spouse told them to go.  One indication of who deserves to vote is the sample ballot they bring with them to complex elections.  They have marked them and are ready to go.  They are in and out quickly.  Others take forever as they play, “Enny, Meeny, Mynee, Moe...” with the ballot.

There may be someone who has suffered a personal earthquake and has just forgotten, but the odds are against it.  So don’t go out and vote.  Unless you really want to.