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Vote or die!

Celebrities left and right are encouraging people to vote. Puff Daddy issued the infamous ultimatum, “Vote or die.” He and other celebrities believe they are doing this country a tremendous favor by encouraging everyone in this great nation to vote. But, has anyone really thought out the idea of everyone voting or do we just follow along because it’s our “civic duty”? Could it be possible that it’s not best if everyone voted?

As a student during election season it is very hard to escape the constant message—and sometimes command—to Vote. ‘Rock the Vote’ further stuffs it in students face along with all it’s young and enthusiastic activists who feel it is a moral obligation to vote and if you break that obligation, you are no longer a patriotic American.

HeadCount is an organization that encourages rock concert attendees to register and vote. John Stossel recently investigated this organization and the people whom they are registering to vote. He found many of the people are absolutely clueless as to the U.S. system of democracy, with some unable to name how many states are in the Union, and unable to name the number senators in office in the U.S. Nearly all of them recognized a John McCain and Barak Obamas photo, but only half recognized the vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden.

“Maybe 75 percent of people can name the vice president. … The public’s knowledge of politics is shockingly low,” economist Bryan Caplan said during an interview with John Stoessel for his voting for dummies report.

In his book “The Myth of the Rational Voter,” Caplan argues that people who know little about our government ought to stay home on Election Day.

But aren’t Americans always told it’s their civic duty to vote?

“This is very much like saying, ‘It’s our civic duty to give surgery advice,’” Caplan said. “Now, we like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn’t know what he’s talking about, it really is better if they say, ‘Look, I’m just gonna leave this in wiser hands.’”

But isn’t it elitist to say only some people should vote?

“Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery?” Caplan said. “The bottom line is, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting.”

What happens when you are encourage people to vote who normally wouldn’t? Often they vote based on their limited knowledge of the candidates and of how US democracy works. Where do they get this knowledge? The best source of accurate news and information invented, the TV. Watching TV for a primary and sometimes only source about the candidates is not a good thing. Would it take too much work to research a little apart from the TV? But we are American; we don’t need to work to be “patriotic”. All we have to do is fill out a ballot (usually voting straight ticket Republican or Democrat) on Election Day.

What’s more they only receive information that the media wants them to hear. Since when can we put our trust in the media? The media mostly only tell what the politicians tell them. Since when can we put our trust in politicians?

Is it right or even healthy to put so much hope, trust and faith in a politician–even if it is Obama or McCain? Obama is not going to be the savior of our American democracy. He could be a better change than Bush but far from our “savior.” We should end our fanaticism in one man, or we will soon be set for much disappointment. (see post of Oct. 17th)

Stossel ends his report with this: “Voting is serious business. Democracy works best when people educate themselves. So maybe instead of telling people things like “Rock the Vote,” these groups should say “Rock or Vote.”

Photo credit: April Sikorski

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