Friday, October 4, 2013

Do They Vote?

Ever wonder why Washington is so dysfunctional? One reason, perhaps, is that America is filled with citizens who have no idea what's going on in the country, but who, in many cases, vote anyway.

Jimmy Kimmel went on the street recently to ask pedestrians which law they favored more, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. The two, of course, are the same thing, but that fact has apparently eluded a lot of folks who nevertheless had an opinion on the question.

In fact, the most humorous part of this video, in my opinion, was how some of the interviewees tried to give the impression that they really knew the difference between the two acts and had an informed opinion on which was better.
It's discouraging that there are many Americans who take the time and make the effort to be reasonably well-informed on the issues so that they can cast a responsible vote, but whose vote is potentially cancelled out by someone who has no idea what they're voting for but who votes anyway.

Every election we hear voices in the media and elsewhere telling us that we have a duty to vote. That's false. We have a duty to be informed. If we fail in that duty then, in my opinion, we have a duty not to vote.