We are constantly reminded to "get out and vote." To "do our duty." And to "become part of the democratic process."
These phrases sound so high and mighty, they make me want to puke red, white, and blue. Somebody get me a canvas and call the NEA. There's gotta be some cash to be made here.
We are badgered to vote, whether or not we know anything about the candidates or whether or not the candidates are essentially the same, by everyone from has-been journalists to the politically-savvy minds at MTV.
Apparently, the right to vote has nothing to do with choice.
Since when did rights and duties become the same thing? Does the freedom of speech mean you don't have the freedom to shut your trap once in a while? Does the right to private property mean you can't get rid of that 1974 purple and orange sofa at your in-laws' next garage sale?
And does the right to vote mean you don't have the right to stay home and cry into your beer rather than play with a bunch of meaningless levers and buttons in a voting booth? Meaningless, that is, when the candidates are tied for first in the "greater of two evils" competition?
Rights are ours to execute or not. A free country with a compulsory vote is a contradiction in terms. Hence, the greater reverence for America's Founding Fathers over, say, Mark Burnett, the creator of TV's Survivor. If you want to see what happens to a society that's forced to vote, watch an episode or two of Survivor.
Not that anyone is actually campaigning for a compulsory vote. Yet. What people are doing, however, is completely negating the opinions of anyone who chooses not to vote. Liberals and conservatives alike will tune out the sound of your voice zealously if you ever let slip a single election abstinence.
The key missing question, of course, is why did you vote or not vote? If your answer is "politics doesn't interest me", then of course your opinion on political matters matters not. If, however, you have decided that a vote for any of the candidates is equal to or worse than not voting at all, then your act of abstaining is itself a vote.
