eenie - meenie - miney - hey, pat buchanan's on here!

oops.

They are running commercials here in TN not to vote, unless you visit a certain site and get imformed how to vote.

Lovers of diversity are forever recoiling at diversity when they actually see it. Some people follow politics every day. They know who carried what state two years ago. They waste time typing up messages such as this one that will be read by few. And some people can't tell you what the two bodies that make up congress are or what the capital of the state they are living in is. Different Strokes for Different Folks. And the only way to get that indiferent person "to do his civic duty" (which is not just to vote but to vote at least sort of informed) is not to give him self-rightous lectures. It's to create elections that are so vital that virtually everyone will pay attention. Such conditions prevailed in The United States in 1860 and in Germany 1932. Those elections had great turnouts.

I think every political junkie has this same thought. Luckily for us, the Rock The Vote folks only show up for the free concerts-- not at the polls. If the fabled Youth Vote ever shows up, then I'll start to worry.

Now if you can rewrite this post to address certain under-the-bridge dwellers who too frequently comment on the main site...

Great post. I know people that go to vote and don't even know who is running. They have a lifetime habit of punching anything with a 'D' after it. Actually that's the only reason a democrat ever gets elected. If everyone would take the time to study the candidiate and the issues the democrats wouldn't get a hundred votes nation wide. They are missing the one essential thing, an issue, well maybe two things missing, the other is a functioning brain. Folks, 'we can do it better' is not a plan. They follow the old time 'monkey see, monkey do, saying.

It is terribly unfortunate that we cannot return to the original concept of only allowing property owners to vote. When one doesn't have skin in the game then it's way too easy to join the party plunderers in helping yourself to your neighbor's fortunes. Until one has contributed to the nation's treasury one should not be allowed to determine how that treasury is spent.

At the very least it should be limited to those who pay into payroll and SocSec taxes, with exemptions for the retired folks who have already done their part. Welfare recipients and deadbeats don't have a say.

Alas it's a pipe dream -- in fact both parties are working hard to open the rolls up and allow noncitizens to help themselves to your wallet. And eventually the DemoMarxists are going to get the prison vote re-established.

I agree with the article's point - people who are uninformed about the issues surrounding an election should not vote in that election. I hope next time you'll add to your article an encouragement to people to BECOME INFORMED so they CAN vote intelligently.

Several posters have suggested limiting the vote to people who 'have a stake' in the outcome. Here's an idea (details can be negotiated): allow voter's 'vote' to be proportional to their 'stake'. For example, each voter's vote counts as 1 just because they're a citizen. Then, increase that count by 1 for each $1000 in taxes they paid the previous year, to a maximum of 10. That way folks on the dole get a vote worth 1 and folks who support many people through their taxes get a vote worth 10.

Good idea? Improvements anyone?

. .Extra voting weight for Military Service?

Liberty Man ~ your point is well made. If the generic "public service" campaigns to get people to vote placed equal emphasis on the importance of an informed vote, I would have no objection to them. But asking a voter to be informed seems quite beyond the intent of these campaigns.

Requiring ID to vote is regarded as some sort of blow against the poor, who can find the cash for a $50 cable or satellite bill, and a similar or higher cell phone bill, every month, but can't be expected to come up with as much as ten bucks once every five years for a photo ID.

Similarly, any "test" is considered out of bounds now. Literacy tests were used in the deep south years ago to prevent blacks from registering to vote. We've had half a century since Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, so that shouldn't be a problem now, should it?

Besides, we don't need to require literacy - just the simplest knowledge of civics. A few short and easy questions about the most basic things, perhaps a pool of 25 of them from which 10 are chosen for each voter. Get 6 right, you vote. Can't do that much, forget it.