Monday, March 17, 2008

People who shouldn't vote

The mistaken belief in this country is that we have a "right" to vote. The truth couldn't be further from that. There are many reasons why certain people shouldn't vote and they generally involve intelligence or knowledge of politics in our country. While we do have a right to vote based on amendments 14 and 15, those only pertain to race and citizenship. If you are a citizen, then you shouldn't be denied the right to vote based on your race. I have no problem with that and I don't really care what race you are. If I see you standing in line at the polling station and you aren't white, I won't raise a fuss, unless you're Mexican because you're very likely to be an illegitimate voter as you are either an illegal alien or not a U.S. citizen. Though, that's really racism as it is profiling for illegal voters. But that's a whole other can of worms.

I object to people voting based solely on their knowledge of politics. I always feel that people tend to not care until the month before the election and then they tend to screw it all up. They don't check up and listen to the candidates all that much until just before the election and act surprised when the candidate they voted for turns out to not be the guy they thought agreed with them back in October.

So if you're wondering whether you should vote or not, then I have some guidelines to help you out:

-If you are dead, then you shouldn't vote (this is usually voter fraud).

-If you are dependent on the government for income, be it social security, Medicare, Medicaid, farmer's welfare, etc. Unfortunately, these are the people who are more likely to vote.

-If you have an IQ below 90 than you shouldn't vote. The average IQ is between 90 and 120. I think I am being generous here because I am not all that impressed with the "average" American to begin with.

-If you have ever voted in American Idol, you should be disqualified from voting in a political election. The simple reason is that you are too blind to the fact that politics is about ideas, not about appearance.

-If you don't know what the 10th amendment says (you can paraphrase it), then you shouldn't bother to vote either. This all important amendment was part of the Bill of Rights but we always ignore it when we vote for our "leaders."

-If you think that football (or any other sport) is more important than politics, then you should not vote. It's not that I don't like football, it's that sports like football are entertainment and should be taken as such. I don't think that video games are more important than politics. If you can cite various sports stats but can't name the Vice President or Secretary of State, then you should just not bother society by voting.

-For that matter, if you cannot name your Congressperson, Senators, or Vice President, don't bother voting. You obviously don't care enough to learn about those who represent you, so you obviously shouldn't vote.

-If you have no understanding in economics (that is, not read a book on it or taken a course on it), then you shouldn't vote. This is because you probably think that the politicians running are economic geniuses and in reality, most of them are lawyers. Lawyers tend to have the economic sense of a dog that eats its own vomit. In other words, they aren't that smart when it comes to understanding the complexities of supply and demands. Well, to be fair, these would be lawyers who are essentially failures as private attorneys anyway.

That's really all I can think of off the top of my head. I think it just comes down to you being an informed voter. This isn't about ideology or liberal vs. conservative. If you aren't an informed voter, then you shouldn't vote or you should ask someone who is an informed voter who you trust and then vote the way they think is best.

The best way to become an informed voter is to monitor the candidates and do some background checks. The Internet is a valuable resource in this regard as we can do some checks on their history in holding public office. A politician will lie about what he or she stands for now. But you need to check their voting history or actions while in office. This was why I opposed Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for President. Their records as governor were clearly not what I would call a conservative record.

I know that saying people shouldn't vote is not a popular stance to take. But tell me something. Have you ever seen a really bad driver and wondered how that person got a driver's license in the first place? Guess what, that person votes too.