She is busy and thoughtful. She began gathering information in August. She takes a few minutes each week (more or less) to check something out. She reads the newspaper, and searches the internet. She’s read up on the issues. She looked at both sides of an argument, and comes to agree or disagree. She has spent the time to decide how she would approach a given subject or eight. She checked out all of the candidates. She agreed with some of this guy’s viewpoints, and a couple of that guy’s. She has determined that this is the one most important issue to her, and determined to cast her ballot for the guy that closest resembles her concerns.
He is busy and afraid. Afraid that this guy got us into a war. Afraid that that guy would leave us vulnerable. He watches the news most nights. And he has seen a few advertisements from each of the candidates. He’s heard of that local guy’s name before. He once read something somewhere that convinced him this one issue is correct, although he can’t quite remember the details. He’s a bright man, and feels he can make a decision (or eight) at the last moment in less than five minutes.
They are busy and, well, just busy. They heard on the radio that the election is coming. They remember seeing some commercials about doctors and hurricane relief and gambling and stuff. The DJ mentioned traffic was going to bad, because some candidates were in town or something. The clerk at the Circle K mentioned that this guy was gonna let our country get attacked. The babysitter told them that that guy has gotten our country in a fine mess, and there’s no way to get out of it. They have no idea what a county district is, what pregnant pigs mean to them, or that voting was so hard - just like high school tests. And what are these amendment thingys?
Which of these people should vote?
If you choose all three, you are DeclareYourself, Rock the Vote and the Tampa Tribune’s Joe Brown*.
If you choose the girl and the guy, you are any slick politician or a big money PAC.
If you choose only the girl, you are Andy Rooney.
Quick! Someone please point me to a study that shows a high voter turnout ends up in better decisions. Otherwise, I’m becoming Andy Rooney. And I really don’t need that. *After Joe Brown read Sticks of Fire, he changed his mind. Now he’s Andy Rooney too.
Florida Politics says Bush won because of dumb voters. Blogwood highlights the same opinion.
The national voter turnout was the most since 1968, when the Viet Nam conflict brought citizens out in droves. I don’t have a problem with 114 million people voting for President. Each of those voters has a right to vote, and their opinion be heard. The problem with high voter turnouts is that we were not all just voting on the President. All these additional voters don’t know the other candidates or issues, they don’t take the time to learn the issues – hell – they don’t even know what’s going to be on the ballot!
Recent letters to the editor regarding Ruth’s “voters are stupid” comment: Tom Parnell writes in to the Tribune, and echoes Sticks of Fire sentiments. Chris Rodgers heard Dan Ruth too, and is offended (although he does not offer a real argument). Lori Walter wants amendments on the ballot in years when there are no candidates, and she knows how to get that done. But she’s not the only one who knows the secret, so the St. Pete Times Howard Troxler tells you about the 14 amendments coming in 2006.
Instead of “Get Out the Vote,” we need to “Rein In The Vote.”
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