I think voting has become a HUGE issue in America. By and large we seem to have only a few voter types:
1) People who vote party. Doesn't matter who, they vote for their party.
2) People who vote AGAINST party. They just hate the other guy that much.
3) People who actually like the candidate. This seems to always be based on a delightful lack of knowledge about a candidate. I say that, because thus far I have never seen someone albe to actually support their candidate beyond "I like him" or "They are better than so and so".
4) People whose vote goes to waste because they don't vote for one of the big two.
5) People who don't bother to vote.
This same system works for all voting...for laws too. I remember debating someone here about the proposed new electric plant. It was, as is normal, going to be a coal fire plant. A bunch of folks were all against the horribly dirty and polluting plant (which is not really true of a modern power plant of any kind). So, I asked if they would simply stop using electricity, since they were stopping someone from making more. Of course they said no.
So, where will this magical electricity come from? They said, how about solar. I asked them where they would like to clear a bunch of land to do so. And what they would do when it rains (a regular occurence in FL). So them mentioned Wind Power. I licked my finger and put it in the air...hmmm, no electricty being produced today. And I knew thery wouldn't even mention Nuclear (even though it is perfectly viable). I watched them shut down, and realized that this person had voted...voted without any real grasp on th eissue aside from some slanted article in the paper.
I think this country actually needs less people to vote, not more. I am fine with having 50%+ people not vote, if those people are sheep or misinformed. Sadly, it is my experience that many non-voters (or wasted voters) are actually the ones who know about the issues. And that's why they don't vote (or don't vote for the big two).
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You would have enjoyed being on the citizen editorial board, one of the things about the Democrat I actually liked. With one exception, it was a group of politically diverse types who actually thought before forming an opinion.
Still bitter that my favorite candidate, John Edwards, got crushed.
I think Jon Stewart said it best when he reminded us that our votes do count - when we study the issues, listen to the debates, read the point/counterpoint articles, and formulate educated opinions about the candidates, our vote counts. And when a bum wanders into the polling place because it was raining and he was cold, his vote counts too.
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