If you can be convinced of this advice, you probably should follow it.
If you cannot name the three branches of government and explain how power is divided between state and federal governments, as outlined in the supreme governing document of the land, please stay home.
If you think voting is too inconvenient and needs to be made easier, please stay home.
Some barriers exist to ensure the commitment of those who stand in front of them.
Governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, so justice demands people have a right to vote for the representatives who comprise the government. But in order for the consent to be meaningful, it must be an informed consent.
If you go to a doctor, he may recommend a specific treatment or medicine. He usually tells you how the medicine will help and what the side effects are. That way you can weigh the risks and rewards on your own and decide if the treatment is worth the price you will pay (both financially and in terms of the effects).
If the doctor misleads you about those effects, the doctor is liable for damages that arise out of those effects.
However, if you've been warned of the side-effects or can be reasonably expected to know them, you and you alone are morally responsible for any damages that occur on the basis of those side-effects.
Don't go crying to mommy.
Don't curse the doctor.
Don't protest outside of the pharmaceutical company.
Don't go whining to the courts.
Sure, you may sue and you may win if you get a jury naive or corrupt enough. But winning doesn't make you right.
Eternal vigilance, not ignorance, is the price of liberty. So if you haven't taken the time to ensure your consent is informed, don't vote. Stay home.
Just as you would neither trust nor offer the uninformed to decide on a treatment for your cancer, you should neither trust nor provide an uninformed vote that affects the health and prosperity of everyone else. - Cam Beck
