Elections

With the U.S. elections slated for Tuesday, I know Americans have probably been urged to go out and vote by just about everybody from every possible angle. However, I just recently came across an appeal NOT to go out and vote that I thought was interesting:

... Tuesday is Election Day and, though Brawling Hibernian is an avowedly apolitical blog, I did want to make a point. No doubt, you have all been inundated with a continuing guilt trip from the media about getting out there to vote on Tuesday (MTV, I'm looking in your direction). I would like to make a slightly different request. If you have been following the issues and the candidates and actually have a solid understanding of both, you should absolutely go out and vote. However, if you don't follow politics closely and are only voting because the cast of Gossip Girl told you to, please stay home. Voting is a right, not an obligation and if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be there. Let me put it another way, owning a gun is also a right, but I don't remember the last, "Everybody Get a Gun!" ad campaign. You know why? It would be irresponsible. Not everyone should own a gun. Same deal applies to voting. I'm Brawling Hibernian, and I approve this message

I've frequently been appalled by people I know who go out and vote based on watching a few political debates and the news on TV for the two or three months running up to election day.

And then I hear about those who vote based on less than that, and I'm truly horrified.

I therefore second Brawling Hibernian's appeal. Please, for God's sake, if you don't know what you're doing, in the name of all that's holy, don't let the fate of the free world be affected by your uninformed decision. It's not only your right NOT to vote, it's your OBLIGATION not to.