Quote Originally Posted by joebehar View Post
Nope....Although free elections are part of the freedoms we enjoy, I believe voting is an obligation not a right. Its one of the very, very small prices we pay for democracy.

Theseus, I'm sure you're a great guy, but you're off the mark on this one.
+1 I was actually quite surprised at the voter turnout for the 2008 presidential elections. But even at 58% That means that 30% of the voters determined who would lead the country for the next four years. Little wonder our elected officials run buck wild when nearly half of the voting aged public isn't engaged enough or just doesn't care to go vote. True, lots of elections boil down to the lesser of two evils but it seems to me that if you flat don't vote, that's one less vote that the crappiest candidate will have to get to be elected. What if 30% of the vote wouldn't win an election? What if it took a full 51%? Seems to me that while whoever this person was, I probably wouldn't agree with all of his platform but if 51% of the voting age public voted for him, I think odds are good that he/she would do a good job. If not, he/she would have a tough time getting re-elected. Call me a simpleton if you will but a lot of these crooks run our country and line their own pockets simply because we're too tired, or too busy to let them know we won't take it anymore. Then there's the other half of the equation, career politicians, lobbyists and labor unions. The first two should be outlawed and labor unions should not be allowed to make political contributions on behalf of their members (IMHO).