The following is an excerpt from “A Duty Not To Vote?” by John Stossel.
Economist Bryan Caplan, author of "The Myth of the Rational Voter", points out, "the public's knowledge of politics is shockingly low."
He scoffs at the idea that "it's everyone's civic duty to vote."
"This is very much like saying, it's our civic duty to give surgery advice," Caplan said. "We like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn't know what he's talking about, it really is better if they say, look, I'm going to leave this in wiser hands."
Isn't it elitist to say only some people should vote?
"Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery? If you don't know what you're doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting."
Economist Bryan Caplan, author of "The Myth of the Rational Voter", points out, "the public's knowledge of politics is shockingly low."
He scoffs at the idea that "it's everyone's civic duty to vote."
"This is very much like saying, it's our civic duty to give surgery advice," Caplan said. "We like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn't know what he's talking about, it really is better if they say, look, I'm going to leave this in wiser hands."
Isn't it elitist to say only some people should vote?
"Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery? If you don't know what you're doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting."
1 comment:
Clearly, there are those who should not vote. There are many issues about which many voters are ignorant, and for those voters to weigh in is absurd, at best.
Example: Exxon-Mobil made a record profit of $14 billion during the last quarter. Evil. Immoral profits. Windfall profits. They should pay more in taxes. Their wealth should be redistributed. Vote for Obama and he will fix them good.
Oops...there is another fact that most voters don't know: Exxon-Mobil paid $32 billion in taxes before profits were figured. So...let's see...The government got $32 billion without investing a nickel in finding and drilling for oil, without taking any kind of a risk, without producing any energy at all. Sounds evil. Sounds like immoral profits. Sounds like windfall profits. Vote for Obama and increase the government's illegitimate profits.
Maybe the government should just take some more from Exxon-Mobil and those other evil oil companies and put them all out of business. That'll show them. Never mind that a source of government revenue will dry up and that there will be no more gasoline. Who needs it? Put a sail on top of your car. Vote for Obama and you may have to.
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