I would like to introduce, here on America's Debate, a new national campaign to help our electorial process. There has been many attempts to get people to vote here in our nation. The registration process has been facilitated by volunteer voter registration booths set up at malls, incorporated with driver license registration in some state, advertising, and other means, I am sure. This has been done to insure our democratic process is 'working the best it can' by getting everyone to vote as the goal.

I am here to propose a different take on the issue of 'working the best it can'. The world is a complicated place. The issues are many and the size, scope, and power of government has risen faster than that complexity. Most voters do not have the time to figure out the issues and have resorted to less than stellar means to picking our representatives. Those representatives are suppose to understand all of these complex issues but are more likely to be understanding the issues of staying in power and getting more of it than understanding the real issues. What to do?

The answer is the "Stay Home the Vote" campaign!!

We need to identify those traits which voters may have which leads to poor voting. Those voters then need to be encouraged to stay home next election.

I need your help to compile a list of undesirable voter traits. I am sure, if listed here, that will be sufficient reason for any voters to recognize they should STAY HOME.

What trait would you suggest is a good reason a voter should STAY HOME?

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Here are a few of mine:

If you can not name the last three Presidents of the United States, STAY HOME.

If you can not correctly identify whether Arkansas is east or west of the Mississippi River, STAY HOME.

If you can not guess, within one dollar the price of a gallon of milk at the local supermarket, STAY HOME.

If you have voted straight party ticket in two consecutive elections, STAY HOME.

Bar none, that would be the tendency to vote for Congressmen (and members of state legislatures) on the basis of their willingness to ensure that public money gets spent on their own districts. These people are letting their votes be bought by corrupt politicians, and letting your vote be bought is far, far worse than not voting at all.

I think we should all stay home and vote...by mail like in Oregon.

If you have no clue of a topic in discussion, STAY HOME.

If you have an opinion on it, but don't know why, STAY HOME.

If you don't know any of the guys you can vote for, STAY HOME.

If the guy you want to vote for has a serious speech impediment and makes up new idioms, STAY HOME.

If you are Texan, please, please don't let your governor candidate for President by STAYing HOME.

If you don't know where any countries are and have a fairly good idea the guy you would vote for doesn't know any better, STAY HOME.

If you believe it is okay to invade other countries on the basis of dubious intelligence, please do the world a favor and STAY HOME and finish that Big Mac.

A toughy: If you cannot name all the states in 6 minutes, STAY HOME.

If everyone tells you to STAY HOME, find others who share that trait, form a militia and declare independence. No Taxation without Representation, remember?


edited to add: If you cannot write governor, STAY HOME.

I think it is your right to do what ever you please with your vote. I don't think anyone else has the right to lay claim that your vote is uninformed, unneeded, uneducated or undesired.
All sounds a little UNamerican

Sorry but the right to vote isn't restricted by any of these means and if I saw any party or grouping proposing such an ideal I think I would be encouraged to vote against them or the issue they thought they were representing.

If you think that all Republicans are evil, Stay Home!
If you think that all Democrats are evil, Stay Home!
If you can't name three Supreme Court Justices, Stay Home!
If you can't recite the first 10 Amendments, Stay Home!
If you don't know what the hell amendments I'm talking about, Stay Home!
If you don't know the President's middle initial, Stay Home!
If you're voting for someone because your priest/rabbi/Bill O'Reilly/Al Franken told you to, Stay Home!

CP

Wow, these are some pretty tough requirements you people are coming up with!

"Straight party ticket in two consecutive elections": Well, that completely eliminates a HUGE percentage of the electorate. Not just party loyalists, but most true conservatives and most true liberals, and quite a few moderates. It also would tend to eliminate people who would rather vote for policies rather than people. If you don't care what your representative's opinions are, but only care if she is honest and a nice person, fine; but what if I genuinely care about issues? Strike one for me!

"Recite the first ten amendments": Accurately? From heart? Word for word? I would guess that maybe one American out of ten thousand could do this; these would be true Constitution fanatics (which may not be a bad thing.) Welcome to the new American oligarchy. Strike two for me!

I think I could probably qualify for the other things mentioned. I will expose my ignorance and admit that I had to think a minute to name three of the Supreme Court Justices (Ginsberg/Thomas/Scalia) but I guess I sneak through on that one. I would probably have to struggle hard to name all fifty states in six minutes. In fairness, strike three for me!

More seriously, let me suggest that one should probably stay home if there is no candidate on the ballot whom one can support, or if the candidate one supports has zero chance of winning. I am being too cynical when I suggest that this is the vast majority of elections?