I had the misfortune of this popping up on my Facebook today, which I considered not linking to because I dare not give page clicks to this web site. But, of course, this author just says out loud what a lot of Republicans (particularly those of the Tea Party stripe, but isn't that all of them?) actually think about that whole idea of "democracy."
Dear Ignorant People,
Please don’t vote today. Don’t exercise your rights today. Don’t participate in the sacred democratic ritual. Just sit on your couch and watch reruns on Bravo, or whatever it is you do with your time. But please don’t vote. Please, dear God, I beg you. Don’t vote.
Or Fox News, but I don't think that's who he is referring to.
And realize, friends, that I am not insulting you. The word ‘ignorant’ simply means ‘lacking knowledge and awareness.’ It doesn’t necessarily mean stupid or idiotic. It doesn’t mean bad or evil. It just means that you do not have all of the necessary information to make a considered and thoughtful decision. That’s OK, really. Maybe there’s even something to be said for it. But it doesn’t belong in the ballot box. Not now. Not when there’s so much at stake.
While I encourage people to be informed about what's on the ballot, again, I don't think he and I have the same definition of "necessary information." The weird conspiracy theories you hear from Glenn Beck are not "necessary information," though I suspect this is what he considers to be necessary for everyone to know.
See, although I am pretty well informed about current events, politics, the functioning of government, and most of the important issues of the day, I am admittedly ignorant in other areas. Perhaps even all other areas. It’s with great shame that I confess to being completely mystified anytime the conversation turns to quantum mechanics, auto repair, interior design, French cuisine, the history of equestrian semi-nomadic civilizations in 3rd century central Eurasia, basic mathematics, Arctic zoology, plumbing, astrology, and approximately 40,000 other subjects.
Therefore, if I’m asked to teach a math class, or fix a broken toilet, or cook a dozens crepes, or predict future events by analyzing the constellations, I will decline the invitation and leave the matter in more competent hands. Particularly if there are already a million more qualified people on site, taking care of business.
In other words, I’m not going to be the guy who pulls over at the scene of an accident to “help,” even though there are six other cars stopped, plus two ambulances, a police car, and a fire truck. There is nothing else for me to add. I can be of no assistance. I do not bring anything to the table that the emergency personnel and the half dozen other shameless rubberneckers can’t provide. If I stop, it will only be because I want to feel important and then drive home and regale my wife with the exaggerated tales of my heroic deeds.
That’s what voting day has become in America. Half the people who show up are only in it for the “I Voted” sticker and the feeling that they’ve Done Their Part. Except, unfortunately, you haven’t done your part if this is the only day you Do Your Part.
I can't. I just can't. Since when did voting become in any way comparable to teaching a math class? Though it might be helpful if some people of his persuasion actually were competent at math and understood that cutting taxes would reduce government revenue.
Being an active and engaged citizen means keeping up to speed, getting involved, and participating in the discussion every day. It means learning about how our government is supposed to work, how our laws are supposed to be made, and how our Constitution is supposed to dictate all of these things.
And then it means learning about how our government actually works (it doesn’t), and how our laws are actually made (by executive fiat), and how our Constitution actually factors into this equation (not at all).
I have a few edits to make to that paragraph. If our government doesn't work, it's because of the people that people like Matt Walsh think you should elect (and frequently do.) If laws are made my "executive fiat" (they aren't, but okay), it's because people like Matt Walsh think that our government should not function and elect politicians who make it do just that. As for the Constitution?
If it were up to me, there would be some kind of short, easy, very straightforward quiz determining who gets to enter the ballot box today. Nothing complicated. No trick questions. Just fundamental things like:
-When was our nation founded?
-Who is the Secretary of State?
-What is the First Amendment?
-How many states are in the Union?
-Name one Supreme Court Justice?
-What does the term ‘national debt’ mean?
-Are you only voting for the candidates who gave you a pin at the state fair last month?
-What planet are we on?
-What galaxy is this?
I’d say we could weed out 40 percent of the electorate with the first six questions, and then another ten with the last three.
There is a supreme amount of irony that this man wants people to know what the Constitution dictates, but evidently his copy of the Constitution (coincidentally, also the one relied upon by the Supreme Court in its decision on the Voting Rights Act.)
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States....
Unless, of course, he is arguing that voting is not a
privilege or immunity under the Constitution.
The idea has taken hold that voting should be the easiest, most comfortable, most uncumbersome thing you do all year. The future and fate of our entire nation hangs in the balance and we think it ought to be decided with the same energy and effort it takes to soil your underpants. If any semblance of purpose or competence is required of this apathetic mass known as the American electorate, we stomp our feet and shout that a great injustice has taken place.
That idea has taken hold, of course, because the Constitution says so. Again with that "Constitution" thing.
Maybe it is an injustice. Maybe every single human being, no matter how willfully dense and repulsively complacent, should have the exact same power and responsibility as even the most in-tuned, eager, and knowledgeable citizen. Maybe a man who pays attention, pays his bills, and pays his taxes ought to be weighed precisely the same as a man who has never in his life paid any of those things. Maybe that’s ‘fair.’ I don’t know.
While he started out saying that he only wants voting to be limited to the "informed," now he's differentiating between people who pay their bills and pay taxes and those who don't, as though that has something to do with being informed. Note, too, of course, how he uses the pronoun
his -- are we restricting the franchise only to men while we're at it?
But what I do know is that it’s not how any Democratic system, including our own, was ever meant to function. And I do know that it leads invariably to disaster and ruin.
Clearly, this man does not know the definition of democracy. He thinks that a "Democratic system" is supposed to function by limiting the voting franchise only to people who he deems worthy of it, which makes it... not really a democracy at all.
This is a conspiracy, don’t you see it? A conspiracy. An honest-to-goodness conspiracy. The Powers That Be know that active and enlightened voters are the greatest threat to their oligarchy. They also know that they cannot (yet) physically prevent those primed and savvy individuals from casting a ballot, so instead they drown the informed votes in a sea of bewildered ignorance.
They carry in the Oblivious and the Self-Satisfied, and pour their incomprehension all over our nation’s polling places until the smart votes are sufficiently diluted. It is a brilliant scheme, and it has paid dividends for them.
Well, actually, the "oligarchy" would prefer if they didn't have to deal with people voting. In fact, the definition of an "oligarchy" is one in which power is limited to a small set of people. Like, if you limited voting only to people who pay their bills and pay taxes, that's an "oligarchy." But then considering that this guy seems to be having trouble with the definition of "democracy" then I shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't know what an oligarchy is, either.
If you need Lil John and Lena Dunham to tell you to vote, then you shouldn’t.
As a matter of fact, if you are even a fan of either person, then you shouldn’t (remind me later because that needs to go on the entrance exam).
First of all, it's Lil
Jon. No "h" in there, buddy.
And second of all, throwing Lil Jon in here is what we call a "tell." Who likes rap music? Black people. (And white people, too, but if you asked people who read The Blaze, only black people listen to rap.)
Ignorant People, the greatest service you can provide today is staying as far away from a voting booth as possible. Your nation is calling on you, Ignorant People. It needs you, in this moment of great consequence, to do the right thing. And, in this case, the right thing is nothing.
Stay home.
If you want a sticker, I’ll make some for you. They’ll say: “I DIDN’T vote today!”
Wear it with pride. You earned it.
Thank you and God bless.
Sincerely,
America
Again with the irony.
You think that it's important for Americans to understand the Constitution, but apparently you've never heard of the Fourteenth Amendment.
You think that a "democratic system" is one in which voting rights are limited to only a handful of people whom you consider to be "enlightened," while an "oligarchy" is one in which the oligarchs have to be bothered to convince people to vote for them.
You think that paying taxes has anything to do with being "informed."
You think that being a fan of rap music (read: black) automatically makes a person "ignorant."
What the right doesn't seem to get is that once the precedent is set that we do not live in a democracy and the franchise should be restricted to only certain people -- presumably, according to this author, white males who pay taxes (read: middle class and above) -- then there's nothing to stop the franchise from being limited further.
The plutocrats are only getting started here with their voter suppression efforts. They're happy to allow people like Matt Walsh to continue to have voting rights, but only so long as those people vote the way that the plutocrats want them to. If that ever stops, and it will (already, no amount of propaganda can get the racist Teabaggers to support immigration reform), then the plutocrats will just decide to take away their voting rights as well.
And then we really will have an oligarchy. All because of ignorant people like Matt Walsh.
Go vote, if you haven't already. Because the right doesn't want you to vote, and that should be a good enough reason.