Ignorant Voters

The general consensus when it comes to voter participation is, more is better. Get more people to register, get more people to turn out at the polls and the system will be more democratic, more representative. Voting is a civic responsibility and the participation in the United States has been less than stellar throughout most election cycles in most demographics and there seems to be a constant sense of encouragement towards greater participation for as long as I can remember. I agree entirely. More voters means more opinions are heard and that the government is more accountable to citizens. However, I have a tremendous problem with the disconnect between voting and informed voting.

So many times have I heard Democrats giving flimsy, superficial or overly generalized reasoning for their support of BHO - because he's cool, because he's young, because he's a great speaker, because he's optimistic, because he will make history. While these are fine points to recognize, they are entirely superficial and have no bearing on the type of leader he is or might be. Barack Obama will absolutely make history if elected as the first African-American President and he's a young guy who speaks eloquently and listens to hip-hop. Awesome. His candidacy is inspiring by any measure, but does he have the experience necessary to hold the office of President? Is his vision for the direction of the country what is best? What is most frightening is that individuals are readily endorsing him just because his iPod has Jay-Z on it or because he knows how to read a prepared speech.

I suppose I was slightly naive in my thinking. As a self-proclaimed political nerd, I know the Founding Fathers instituted the Electoral College and other measures to prevent an ignorant populous to hold sway in selecting leaders. However, I was legitimately not prepared for what I heard the yesterday.

A friend and one of my suite mates recently sent me a recording from a Sirius Satellite channel. One of the DJ's on the program traveled to Harlem to speak with average Americans on the street asking who they were supporting for president and why. The entirety had said they supported Senator Obama for President and gave vague justification why. The DJ then substituted McCain's political platform for Obama's in follow-up questions and the individuals he spoke with were oblivious. He even went a step further asking prospective voters their opinion of BHO's "choice" of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Listen for yourself, this is staggering. I'm not saying higher voter participation is a bad thing, but do you feel comfortable with individuals selecting the next President who are so ignorant, they cannot differentiate much anything beyond physical characteristics of a candidate?

Link: Blink Allegiance to Barack

This post also appears on my personal blog, Eric's Rage and Grace.