I found Charles Madigan’s column (“What about a war for democracy here?” Commentary, Jan. 2) very disturbing.
It is indeed a sad commentary on American democracy when only 50 percent of eligible voters are registered to vote. Even worse, as revealed by Madigan, less than 50 percent of registered voters even bothered to vote in the last election. That means we had less than 25 percent of eligible voters cast a vote in the most recent election! And that was viewed as an improvement over past midterm elections.
We are a country at war. We are a country with 45 million people without health insurance. If those two issues weren’t enough to get voters to the polls, what will? The only conclusion I can come to is that our society is lazy and apathetic. It’s too easy to say, “they’re all bums anyway, so what’s the difference?” That attitude is a cop-out and a cover-up for not taking the time required to learn about candidates and issues facing all of us before an election. Candidates are not all bums. There are honest politicians and elected officials who want to do what is right for our citizens. And our votes do make a difference. I can safely say that if we had a different outcome in the 2000 election we would not be stuck in Iraq right now.
Those that don’t vote have only themselves to blame for the current state of affairs in the United States. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. Get off your lazy rear-ends, learn about the candidates and issues and vote!
