Idiocy of the Masses: The Case for Voting Restrictions

Throughout this election year, it has become readily apparent that in this “democracy” of ours, despite all the hoopla, the boiling down of elections to polls of mathematical probability, there is really only a single group which dominates and controls our society, has the ability to bend the course of future at its whim. No, not the President and his Cabinet, not the Senate nor the House, not wealthy businessmen nor the Illuminati, but the People. In this grand scheme of things, the ultimate power lies in the People, and has since the dawn of our nation, the rise of modern democracy. Question: Is that a good thing?

No doubt that, yes, we are much better off than those living in the age of tyrannical kings and the absence of true representation of the masses. But, as citizen voting rights expanded and expanded, now encompassing any and every adult legally in the country, we hit a consequence previously unforeseen: the general idiocy of the People.

You can see it now, clearly, in all the recent Presidential Elections, but alarmingly so in this Presidential Election of 2004. All summer, what have our two major candidates wasted away their campaign on? Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam. A war that happened three decades ago, a war that is dead, a war that is over. Yet all we’ve heard about is mudslinging and word-twisting from the Republican side, and feeble attempts at a response from the Democratic side. What happened to the economy? Health insurance? Iraq? Social Security? All gone. Because the “People,” the masses that we’ve introduced to democracy and let run our society, simply don’t care.

We, the People, are the kings of society, and these candidates are court jesters, desperately doing anything and everything to get our favor. We, the People, want to see them wave a flag, give a hoo-ah salute, and trumpet Patriotism. We, the People, want to see hilarious photos of the other candidate dressed up in a funny biohazard suit. We the People, never want to hear a word 2 degrees out of moderate on the political pendulum. We, the People, want to hear about gay marriage and “man, they really had to try for that one” spins on the other candidate’s words, not health insurance or social security, even though the decision, one way or another, is not going to affect our economy or environment or public welfare or the war in Iraq or anything else. None of it matters concerning who will make a better President, who is more capable of managing a nation, but the people like to hear about it, because it’s a much happier alternative and outlook than hearing about all the real problems that we have. For them, it’s whatever it takes to get elected, even if it means selling out themselves, the system, and the future of our country.

All this has reduced our Presidential Election to the level of a high school popularity contest: Who’s going to say the things that everyone likes, agrees with the issues that the majority agrees upon, be Mr. Popularity? It’s no longer about which guy is more capable of being a President, it’s about which guy is the best at making people like him. I’m fairly convinced that if President Bush appeared on the WWF and “laid the smackdown” on some Kerry-masked opponent, we’d see a 10-point jump in the polls the next day. And that, my friends, is no joke. That’s why we have former wrestlers and action-film stars serving in office today. Because idiots like voters don’t care about credentials, they care about good looks, charisma, and “Woah he was on stage with Dave Matthews last night!”

Voters today don’t know jack about our government. How many members in the Supreme Court? House? Senate? What are their duties? Beyond that, voters don’t know about any of the issues. They’ve got no idea about what’s going on in Darfur, exactly what state are economy is, nor do they very much care outside of the realm of issues concerning them. The elderly and the poor care about health insurance. No one else really does. That 5.4% unemployed care about job opportunities—Anybody with a stable job doesn’t. And nobody knows/care about the economy outside of the havoc it’s wreaking on their stock portfolio. This is part neglect by the political candidates and media, part unfamiliarity by immigrants, but mostly, utter ignorance by the general public. We’ve had one of the worst presidents in history, plunging our nation and the world into a disastrous state, and it should be shocking to any Democrat that he’s even anywhere near Kerry in the polls, given his track record. But Bush and the Republicans are pushing all the right buttons on the popularity machine, while Kerry and the Democrats aren’t. And sadly, that’s what our election will amount to.

Campaigns have always been about appealing to the people, but in this day and age it’s led to the wrong kind of people: the uneducated, gullible, easily manipulated, and in general unconcerned folk that make up the majority of our population. We need to help educate voters—maybe put all that effort spent on negative campaigning which tells us nothing, all that “527” money to create slime-ad propaganda, toward a 24-hour PBS-style political channel, which would provide debates in addition to unbiased information on Measures and Proposals, or even a free voter education course that would teach people about basic economy, world politics, and law. Taking the latter even further, requiring voters to prove a certain aptitude and knowledge of what they’re voting for, a “voting license” if you will, is an idea that we should at least consider. After all, we require all drivers to prove a certain basic driving ability, to show that they can drive responsibly. Shouldn’t we hold voters to the same standard, to show that they are indeed adept enough, informed enough of the issues, to be able to use their vote responsibly? I’m not advocating holding all voters to Newtonian standards, but shouldn’t the citizens who are voting, who are deciding the fate and future of our nation, be mildly intellectual enough to not bite into all of that propaganda (rock star endorsements, slightly funny yet wholly unrelated pictures and video, easily manipulable “facts”, slight and meaningless verbal slip-ups, and hackneyed macho movie lines) that is spewing from the mass media? Would that discriminate against the uneducated? Undoubtedly, yes, but we cannot continue to have people running around voting for things that they know nothing about, which is what has led to the problems we have now. If you’re not going to take the responsibility to educate yourself on the issues you’re voting on, on the future that you’re deciding with your decision, then I’m sorry, you don’t deserve the right to vote. A detriment to the individual, a detriment to equality, yes, but it’s a step forward for society.