Voting

To protest unpaid wages and
lack of food, Serbian union official
cuts off his finger and eats it.

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.
Gustave Flaubert

One might well argue that in our current democracy the goal has been to keep the proletarian from gaining the level of stupidity of the bourgeois. But the larger and more important question is, it seems to me, do we want everyone to have the same level of stupidity when it comes to voting? This is a question that seems not to be raised or discussed, I suspect because it raises painful questions of elitism and discrimination that are better left alone.

There were, at one time, qualifications for voting rights. These have been given up over time so that now virtually everyone has the right to vote, provided only they are legitimate residents, not felons (in some cases), and so on. For a long time one had to be a landowner to vote. You also at one time had to be white, and male. These qualifications have been struck down, rightly so, as unfair and discriminatory.

Universal voting rights are not, it seems to me, without potential and rather important problems. Let me mention the first of these problems as exemplified by my Mother-in-law (bless her). She always and invariably votes Republican. She does this because she and her (now deceased) husband always voted Republican. This is the sole reason for her vote. She does not follow politics in any way, does not watch the news or make any attempt whatsoever to be informed as to who is running or why or what it might mean to anyone or the country. If you try to engage her in conversation about coming elections she refuses to talk about it. If a political discussion starts to become heated she immediately leaves the room. She does not want to talk about it (or know about it), period. I’m quite certain that she is not alone in her ignorance of politics. I know there are many other people out there just like her. She is not a bad person. Indeed, she is quite a nice person. But in my opinion she should not be allowed to vote. I do not say this because she votes the Republican ticket, those in similar circumstances who vote Democratic are equally as guilty of mindless voting. Whether there are more Republican votes of this kind than Democratic ones I cannot say. There is, under our current system, nothing that can be done about this. It would probably be possible to institute some kind of short, one-time course in voting that everyone would be required to take (if they insist on voting), but you can well imagine how impossible that would be.

Then there are those who vote a straight ticket (either Republican or Democratic) because they make no attempt whatsoever to hear both sides. The classic example (here in North Idaho, at least) are those who listen exclusively to Rush Limbaugh (or perhaps Beck, Hannity, or others of that ilk). These people are not referred to as “dittoheads” for nothing. They vote as they are told by their right-wing mentors and take great pride in doing so. And they believe passionately their votes are “just as good as anyone else’s.” And given our current system, perhaps they are. The evidence, such as it is, suggests that the wives of these voters vote exactly how their husband’s tell them to vote. An anecdote from the last Presidential election gave me a clue as to why I thought Obama might actually win. A woman was going door-to-door discussing the coming election and asked a woman who she was going to vote for. The woman yelled loudly to her husband, “Who we votin’ for this year?” The answer came back, “The Black guy.” She dutifully reported, “We’re votin’ for the Black guy.” This is basically similar to my Mother-in-law situation but is quite likely more widespread.

All of this raises another question that I think is much more difficult, and certainly more awkward to deal with: should all votes be considered equal? Of course they are all considered equal, but how realistic is this? This brings up the question of Colleges and Universities. We often hear the complaint (mostly from the right) that our Colleges and Universities are packed with Liberals (aka Democrats, Socialists, Communists, and whatever). I believe this is true. The Majority of University Professors are almost certainly Liberals (or certainly more Liberal than most). If this is so, why is it so? Could it not be that individuals who make their life’s work the pursuit of knowledge, and attempt to understand how society and culture work, inevitably come to the conclusion that a Democratic, Liberal view is superior to others? For example, is the view of an Economist, who has studied economics for years, not a more informed and better view than that of someone who spends most of his time listening to Rush Limbaugh? I should certainly think it is, but there is a strong anti-intellectual tendency in American culture to deny such things. You know, “pointy-headed intellectuals,” “those who can’t do, teach,” “ivory-towerists,” and etc. I do not think that University people necessarily know more than others, provided those others are as well informed and/or experienced, but for the most part they are not.

This sort of thing would not be a problem if we were true to the ideals of Democracy. That is, a Democracy can only function properly if there is a well-informed populace. We are unfortunately far from that ideal. We have “dumbed-down” and starved our public schools shamelessly, and in recent years have placed higher education out of the reach of most. We should have a much better funded public educational system, with better paid and trained teachers and, more importantly, we should have a free University system where anyone is free to attend classes as they wish, where the pursuit of knowledge is a goal in its own right, and does not necessarily have to lead to a degree. And everyone should be encouraged to attend classes according to their interests and time. Finland, I believe, has such a system, and I believe a few other places do as well. Classes in government and society should be readily available and perhaps even mandatory. Given the current attitudes towards education in the U.S. this would be very difficult to institute, but I do not think it impossible in time. It would make a monumental difference in the way our Democracy works and would level the playing field for all.

LKBIQ:
Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
John F. Kennedy

TILT:
One cure suggested for enuresis in the past, among many others, was eating a fried mouse.