Voter Apathy

I've written repeatedly about the stupidity of the American voter. I've caught flak for it too from more than a few readers. Yet, I maintain now more than ever that American voters are stupid.

Not so, says Mitchell Bard, a New York-based writer and filmmaker. Writing on HuffPost, he says that voters know what's going on in this race. They know that McCan't and Palin are lying to our faces, and that Obama's ideas for changing politics as usual and righting our American ship are better for this country. And the True Believers of Reaganomics and Christianism aren't going to be swayed anyway. The fertile ground for influence is with independent and undecided voters. But, says Bard --

...voters essentially know what's going on. They just don't care. I believe that "undecided" voters that go to McCain aren't doing so because of any lack of information, they are doing it despite that information. I think there are two explanations for this phenomenon.

Why is this so? Why would otherwise informed, intelligent individuals consciously choose to prolong the nightmare that has been the Bush/Cheney regime? As Bard suggests, there are two reasons: first, there are people who, for whatever reason, can't bring themselves to vote for an African-American. The repeatedly-debunked story that Obama is a Muslim who won't salute the flag is still out there, with just enough teeth in it to draw some leaners over to the McCan't side when standing in the voting booth. "These folks are just looking for an excuse not to vote for Obama, something to justify their 'discomfort,' claiming it has nothing to do with race." Second -- and this is more insidious than the stealthy racism permeating the electorate -- they don't want anyone to ask them to sacrifice. They want to be told that, whatever the problems are, "just go about your business and we'll take care of it for you." During WWII, Americans were eager to give up basic daily necessities for the good of our boys. But now? After a disastrous war in Vietnam in which thousands of drafted men were killed, while we're now paying $4 a gallon for gas, while our home heating and grocery costs have shot through the roof, and while jobs and home equity are disappearing before our very eyes, do we want to be told now that more sacrifice will be needed? That we'll have to pay more taxes (if the Republican story about Obama's economic plan are to be believed)? That we'll have to resist taking oil from under our own soil and shorelines to add to our domestic oil supply and reduce our dependence on foreign oil? That we'll have to sit down with those hated Muslims instead of just picking up a gun and blasting them to hell? Are you kidding me? Just plug me into ESPN and Fox News and tell me everything's gonna be OK, and you'll get my vote.

Well, my fellow Americans, if you care so little about yourselves and your families, if you can't be bothered to do anything personally to improve your own lots in life, or the lots of your neighbors, if you "just don't care" enough to support real change, then you really, truly, without a doubt, are mind-numbingly stupid people. And you get the government and the quality of life that you deserve.