Posted by
JP on Thursday, July 03, 2008 9:00:55 AM
by Burt
Prelutsky [scriptwriter]
With
the November election more or less around the corner, we are coming up
on one of those traditions that should be stuck away in a kitchen
drawer where we all keep pieces of string and out-of-date supermarket
coupons. I’m referring to those crusades staged every four years by
talk show pundits and editorial writers to shame us all into voting.
They
love to remind us of all the brave men who have bled and died so that
we would be free to cast our ballots. What they inevitably overlook is
that millions and millions of people who never had the slightest bit of
actual freedom have been free to vote. Joseph Stalin regularly won
elections with a plurality of 99.9%. So did Saddam Hussein. Dictators
can always win elections, but sometimes they simply decide they’re not
worth the bother. The real distinction between people who are free and
those who aren’t is that free men have the option of not voting. [more]