If You Can't Read This, Don't Vote

I hate to say this, but in these days of billion dollar elections, perhaps we should reconsider the literacy test for voter registration. Better than that, we ought to test everyone on the contents of their voter pamphlet before they enter the polling booth.

Yes, I know not that long ago literacy tests were used to prevent black folk from voting. But that's not what I'm aiming at. I want people of every color and every age to prove they know what they're about to vote on, rather than relying on carefully scripted TV ads and robocalls to influence their decisions.

The more the media have expanded, the signal to noise ratio of politics has increased even more. Between the pundits, the ads, the media bias, "political correctness," and your odd conspiracy theorist here and there, the general public comes to election day feeling like they've been through a war. Who the hell are they supposed to believe?

I say they ought to be smart enough to prove they can ignore all of the above and read the measured for-and-against debates and actual word of law as outlined in their voter pamphlet.
They can then actually weigh the pros and cons against their own personal philosophies and make informed decisions. Is that really asking too much of the public?

You would think that with as much attention Obama and McCane have received, the public would know their positions well. Guess what? Somebody took a camera to Harlem and asked Obama supporters why they were for him, substituting McCane's positions for Obama's. Not a soul caught the discrepancy. They all were voting on Obama's personality and color rather than his platform. I surely think Obama would be appalled. I bet you could have played the same trick on Sarah Palin's ardent supporters, too.

Now, if that's the situation in the Presidential election, what about senate and house races? Or local votes? Or state referendums?

It's time to take back the vote from the media and put it in the hands of informed adults. If you think politicians are scared of voters now, you ought to think about how scared they'd be if we all really knew the issues.