Thoughts about Voting

Sean Penn's letter got me thinking about voting. He zapped it off in response to comments one of the producers of South Park made in Rolling Stone.

"While the accuracy of the missive have not been verified by the Penn camp, the words sound like vintage Penn, who is apparently steamed over comments Stone made in Rolling Stone about voting. Stone said, "If you don't know what you're talking about, there's no shame in not voting."

So here is my thought on this matter, I think that voting is not just a right, but an obligation of the citizens of every country. Part of that obligation requires that you educate yourself about the issues so that you can make an informed decision.

One of the challenges that we face is that so many people are not very well informed about platforms and positions on various issues. This is a big problem with voting for people, but in some respects it is even tougher when you look at propositions and measures.

They typically are not written in an easy to understand fashion and they are often constructed so that multiple ideas/actions are tied into bill/measure/proposition you are voting on.

This combination makes it very easy for you to vote pro/con without meaning to. And in theory this complexity of these situations leads to votes being cast without the benefit of real understanding on the part of the person voting. In my mind that makes it questionable and from this perspective I can understand why somone would question the merits of voting.