Voting Doesn't Make You Hero. It Makes You a Non-Prick

As I was logging into the Myspace just now, I saw one of their featured videos was Maggie Gyllenhaal imploring young people to vote. The caption said something to the effect that she wanted YOU to be a modern day hero, a status that could ostensibly be achieved by registering to vote. I thought 'Holy Ass I have got to see this.' Here's a link to the vid.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=44403943

To the actresses' credit, she never makes the assertion that voting makes you a hero. Also to her credit are the delicious sex scenes she has with Spader in 'The Secretary.'

It was the douche waffles that run the Myspace that make the outrageous claim that voting is heroic. It most certainly NOT heroic, it represents the bare minimum.

In my opinion voting ought to be mandatory. If you don't vote, you don't get the benefit of citizenship. You can't mail anything, you can't receive any government assistance, you can't even use the roads.

You may think that such a draconian policy runs counter to American traditions of democracy and freedom. To be honest, it's not much of a democracy and you're not all that free. If freedoms are limited for bad reasons, why shouldn't they be limited for a good reason? People should be forced to vote.

Not only that, but INFORMED voting should be mandatory. Citizens should be required to complete a pre-election, non partisan election primer course that covers local, state, and national issues.

It shouldn't be a choice.