In Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, he spoke of a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”
When the media brought word of voters in Florida’s Palm Beach County unable to decipher a simple butterfly ballot, I sighed: “Now its government of the incompetent, by the incompetent and for the incompetent.” Little did I realize (I’m pretty naive) that this would soon degenerate into government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers. This is progress?
But wait! This nation may well now have more lawyers than there were legal voters in Lincoln’s day. After all, women couldn’t vote, nor could slaves and those in jails and prisons. Some states might have had other requirements of voters, such as being owners of land or property.
Now we have dead people voting, votes sold for cigarettes, other people registering on election day and registering and voting in more than one district and criminals casting their ballots for whomever might get them out of jail.
What this nation needs is honest, competent voters and candidates worth voting for. Unfortunately many of this nation’s most talented leaders and managers have no desire to put up with the headline happy media digging into every corner and facet of their lives and their family’s lives.
Stupidity has no place in the voting booth. It is the greatest danger this nation faces.
Arlington
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