Voter Turnout

Less than 50% of eligible voters recognize their own self-interest by voting. It seems perverse that people will risk all for freedom when survival is involved, but when it is offered just down the block at the voting booth, well, either the issues are too complicated, or all politicians are corrupt, or “my vote doesn’t matter.”

What the eligible nonvoter doesn’t take into account is that the voting booth is the first refuge of his freedom and a counterforce to chauvinists who have prejudiced beliefs in the superiority of their own groups. What might help is for someone like Jack Nicholson to gather all the eligible nonvoters in a group and growl out a variation on his put-down, “You can’t handle democracy!”

HARRY MASS

Tarzana