Are American's Really Qualified to Vote for President?

Last night, we had local elections for mayor. I didn't vote. It wasn't that I didn't feel I needed to. It was because, as much as I hate to admit it, the election kind of snuck up on me and I realized I really didn't know anything about any of the candidates. And, because I've always believed an uninformed vote is more dangerous than not voting at all, I stayed home.

However, the experience did get me thinking. With the presidential election coming up in a few months, am I prepared to cast a vote for the next leader of the free world? More importantly, is the American public?

When the United States Constitution was written, it purposely left the presidential elections up to a select few rather than the general population. Part of this was to give every state a fair say in the election but, the underlying belief was the average citizen wasn't going to be informed enough to make an intelligent decision and could easily be manipulated into voting for a potential tyrant.

Even though we have much more information available to us now, I have to wonder if maybe that belief is still true.

I'm not saying the average American is gullible and uneducated. But, I do think the average citizen really doesn't take the time to do the research.

A perfect example of this is an E-mail regarding Barack Obama that has been forwarded to me by several people. You've probably seen it; it's the one where he's a danger to the country because of his Islamic faith. Plenty of mainstream magazines and papers have discussed the E-mail and proven it to be false. But, the people who forward it to me would rather believe an E-mail sent from a total stranger.

Let's also not ignore the fact that, prior to the presidential election, the average citizen probably wouldn't have recognized a photograph of Obama or John McCain or any of the other presidential candidates (outside of maybe former first lady Hillary Clinton). After all, the water cooler discussion at work is usually about Lost or American Idol; not what people saw on C-Span the night before.

Here's a quick quiz for those of you who disagree with me. What war is McCain a veteran of? How long has Obama been a senator and what state does he represent? What five Senate Committees has Clinton served on? How did each of the three vote when the USA Patriot Act came up for reauthorization in 2006? It's OK to look the answers up; at least then you're taking a few minutes to actually educate yourself.

Am I saying we should go back to a system where only a few are allowed to pick our president? No. But, I am saying that if our general populace is going to vote for our next president, they should at least take the time to make sure they understand each of the candidates and not just vote because they think they are a Republican or Democrat, because one of the candidates is a minority or because they think one candidate looks more like a president than the other one. If you don't take the time to do that, then you might as well stay home November 4^th.

Like I said before, an uninformed vote is much more dangerous than no vote at all.