Perhaps. But absent a remarkable change in human nature, it seems unlikely the American multitudes, more concerned with "Survivor" and stock options than with the details of Al Gore's prescription drug plan, will suddenly bestir themselves, flip on CNN, and catch up on all the politics they have missed during our comfortable, decade-long Gilded Age. More likely, a sudden and artificially induced increase in voter turnout would only mean an increase in the number of ill-informed, poorly thought out and just plain stupid votes. To be blunt, most of the people who don't vote, shouldn't vote.

Is this an elitist attitude? Absolutely. The United States is a democratic republic, not a pure democracy, and our system of government was designed to blend popular passion and elite wisdom --not to rubber stamp the whims of the ignorant and the apathetic. Americans are a remarkably free people, and part of that freedom is the right to tune out the noise from the public square. But those who choose political ignorance should not, through the good offices of 21st century electoral puritanism, be encouraged to cast votes on matters they know nothing about.

Granted, if voter participation drops too low, government ceases to be responsive to the needs of the masses, and we slide into a kind of large-scale oligarchy. But this danger, though real, is not particularly germane to our present circumstances, in which America's elected officials have, if anything, become too responsive to the shifting currents of popular opinion. In an era when our President conducts polls to determine where to take his family on vacation, the country might benefit from a sharp decline in the power of the vox populi.

So when election day rolls around, if you wonder why the guy who fought the Gulf War is running for President again, if you think that Al Gore is against the death penalty and that we already have a national missile defense, if you can't name the Attorney General and think that the Democrats control the Senate--well, then do your country a favor, and stay away from the voting booth. It's your patriotic duty.

Ross G. Douthat '02 is a history and literature concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Mondays.