Republican Intellectuals: Voters are Polluting our Democracy

by tremayne [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

It is becoming increasingly apparent, even to conservative bloggers, that Barack Obama is going to win. This is quite a shock to their senses. Black radical, extreme ultra liberal terrorist-loving Obama is going to take over the White House and bring his antichrist friends with him. Even more appalling, voters are just going along with this selling out of America like the ignorant masses they are.

That's right. Since attacks and smears against Obama have so far failed to do the job, conservatives are now taking their frustration to its logical conclusion: blaming our system of representative government. Basically their argument is this: Too many damn voters! Honestly, this is the argument and it's being advanced not by fringe lunatics like Michelle Malkin or Rush Limbaugh but people you think would know better. Details follow.

Yesterday, Will Wilkinson of the Cato Institute endorsed this view:

When enough people vote badly–from ignorance or bias, for example–the result is often bad policy. The quality of policy matters to the public good. Higher-quality democratic decisions, and better policy, can be secured if bad voters choose to abstain. Because the personal cost of not voting badly is so low, a public-spirited person shouldn’t do it. And it seems that a lot of people are quite likely to vote badly. So there are many people who, if they care about the common good, ought to choose not to vote.

I'll let you figure out what "voting badly" means in the context of the current election. But Wilkinson doesn't just agree with the view, advanced by Jason Brennan of Brown, he goes it one further: Voter registration efforts are immoral! The logic, as he says, is straightforward. I could paraphrase it to make it sound even more ridiculous but, like Sarah Palin's recent performances, the original is just as good bad:

Here’s how I explain the intensity of media propaganda about voter participation in cynical political economy terms. There are more Americans inclined to vote Democrat than Republican. But the poorer and younger Democratic-leaning voters are also least likely to show up at the polls. Therefore, promoting the idea that it is a civic/moral imperative to vote disproportionately benefits the Democratic party by getting higher levels of participation from the poorer and younger voters, at whom much of the marketing blitz is focused. And, of course, the American media establishment overwhelmingly favors the Democratic Party. However, higher levels of voting from these groups pretty much ensures greater electoral pollution.

Now this is deeply disturbing for a whole bunch of reasons you already know but I'll cover in a moment. You might console yourself that Wilkinson's pseudo-intellectual bullshit has a limited distribution but unfortunately he and Brennan discuss their deep concerns about the purity of American political discourse on Bloggingheads.TV which increases the scope of this nonsense.

But even more disturbing is that George Will parroted the exact same argument this weekend as Daniel De Groot already blogged, only this time the worry isn't increased voter registration but early voters and voting by mail:

A word describes most of the people who will vote only if a ballot is shoved through their mail slot: "slothful." What kind of people will not bestir themselves to exercise their franchise if doing so requires them to get off their couches and visit neighborhood polling places? People who are barely interested, and hence probably are barely informed.

I'm sorry, these "arguments" by Will and Wilkinson and Brennan make me angry and let me explain why. They are using philosophy and alleged concern about our "public health" to advanced their authoritarian agenda. These are just the kind of "thinkers," not unlike John Yoo, who provide intellectual cover for jackbooted thugs to practice all manner of voter intimidation and voter supression all in the name of a "healthy democracy." They can't stand that voters who have, in the past, felt like the system was rigged against them or felt like their vote didn't matter, are actually showing up this year. They are convinced, CONVINCED, that rational voters would easily give them victory.

I'm sorry, Wilkinson's concerns about the "purity" of American public discourse sounds a little too much like the racial purity advocated 75 years ago in a certain European republic. With record turnout among African Americans and possibly Hispanics this year it's impossible not to believe these "thinkers" are little more than reactionaries with suits and ties providing arguments for voter suppression tactics such as:

This

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

Republican foot soldiers who might otherwise have had at least some some qualms about challenging voters at the polls and using various tricks to suppress votes now have the words and "wisdom" of George Will and Will Wilkinson and Jason Brennan to make them confident that what they are really doing is protecting the "health" and purity of public discourse. What bullshit.