Pundit Jeff Greenfield Has A Provocative Idea. Undecideds Shouldn’t Vote

I haven’t seen or heard much from longtime political analyst/pundit Jeff Greenfield for a while. That’s why when I saw his name in a headline last night I decided to read his latest missive and boy was it startling. I went to bed but this morning still can’t shake the notion he advanced – that if anyone is STILL undecided at this point they shouldn’t vote at all.

For those not familiar with him Jeff Greenfield has had a long career. He got started as a speechwriter for Robert F. Kennedy (the REAL one – not the son we see in current news that bears his name) but shifted into political reporting.  I recall him from back in the years when CNN was worth watching. He seemed informed, thoughtful and well worth paying attention to. I certainly never expected to read something like the OpEd piece he just wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Look, I don’t like that people with different opinions than me vote for different candidates than I do. However I consider it their right to do so, and rather than prevent them from doing so think they have every right to cast their ballot. So, I’ve worked to try to ensure more people like me cast ballots

The idea that some people are too stupid and clueless to get to cast their vote is an uncomfortable thing to consider. But it can prompt serious questions. Before being forced into early retirement on medical disability I worked with Developmentally Disabled Adults. Some were capable of working, at least in fairly simple jobs and a few could even interact well with the public. Did they have the mental capacity to truly understand politics and issues? I mean really understand them? No. Yet if they thought they’d like to vote they could register and do so, at least some of them.  But there’s a difference between being able to read and fill out a form/ballot and understanding what they are actually doing.

Greenfield doesn’t get into that. Instead what he writes about is how pervasive information about this election and the candidates has been. Month after month of it being in the news, and talked about in families. With friends. At work. At other places. Greenfield points out that for anyone who wants to do some checking, to get online and research how accurate this or that news story or candidate statement(s) is it’s easy enough to do. If someone WANTS to. His argument is that having been bombarded for months with information those who are actually undecided spent MONTHS willfully and purposely tuning it out. Ignoring it.

So he asks given the issues, the complexity of some of them and the freaking stakes how can someone truly inform themselves in these last few days?  I get that it’s an easy call on a person deciding one way or the other to continue as a country being a Representative Democracy or a dictatorship BUT one has to actually take a look at things over time to decide whether Trump really would be a dictator who would trash our Constitution.  Or whether his recent attempts at blowing sunshine about reproductive rights is just a sop to try and pull in gullible Independent voters.  And then there are the complexities of the economy and America’s leadership in the world.

Greenfield just might have a point.  As I said he described the flood of information everyone has been bombarded with before saying:

And if, after all this, you are still undecided, the likely reason is not that you are still weighing the candidates’ ideas about taxes or the Middle East or healthcare. No, the more likely reason is that you have deliberately tuned out as much information about the political universe as possible.

And yet, your vote, should you cast it, will have the same weight as the citizen who has spent the weeks before Election Day comparing the candidates and reading through the ballot propositions. Your participation dilutes the value of genuinely considered votes, in the same way that a vintage wine will be spoiled by mixing it with a portion of plonk.

Well, Greenfield always struck me as a polite guy who even when being critical tried not to be mean about it.  However it’s clear he thinks people who have refused to be engaged enough to, in the last week still be undecided aren’t the kind of people who should make some snap judgement on whether and how to vote.  He talks about some who have what could be considered valid reasons for not voting. Those who think the entire process is meaningless and/or corrupt for example. Or people like him who think getting directly involved in voting impacts their journalistic integrity. Personally I don’t buy that one but I accept some who feel that way.

Greenfield also points out that in this country like so many others people aren’t required to vote. It’s a choice. In fact he says it would be a sign of wisdom if those still undecided said to themselves “I haven’t given the election a moment’s thought, and I shouldn’t be canceling out the vote of someone who actually gives a damn.”  I have to admit Greenfield has me thinking.  He talks about those who in his (and my own) lifetime who sacrificed and even given their lives so that people could exercise their right to vote.  He notes people who stand in lines for hours simply to cast a ballot. Or donate and do other work on behalf of preferred candidates. While he doesn’t say so the fact is we’ve had people make great sacrifices and even die to make us a free and independent country and keep it that way. Not to mention the grinding work of expanding those freedoms including the right to vote to every citizen.

Greenfield just might have a point, and he closes his OpEd by dropping the hammer on those who haven’t bothered to pay attention so far:

So if you’re among those who have not given a minute’s thought to this contest where the differences are so stark, and the potential consequences so large, do the right thing: Decline to exercise the right you value so little.

If you’re interested, we promise to let you know who wins.

This morning I’m thinking Greenfield might have a good point.

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