"Bad governments are elected by good citizens who don't vote". Well, not really.

This morning I woke up to this quote posted any number of times on my twitter stream, and although I am a huge advocate for people to vote, the logic is just lacking.

See this quote assumes that all bad governments will be somehow thwarted by the collective intelligence of the majority of people. However it fails to recognize the political disinterest, or apathy, I find most people have in finding out the truth behind campaign rhetoric or candidate/party History.  And this is what runs counter to the logic of the statement.

I agree that people need to vote, but I go a step further in saying that instead of listening to rhetoric, or even worse like I've heard said "I vote X because that's how I've always voted", they need to do their homework about as much as possible instead of  "Cliché voting".  I feel it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen of a democracy not to "just vote", but to invest themselves into the Democracy they live in, and educate themselves as much as possible to all parties Policies and History, and AFTER doing so, to Vote.

What this quote fails to address, is that bad Governments are elected by ignorant, albeit good, citizens who both vote and don't vote.  Apathy of politics and blindly following rhetoric are the killers of Democracy, not simply the lack of voting.

Bob