Voting Is for Sissies

When I say that I'm not going to vote in presidential or congressional elections, everyone jumps down my throat. They are concerned, it seems, that I will single-handedly destroy democracy. Next time, I'm going to bring out the big guns in my defense: McCain, Obama, and Biden have decided they're probably not going to bother to be back in Washington for the bailout vote. If they don't vote on this, why should I vote on them?

Sen. John McCain (R- Ariz.) has no plans to return to Washington this week, even though on Monday he expressed discomfort with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's trillion-dollar bailout plan and has offered his own rescue proposal….

Senior Obama strategist Robert Gibbs said the campaign would be monitoring the process as it unfolds this week, but as of Monday, the campaign would not commit to Obama making the trip back to Washington – even though the bailout proposal has taken a central role in Obama's stump speeches….

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Obama's vice presidential running mate, is also "monitoring" the bailout situation, said spokesman David Wade.

Obama's habit of voting "present" has been controversial, but surely that's better than "absent"?