Yes, You Should Vote. But...

...first you should make an informed decision on how to cast your vote.

Take the on-camera remarks made by people in West Virginia following their May primary, which Jon Stewart then skewered for his audience's viewing pleasure. Yes, it was a while ago, but the reasons given by these people for voting the way they did have come up frequently in my house over the past couple months. Here are the reasons cited by these West Virginians for voting the way they did (for Hilary):

"I guess because he is another race. I'm sort of scared of the other race, because we have so much conflict with 'em."

"He's a Muslim, you know, and that has a lot to do with it."

"I don't like the Hussein thing. I've had enough of Hussein."

The fact that a voter can simply ignore the candidates' stances on the issues and vote for whomever most closely resembles herself or himself, in either appearance or [perceived] religious views, terrifies me. (Yes, it was just a primary and not a real election, but since it served to narrow the field of presidential candidates, it was not something to take lightly.) These people made the decision of who they wanted the democratic candidate for president to be based on (1) race, (2) a false rumor which has been exposed as such at least a hundred times by various credible sources - or a religion which the woman clearly knows nothing about, beyond the actions of extremists, and (3) a name.

All three "justifications," if they may be called that, are inexcusable, but the first two are not all that surprising; bigotry and gullibility are rampant in our culture. The second interviewee is a particularly disturbing example of this fact because she exhibits both of these characteristics.

The third woman, though, really takes the cake. She openly admits that she voted for Hilary over Obama solely because of his middle name. Because it happened to be part of the name of a late Middle Eastern tyrant who was really not a good person at all. But, if you'll indulge me in an over-quoted line from Romeo and Juliet, "What's in a name?" The name itself is derived from Hasan, which means "handsome" in Arabic. But if we're talking about name association, I guarantee that this woman also has no idea that the name "Hussein" might also bring to mind (at least to the mind of someone who has paid any attention to the Middle East beyond where the U.S. is currently waging war in the past decade or two) King Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999), who spent his 45-year reign working to improve his people's quality of life and toward peace in the Middle East. And, of course, I could also mention that Saddam Hussein's rise to power didn't start until 1963, when he was involved in the Ba'ath party's overthrow of Prime Minister Qasim. Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born in 1961 and named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. Not that any argument really needs to be made against the "Hussein thing" woman's remark, but there you have it.

I suppose I should be glad, because of my own political leanings, that the people of West Virginia voted more for Democratic candidates than for Republicans. Even Obama (91,737 votes), who was crushed by Hilary (239,298 votes), got more votes than McCain (89,782 votes). And yet Bush won West Virginia in the 2004 election. This demonstrates how much of a mess Republicans have made things in the last four years: even in a state where people will willingly voice their bigotry on-camera, a female Democrat and a black democrat are more desirable than a white male Bush clone. But please. If you're going to vote, look at the issues more than the appearances, rumor mills, or names of the candidates.