Rent-a-citizen

Arizona thinks it may have a cure for the common voter apathy:

If approved, the law would hand a randomly chosen voter from each primary and general election $1 million from an intriguingly fat chest of uncollected state lottery money. And there's a very special surprise if the measure passes: It's retroactive to Arizona's fast-approaching Sept. 12 primary. (If you're voting by absentee ballot, you may already be a winner.) ...

Supporters of the Voter Reward Act note that in Australia, voter turnout is 95%. If Australians fail to vote--and can't give a good reason--they are charged a $15 fine.

Yet another example of why the free West, as we have known it, is dying. Citizenship used to be valued and exercised for itself -- "civis Americanus sum." Now we have to debate whether a carrot or a stick is required to get sufficient levels of civic participation.

Such schemes make a mockery of the republican form of government. The bill's sponsor says the measure will encourage many to "at long last take a personal interest in upcoming elections." No, it will simply cause even more uninformed voters to flock to the polls, pulling levers haphazardly in a vain attempt to turn the booth into a slot machine.

We already have the mobocracy the Founders feared--masses of semi-informed voters easily swayed more by demagoguery and emotion than prudent consideration. I've long said that while the protections of citizenship are rightly conferred by birth, voting should be an earned privilege. We require people to study and pass a drivers test before getting in a car. Why should we hand the keys of public policy to someone who can't pass a basic civics test? Encouraging unqualified participation in republican governance simply honors the form over the substance.

Only when people must make an effort to defend or obtain the privileges of citizenship will it again be valued for itself. Thomas Paine said it best: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value."