Of course it is your duty. You have a moral obligation to excercise that duty. Only GOP (Greedy Ole Pols) would deny that it is not your duty. Vote for whoever you like, but vote. Thousands of brave young men and women have died to confer that honor, and duty, on you. Don't let the greed heads keep you away from the polls.

It was a right until folks died to protect that right. Now it is a duty. Stand up and be counted.

The best part about Jeff is that, just when you thought he'd written his dumbest column yet, he manages to write something dumber.  This one desrves some sort of prize. Yes, of course voting is a civic duty.   So is standing for jury duty.  Can't wait for Jeff's columns disparaging that...

Since 2000...Al Franken won his Senate seat by 312 votes (MN, 2008). Bob McDonnell won his race for Attorney General by 323 votes (VA, 2005). Christine Gregoire beat Dino Rossi for governor by 133 votes (WA, 2004). George Bush was certified as having 537 more votes than Al Gore (FL, 2000). All of those were races where more than a million votes were cast.

And way back in 1839, Marcus Morton won the governorship of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by 2 votes, a 0.00195% margin.

Your vote almost certainly doesn't matter, except for those times when it does.

Words commonly have more than a single meaning, and Jacoby loves to distort the meaning to make it compatible with his latest whim. This one is particularly pathetic.

You have both a right and a duty to vote. The right is awarded to you by the constitution. There is no constitution requirement that individual citizens vote, so there's no duty in the legal sense.

However... If you're happy with the current government, or if you want change in the government, or if you're afraid of how some candidates or proposals would effect the government, then you have a duty (or obligation) to vote. Your duty is to yourself, and also to voters who think like you.

It's true that 1 vote isn't likely to change the outcome, but 1 + 1 +1 equals 3. Those 1 votes add up. What if 200,000 Bostonians decided not to vote because their 1 vote means nothing. (That's not an impossible figure.) That would mean that only 150,000 would decide the fate of the city, and most of those might disagree with the views of the majority who did not vote.

That brings up the insidious aspect of Jacoby's suggestion. True believers (that is, those with radical ideas) are more likely to show up at the polls. If many of the moderates stay home, the radicals may be able to take control. It's happened before.

Beware of Jacoby. He's always angling for his minority and relatively radical views.

I see, trying a 'reasoned' approach to voter supression. Hey, why don't you just write a column supporting a re-intitution of the poll tax and a 'granfather' clause? Perhaps some sort of intelligence testing? You could write a column in support of skewing the test scores to automatically give conservatives some bonus points. I'm sure the Roberts court won't have any problems with it.

This is a sad attempt to convince Democrats not to vote, Mr. Jacoby.

Lets see, motivated Obama haters will vote so I must write a column telling the less motivated but probably Democratic that they should feel fine if they stay home. Must you always ne the cynic Jeff?

Somewhere in a legitimate newspaper there must be  a worse column but I can't imagine what it would contain.  Everyone knows that Jacoby is anti-Democratic, but now he stands revealed as anti-democratic as well.  I used to think that the Globe was a waystation for Jacoby on his journey to Fox "News."  But no more.  Fox would never let him express this drivel especially to THEIR viewers.  They are counting on the brainwashed to get out there and do the right thing.  The FAR right thing.

Jacoby is an embarassment.

By all means, Jacoby, set the example you wish others to follow and don't vote. The rest of us, those who actually cherish both the right AND the duty, will cast our ballots.

This is simply a disgrace. Are there any editors at The Globe? What's next, it's not your "duty" to report a crime, and it is your "right" to ignore it? Of course he's technically correct regarding your "duty" to vote, but Jeff Jacoby's credibility as an Op-Ed contributor moves to zero.

Dumb and Wrong.  

"For one thing, your vote almost certainly won’t matter."  Just becase an election is won by more than 1 vote does not mean that a single vote doesn't matter.  I wonder how much he is getting paid to spew this BS.

Wow.  Just wow.  Voting is, in fact, NOT a right enshrined in the constitution.  It is implied in some of the amendments, but never explicitly granted.  And while voting is not a LEGAL obligation, it most certainly IS a MORAL obligation, because without robust elections, representative democracy fails.  Of course, if you don't believe in democracy, by all means don't vote.  Instead spend the time writing contemptible op ed columns like this one for the Boston Globe.

My vote will cancel out your vote Jeff and that's all the incentive I need to be out there. 

Such a twisted mentality.  Comparing an individual's vote with an election decided by one vote is a distorted logic that a 4th grader could destroy in a debate.  This is such a blatent attempt by the author to encourage voters to stay home in this next election in this overly Democratic state.  Have you no shame!

A civic duty is not a legal obligation and hence different from being forced to do something by a law.  It is a societal obligation if you believe in a country with fair laws and truly representative leaders.  Again Mr. Jacoby mucks things up.  Voting determines what rules all citizens live by.  It also puts in place the government executives and legislators.  It gives power to the winners to select those who will interpret the rules.  If you choose not to participate you have not fulfilled a social contract.  Once you or your family has decided that a culture or civilization has advantages for you, each one of us is the keeper of that contract.  Since we vote for our leaders and representatives we are selecting people who will protect our ability to move reasonably freely without harm and that we have a reasonable chance to live a livable life.  Without an informed vote we will slide into chaos or be governed by a chosen few, usually those with a narrow agenda and plenty of money.  So the exercise of voting is a civic duty that has unforseen consequences when it is not utilized.  So not voting punishes by its aftermath.  In matters of war and peace, our judges, how tax money is spent, and aiding those who are down on their luck(could be you or your family) are all determined by walking into a voting booth.  It is the glue that keeps us together as a single entity.  Without it we give up our fate to those who have little idea of nationhood.  So do not let the Jeff Jacoby's of the world let you feel you have no skin in the game.  Just as there are other obligations in life like good manners or becoming educated voting belongs to this higher etiquette.  You can choose to be a boor but it weakens the glue that holds the US together.  You will reap what you sow.  Jeff's is a royalist view of this great country of ours.  Between the lines he is saying the Heritage Foundation, its offshoots, and supporters know how to take care of you best so don't lose any sleep if you want to sit it out.

I know Jeff it's not your duty.  Just like it's not your duty to serve in the military either.  In fact your the kind of guy that makes any conservative cringe.  You don't have to do anything.  You built it.  You did your duty by existing.  You are the perfect example of America's finest libertarian, faux conservative.  What a guy. 

Democracy depends on the participationof the people. Otherwise it is not democracy. Wouldn't it be nice if the guy with whom I don't agree just stayed at home. Then I could rule the world. COme to think about it maybe that is why there is so much resistance by some to voters' rights legislation.

Democracy also requires that people become informed. Some people have more time and interest but that is true of parenting, professional practice, and just about everything else. I agree, if you know nothing about the race, you shouldn't feel obliged to vote...but you should feel obliged to lear where candidates stand on issues that effect you.

Wow, Jeff. Is this your own suppress-the-vote effort?

98%=/- voting participation rates were the norm in the old Soviet Union. Those lovable Leftists were almost as passionate as some of the other commenters today. Democracy has been doing pretty well with the people deciding for themselves whether to vote or not. That Jacoby is openminded enough to give people that freedom is something to value not demean....even when it does conflict with deeply held beliefs that some of us have.

Worst column ever, and when speaking of Mr Jacoby, that's saying something. It's hard to imagine that he could do any worse than this, but I suspect that he'll keep trying.

To the editors, can we have a "conservative" commentator who is articulate and intelligent? I appreciate balance in the commentary, but this gentleman is an embarrassment.

That the Globe continues to let this guy write is a testament to freedom of the press.  Those with the bucks...get the freedom to say whatever they want.  The Globe has the bucks...and puts this guy's gobbledygook into print on a regular basis.  There is NO such thing as the liberal media.  Not when this gets passed off as journalism

This may be clever, provocative cocktail party repartee, but it is a profoundly destructive and ineffective position to hold when one isn't trying to be the most clever little boy in the room. We've all heard this opinion before, except those of us in sendsory deprivation tanks, as you so delightfully point out. This argument is a dime a dozen, Mr Jacoby, and your silly arrogance is tiresome.  The ideas must have been few and far between this round, for you to land here. Not in favor of something. Not against something. Just an argument for passively sitting back and letting the other guy do the job. The job of participaing in our precious democracy. You're not a soldier or a senator or any other kind of participant in our democracy. Your only duty is to drag your butt out of your computer chair from time to time and vote. And so you must resist.

There's nothing here, Mr Jacoby. It's not clear what you were going for. It's not clever. It's not convincing. It's not liberating.  It is a rather annoying bit of navel gazing, resisting the mildest and yet most important call to your civic duty. 

Mostly, this reminds me of my children, who would resist my requirement that they take out the trash from time to time.  "I don't want to. I don't have to. You're not the boss of me," they would whine. Fortunately they learned to be the boss of themselves, and to do what is required of them in life. Apparently you didn't. More's the pity. Go to your room, Mr. Jacoby, until you can behave like a member of this democracy.

Mr. Jacoby intones:  "...your vote almost certainly won’t matter."

Thanks for that wise advice.  This reminds me of the time decades ago when I was still in high school; my parents decided to skip voting in a municipal election, and a sleazy guy managed to get elected to our city's corporation commission by a margin of two (2) votes.  He was later was indicted for corruption and ultimately went to prison.  For me, this was an object lesson in democracy that I have never forgotten:  EVERY VOTE COUNTS.

I can't believe this made it to print. Perfectly valid to have no interest in government of your country. Unbelievable. My candidates don’t usually win, and even those who do routinely disappoint me in office. That says a lot about Jacoby. The majority of voters don't like his picks and those that manage to get in are disappointing. No wonder he thinks voting doesn't make sense. He's obviously a contrarian who has nothing to contribute or a Republican shill for this election. Ihave heard Arizona sent an e-mail to hispanics that voting for them will be on 11/8. I don't know if its true but would believe it remembering the experiance with Bush.

If Mr. Jacoby has ever had any credibility he has lost it with this column.  When he says your individual vote doesn't matter he is simply wrong.  First there is the old analogy of a single vote being like a single finger on your hand.  That finger alone doesn't matter if you get into a fight, but put it together with all of your other fingers and you've got a fist.  Your individual vote, combined with the votes of your neighbors, can be the civic equivalent of that fist.  Even if you lose you have taken a stand for what you believe.  

In spite of that some people may think since there is close to zero chance of Obama losing in Massachusetts they can skip voting  (that's presuming they don't care about anything else on the ballot)  However, during the last week there have been dozens of news articles speculating on the possibility of Obama winning the electoral college, but losing the popular vote.  It's not just a matter of winning.  It's also important how the candidate wins and if your candidate is going to have any kind of mandate and credibility the margin of victory matters and every individual vote counts towards that margin.  

"Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own." Daniel Webster

Jeff, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You should be encouraging people to vote, not offering up a rationalization. Sad, really.

By the way, the Windsor-Orange District I Vermont House seat was decided by one vote in 2010.

Jeff is right; what's wrong with saying "if you don't know what the heck you're doing, stay home"? If you can't be bothered -- or legitimately just don't have time -- to follow the election, why would you want to vote? Why would anyone want you to?

And what exactly is the point of this column?  Other than to try and discourage people from voting?  Don't we have enough trouble with a disenfranchised populace?  Of all the moronic columns you've written Mr. Jacoby, you've reached your nadir with this one.

I guess that's good for you, since that would mean you can only improve from here...we shall see, but I'm not holding my breath.

I used to vote in the North End, and when I came out of the polling station on Hull St. looking up I'd see the lanterns burning in the spire of Old North Church. I would get a lump in my throat knowing I was fulfilling my obligation to the thousands of Americans who fought and died to create, and preserve my right to vote, and regardless of how you cleverly parse it, or why you would even choose to, it is both my duty, and my honor to do so. Shame on you Jacoby, not just the most offensive piece you've ever written (and that's saying a lot) but the worst opinion piece I've ever read in the Globe. My only comfort is the certainty that when I vote next Tuesday, and my one little ballot will make yours irrelevant.

Jocoby, you have really out done yourself this time. I am trying to understand the point of this column and why you felt the need to share. Guess you just wanted to make your own miniscule contribution to the voter supression efforts of your fellow conservative super patriots. Let me allay your fears on one point: those who can't be bothered to vote are far too apathetic to care what their voting fellow citizens think of them.

Other posters have taken Jeff Jacoby to task for this odious column, but I would like to add one point of logic. It's very simple. Instead of telling people to stay home, that it's not their duty to vote, why not use this space to talk about the importance of an INFORMED vote? Is that so hard? Perhaps some links to tools and non-partisan information for voters? Or you could discuss the apalling lack of civics in schools. So, is the problem really with the casting of votes by low-information voters, or is it rather their state of low-information? You can attack the fact that low-information voters cast votes and say that they should stay at home, or you can address the condition of low-information. If a citizen doesn't know enough to cast a vote, I feel it is their duty to learn enough to cast an intelligent vote, just as it is the duty of media to provide high-quality, verified information about the choices at hand. A call for people to sit this out is very suspect, as other posters have noted, especially in the context of GOP-driven voter supression and voter misinformation.

Yes, it is your duty to vote. No, it's not a law, but if you value what our Founding Fathers created, as well as all those soldiers who died for our freedom and rights, then you should consider it your civic duty to go to the polls on election day 9or at least vote in some way depending on the laws of your state). 

If you don't vote; if you take the opinion that "it doesn't matter" or "they're all the same" then it absolutely is your right to stay home on election day. But don't whine and moan when leaders are elected who don't do The People's work.

You get the government you elect. Elect good people and you will have good government. Elect liars, cheaters and those beholden to corporations and tie rich and you will be scr*wed. It's YOUR choice.

If you're too dense to do your homework and be and informed voter, or if you get your opinions from Fox News, then I have no problem with your staying home on November 6th. Let those of us who take the time to know the issues, and politicians' stances on them, vote.  It saves a lot of time in the long run!

This is the worst column you have written and you have written lots of bad columns.  Tell people to get informed and involved, not stay home and not vote.  The founding fathers would be rolling in their graves if they were able to read your words.  You are not patriot, sir.  

What an incredibly asinine column.  What's the point of this, really?

Nice little local voter suppression gesture, Mr. Jacoby - can't say you didn't try.

This is the most asinine excuse for an "opinion" that I've read in the Globe [save perhaps for a recent piece in the magazine section about why a 20-something kid doesn't wear a helmet when riding a bike]. No, Jeff, it may not be your "duty" to vote, but if you don't vote, henseforth it will be your "duty" to keep your mouth shut and refrain from expressing any opinion questioning why or how any politician, piece of legislation or party is in place - because if you haven't voted, you haven't earned the legitimacy to question who was voted in or how they voted. Those who don't vote and then whine about the way things are are like those who say they don't care what they have for dinner, but then complain about what they are served. To live in a society but not vote for what guides it is the laziest type of citizenship, and yields a dissatisfied, apathetic citizenry, one which expects others to do the hard work for them.

It's the objective of an opinion writer or columnist to attract attention. It's the objective of a grafitti artist to deface and attract attention for vandalism. Like grafitti, this column did its job.

After reading this column, three thoughts come to mind:

1.  Now I know why I typically avoid Jeff Jacoby's column.  The headline pulled me in because I thought, "I HAVE to see what this is about."  Such a disappointment, even for Mr. Jacoby.

2.  GLOBE EDITORS:  Facing hard financial times?  Save your budget some cash and  your readers some grief and cut Jacoby from the payroll.

3.  I'm glad I get the Sunday Globe delivered at home.  I won't have to print out this piece tomorrow when I line the bird cage with it.

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME on Jacoby and the Globe!

Huh. GOP stalwart trying to discourage voter turnout. Who'd have thunk it?

Aren't you gonna tell us how your grandfather was denied the right to vote 50 years ago because of those evil white Republicans?

Well Jeff, at least you didn't refer to voting as an "entitlement"!

Well said, Jeff. I think that those who try to coerce those who are completely uninformed to try to vote are just as bad as those who would try supress people from voting. The act of voting is an individual choice - how could anyone disagree with that??

The only good arugment you make is the last one-- where you aptly point out that a lot, if not most, people simply are not well informed enough to vote. You can depend on your neighbors to make the right decision. In fact that is the basis of why we vote politicians into power in the first place: because specialists (i.e. politicians) can make the best policy decisions for us. 

But the idea that your vote doesn't matter is ludicrous. If it didn't matter, capaign managers wouldn't spend billions of dollars trying to win your vote. Not to mention, would we really want to live in a country that doesn't value the institution of voting? Is that the kind of culture we want to promote? A society that doesn't value suffrage is one that welcomes in dictators to take power and call the shots.

Gee, I'm surprised you didn't write that the election is Wednesday this year due to leap year. It's a claim cut from the same cloth: voter suppression of Democratic votes.Shut up.