Sowell: Misinformed Should Stay Home and Not Vote on Election Day

During an interview on Cavuto: Coast to Coast, economist Thomas Sowell said misinformed voters should stay home on Election Day.

“Elections are not held just for social participation,” he said. “They’re not held just to vet our emotions. They’re held to elect people who will hold our lives and the lives of our loved ones in their hands, as well as the fate of the entire nation. To go out as if we’re voting for homecoming queen is madness!”

He added, “I advise [in his column] that people who really haven’t had a chance to study these things and know much about it… their most patriotic act would be to stay home on election day, rather than vote on the basis of their whims or their emotions, which is really playing Russian roulette with the history of the country.”

Sowell admits he stayed home for the 1972 presidential election between Richard Nixon and George McGovern. He criticized the amount of time candidates have to answer questions during debates.

“There are very few serious issues that can be dealt with in one minute, especially when they’re simply sprung on you,” said Sowell. “If they’d given them the questions two hours before they went on the air, then maybe they’d be able to condense it down to something that can be said in a minute or two. When they simply spring a question on you with one minute to answer, what kind of answer can you expect?”

Regarding term limits, Sowell said he advocates for a single term.

“It should be one term because if they have three terms, the first two are going to be spent trying to get reelected,” he said. “We have to wait for the third term, and in the third term they may be trying to set a record to go on to some other position. One term people would be ideal.”