Sunday, November 21, 2004
I have heard that other nations make Election Day a national holiday. It's such an obvious idea that I'm amazed we don't do it. People are busy, after all, and having the elections on a Tuesday only makes it less likely that people will vote. I'm sure a substantial part of the discrepancy in turnout between the United States and other democracies can be ascribed to Election Day being a regular working day where elsewhere it is a holiday. Of course, to make Election Day a national holiday, we'd have to give up some other holiday. Looking around the calendar, the nearest holiday that I found was Veteran's Day, on November 11. It was perfect. It's a holiday to honor the soldiers and sailors who fought for our country. They fought for freedom and democracy. More than anything else, free elections embody the spirit of democracy. After writing this up, I discovered I'm not the only one who thought of this.