Great entry on electoral-vote.com today on the Comparative Election Turnouts Among Countries: "While Americans like to think of the U.S. as the world's best example of a democracy, if one uses voter turnout as the metric, the data show a different picture."

This saddens me greatly. When I was on jury duty earlier this year, the judge who welcomed us at juror check-in gave an impassioned speech on how serving on a jury is the only requirement our country places on women and one of only two requirements (in addition to possibly being drafted) that are placed on men.

I would add voting to the list of things "required" of a good citizens. This quote from Elie Wiesel says it all: "Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

Unfortunately, as the table shows, far too many people (like my friend J.S.) sit on the sidelines and skirt their responsibilities, both in elections and jury service!

I'm not sure my little rant here will change anything, but it felt good to get that off my chest :)