Letters to the Editor
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Take him into the men's room at McDonald's
Maybe have your brother or somebody waiting inside there, sitting on the voting machine wearing a dime store sheriff badge, to serve as the poll-worker.
Pull down on the paper towel roller, and have Dad write the names of his candidates, with Xs, on the paper towel. Then rip off the towel-ballot, fold carefully, and flush it down the voting machine. Give Dad the "I Voted - Did you?" sticker you got earlier from the real polling place. Buy him a Happy Meal. Take him home.
If your father goes along with all this, he is too old to vote. Otherwise, there's nothing you can do.
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don't tell, talk
Instead of telling him he shouldn't vote, why don't you ask him why. Get a conversation going where you can get him talking about why he doesn't think it's relevant for him to follow the news and use that to ask him why he think it's still important for him to vote. Who knows, he may surprise you with reasons that will make you rethink your position.
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Ah yes....
I am sure that Junior is terrified that Pappy is going to vote straight line Republican. The Horror!
Whatever happened to "One man. One vote"? Oh yeah, it only counts when it means that your party is going to win.
Idjit. Get a life. Quit trying to suppress the vote.
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Be Glad you can blame in on senility
My father's in his 80s. His mental agility is great. I hate the choices he makes, but he can defend them with clear, reasoned arguments.
My brother has autism. He votes in every election. He makes choices I approve of (he votes a straight Democratic ticket) but I'm pretty sure if he could articulate his thought processes, I wouldn't think they were clear or well reasoned.
In the end, the two balance each other out.
That's democracy. As Churchill once said, it's the worst form of government except for every other form.
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I vote with my eyes shut!
OK, let me admit that in certain local elections, when I know very little about the candidates in question (magistrate this, county that), when I do not know either of the candidates, I pick the names I like best. ("Let's see... Violet Snee? Or John Schmidt? Definitely Violet... "). Sometimes I will decide to always vote for the female name on the ballot over the male names, if I don't otherwise know the candidates. Sometimes I choose based on ethnicity... "Hmm, Martinez? Sounds brown. Vote him over Smith."
Really, now. Who has time to read the paper?
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What ever happened to...
...the saucy LW who graces us with such fine prose as:
"I am a horny hostess who wants to homeschool!"
or where is
"I am a cheating cheater who cheats... and did I mention I am a cheater?"
or how about
"Help Cary! I am a stealing stealer who snorts stuff!"
Pshaw! C'mon letter writers, give Cary something to chew on here. Ya'll know truth is stranger than fiction. Someone could create a story... but then you'd be a "Lying liar who lies to letter forums".
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Old does not equal senile
The published letter gives no indication whatsoever that the elderly gentleman is in any sort of decline. Since when does not reading the newspaper and refusing to keep up with politics add up to a loss of faculties? If there was more to this letter about failing eyesight or memory, it should have been included, but even a decline of those physical faculties in no way indicates a loss of mental acuity.
Since the man is aware there is an election, even going so far as to vote in his primary, he must get his current events news from somewhere! With a lifetime of following politics and voraciously devouring the news, this elderly man can probably size up the current political currents in his sleep, let alone with a minimum of input. I'm betting this man has a laptop stashed somewhere and just won't talk to his offspring about the election!
Question: if this elderly father were voting your way, LW, would you protest his supposed ignorance?
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Re: BankerGirl
Only irrational people vote anyway.
Isn't that redundant?
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Go ahead. Stop him
I say go for it. Stop your old man from voting. Show him his irrelevance now stretches from the region of useful occupation to the land of societal drek. That'll teach him for raising an ungrateful sob.
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Ungrateful control freak
I fail to see how it is ANY of your business how or whether your father votes or not. What does it have to do with you at all? If he wants to write in Charlie Brown or Ronald Reagan on his ballot, that's his choice, not yours. God help the poor man if you end up being in charge of how he spends his final years on this earth.
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Isn't that what concentration camps are for?
Seriously, anyone of insufficient utility or worse, someone who's simply not up to snuff, we should pack off in rail cars to some 'factory' somewhere. Seems like an entirely enlightened thing to do.
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Just be happy he's alive at that age
For chrissakes
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Distractions
Hmmm. A response points out that the real issue is grief over mortality, and already dozens of letters arguing about voting.
It's astonishing how persistent we humans can be in focusing on things we can't control in others, particularly when faced with the big things no one can control.
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LW is arrogant
STFU and leave your Dad to vote as he likes, as is our American right. How pompus of LW to think he has the righ to dictate his Dad's votes.
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We barely require competent candidates, let alone voters
I am betting your dad knows more about politics than you think he does. If not, he probably still knows which party more closely reflects his way of thinking. And don't assume, everyone, that he's going to vote Republican just because he's in his 80's. There are some pretty elderly folks at those Clinton/Obama rallies. In any case, just be glad he is still alive. I lost my dad a couple of years ago at age 80 and I miss him every day.
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Exactly
My dad's in his 80's & switched parties from conservative Republican to liberal Democrat decades ago. He still works, is healthy & sharp as a tack relatively speaking given his age. I agree that it's none of the LW's business who his dad votes for, & I think it's probably more than likely that his dad knows more about politics than he's letting on to his son.
Just let him vote.