Instapundit: "Should the electorate have to pass a patriotism test?"

"In a country like ours, where voters reign supreme, it seems as if concern about the patriotism of rulers ought to also apply to voters."

Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, in his famous novel Starship Troopers, envisioned a society where voters, too, had to demonstrate their patriotism before being allowed to vote. In his fictional society, the right to vote came only after some kind of dangerous public service — in the military, as a volunteer in dangerous medical experiments, or in other ways that demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice personally for the common good. The thought was that such voters would be more careful, and less selfish, in their voting.

So when the five-day wonder of questioning Barack Obama's patriotism is over, perhaps we should address another question: How patriotic is the electorate?

Maybe those Colorado voters, Chip referred to in the last post, would think more carefully about who they vote for, if they had some skin in the game... wait. I didn't mean to inject race in this post. "Skin in the game" is just a common phrase devoid of any racial overtones.

In the phrase, "skin" is a synecdoche for the person involved, and "game" is the metaphor for the actions on whatever field of play is at reference. The aphorism is particularly common in business, finance, and gambling, and is also used in politics.

Maybe it should be extended to voting.