One of the great things about this country, other than hamburgers, apple pie and baseball, is the right to vote.

Anyone who registers can voice their opinion on anything from the mayor of their town to city council members to state representatives, senators and on up to the president.

They don’t even really have to have a reason to vote. A person can vote because they like the way someone combs his or her hair or because they say “you betcha” and the others don’t.

As actor Ben Stein suggested when President George W. Bush was running for his first term, maybe we should all do what we did in high school and vote for the person who has the coolest car.

As the Nov. 4 general election nears, I’ve been thinking a lot about the process.

Would we have still elected the first 30 or so presidents if we had the type of media and technology we do today?

Would people have cared if James A. Garfield spent thousands of his own campaign money to help buy clothes for his vice presidential candidate as some have spoken out about John McCain doing so for Sarah Palin? Would people have cared if Millard Fillmore’s pastor made some controversial comments just like Barack Obama’s former pastor did? Without television, would they have known?

Syndicated columnist John Stossel wrote a column published in Friday’s Herald titled, “Is there a duty not to vote”

He talks about how some members of our younger generation have no clue about “Roe vs.Wade” and about how many senators there are. He goes on to argue that perhaps people who don’t know anything, should make it their civic duty not to vote.

I agree that the best voter is the most informed voter, but I disagree that people who may not be as versed as politics as others, who may not know exactly how many amendments there are or what number president Gerald Ford was, shouldn’t vote.

If you’re going to make that argument, what about the people who vote all Democrat without having a clue what each candidate’s views are? Or all Republican? Or all Libertarian?

People have the right to vote for whoever they want. That’s what makes this country great. If they’re smart, they will take the time to research the views of the candidates and vote for who they feel is the best one.

If they don’t do that and vote for other less important reasons, well, then at the very least maybe we’ll end up with the candidate who has the coolest car.