Quite some time ago, the Christian Coalition's national field Director, Guy Rodgers, laid it out on the line for the party faithful.

By his reckoning, only 15% of eligible voters determine who wins an election - even in a high-turnout year. Why? Because not only are only about half of the eligible adults in America actually registered to vote, but only half of those registered to vote actually bother to go vote at all. You work out the math from there.

And that's in a high-stakes election: ones where the Presidency is at stake, and folks are lined up around the block to cast their ballot. In ones that are "low stakes" - local elections, or 'off-year' campaigns - then the margin of victory lies lower than 15%.

Of course, this was stellar news for his lot. "We don't have to worry about convincing a majority of Americans to agree with us," he boasted: "Most of them are staying home and watching 'Falcon Crest.'"

Now, that was back when the Christian Coalition actually had teeth, and was a dominant force in American politics. People either loved them or ran in fear from them. These days they're a sorry echo of what they once were.

But it doesn't matter whether you support it, hate it, or don't even know what the Christian Coalition is. Guy Rodgers was just relating the facts of the matter. This could have been said by anyone. This could have been said to anyone.

And it should be said - over and over until more people understand just what they're risking when they don't go vote.

Do you understand that if the thinkers, the moderates and the reasonable people stay home, and the zealots, the unquestioning and the unreasonable alone flood the polls, you will utterly hate the face of the government you get the morning after?

Do you ever stop to think that part of the reason politicians can be so crooked is because they think no one can be bothered to throw them out of office once they're in?

Do you ever consider how lucky you were to have been born in, or to have successfully emigrated to, a country where you can help decide who represents you?

Do you ever spare a thought for the people who fought and died to keep America free, so you could go vote in the first place?

Hopefully, the answer to those questions was "Yes." But, sadly, a lot of people don't seem to care. They have any number of excuses as to why they just can't get out and go do it.

And I'm sick of every one of them.

"Man, I gotta work." Then go on your lunch break, dammit. And if you can't do it, then fake sick, go vote and then go to work a little later. You'd do it if you had a killer hangover - why not do it to prevent a killer candidate?

"I'm on vote strike 'cause the system sucks!" But that system keeps you free. And if you think the system sucks, then you can work to put people in office who'll try to make it suck less, or not at all. Right?

"If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal." Oh... bite me. Maybe it takes a lot of work to change the status quo, but having the right person in the right office at the right time can make the difference. It's a lot easier to shoot something down before it gets signed into law than it is to get rid of it once it's been in circulation for a few years, and you can't always depend on the Courts to judicate it into submission, either.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, because we now live in a Marxist state." Well, fine, then - buy an island and relocate. I hear there's plenty of would-be, Randian paradises available in the South Pacific? Maybe you'll be happy lording it over the crabs and coconuts, Mister Kurtz.

But me, I'll stick with what is - warts and all - the freest nation on Earth. And I'll work to keep it free... by voting.

End of rant. Now get off your butts and go vote.