"The president has jumped into the strangeness fray by musing aloud that mandatory voting in the United States would be a good idea."

Writes Peggy Noonan.

�It would be transformative if everybody voted,� he told an audience in Cleveland. Yes, it would. It would mean a lot of people who aren�t interested in public policy and choose not to follow it would suddenly be deciding it.

The way it is now, if you aren�t interested�and you have the right not to be interested�you don�t have to vote. If you are interested, you pay attention, develop political views, and vote. Making those who don�t care about voting vote will only dilute the votes of those who are serious and have done their democratic homework.

Most of us are moved by the sight of citizens lined up at the polls on Election Day. We should urge everyone to care enough to stand in that line. But we should not harass or bother those who, with modesty and even generosity, say they are happy to leave the privilege of the ballot to those who are engaged. Mandatory voting is, so far, the worst and most mischievous political idea of the year, and deeply eccentric.

In my view, mandatory voting is not only bad policy, it's unconstitutional. The government cannot compel people to have political opinions and to express them! Years ago, I heard some talk from a lawprof who was going on about how there should be mandatory voting, and my question was: "Are you talking about the United States?"

I don't even agree with Noonan that "We should urge everyone to care enough to stand in that line." Not voting expresses the lack of an opinion on whether one of the candidates on the ballot should be elected. There's nothing wrong with refraining from the work of figuring out whether you have a preference. There's nothing wrong with rejecting the belief that the ritual of voting is worthy in itself, regardless of whether you care. And you're entitled not to care. You could even have a deeply held belief � perhaps religious or philosophical � that you should not devote your mental energies to political matters. Some judges refrain from voting because they want to keep their minds apart from politics. Some nonvoters may believe � even correctly � that the result preferred by other people really is the best. Certainly, there are many decisions that we leave to others whom we regard as more expert and informed.

Those who abstain may look on from a distance and observe that things are going well enough with the choices their fellow citizens are making (or that no one is on the ballot who could improve anything significantly). The abstainers stand in reserve, and they can activate themselves if they are sufficiently motivated. Stop stereotyping these people as somehow wrong or � ugh! � uncaring. Think about why people abstain and show some respect instead of coming up with the despicable plan to force them to vote. Not voting means something, something you might not understand, and people are allowed to embrace that meaning.