Tucker Carlson

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Appealing to the ‘Alzheimer's vote’ — no joke

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | You've heard of soccer moms and NASCAR dads, likely voters and swing voters. But you may not have heard about what could be the pivotal voting block in this coming election: Alzheimer's patients.

The Washington Post devoted a front page story to the subject this week. It turns out that in most states, senility is not an impediment to voting. Legally, anyway.

Studies in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania showed that patients living in dementia clinics actually vote in higher numbers than the rest of the population.

This has implications.

There are, for instance, close to half a million Alzheimer's patients in Florida alone. The margin of victory in that state four years ago, you'll remember, was 537 votes.

Of course, people with late stage brain disease don't vote alone. They can't. Instead, they're helped by friends, relatives, or — most often — Democratic Party activists, who specialize in bringing the senile to the polls.

Repulsive as it is, all of this is legal, and will probably remain so. As the saying goes, voting is a right, not a privilege. But rights go both ways.

The rest of us have the right not to have our government chosen by people who no longer understand what government is — or even by the totally uninformed. So come November second, do America a favor.

If you don't know what you're voting for, please, don't vote.

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JWR contributor Tucker Carlson is a journalist, college instructor, public speaker and host and managing editor of the PBS show "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered." His first book is "Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News."(Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.

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