Ross Douthat Quotes
In general, I think that not voting is a perfectly honorable and civic-minded course in an election with two options that you consider unacceptable. I think casting a protest vote is a totally acceptable course. I have done both in my life.
Douthat, Ross. Interview. The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 2016.
The last two lines play on Davey Crockett's motto, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."
At the time less than 10% of the Southern Blacks were allowed to vote. The result was that Southern segregationists were elected to Congress even in a state like Mississippi which had a majority Black population, The Southern segregationist bloc was large enough that with a few very conservative Republicans, they formed a coalition could block any civil rights legislation including voting rights reform,
The voting age was reduced from 21 to 18, when 18 year olds were being drafted for military service and some were being killed or wounded. Many argued that a person who was old enough to die for America was old enough to vote in America. 18-21 year olds however have not voted in the same proportions as older citizens. The guilt emenated from the fact that 18 year olds could at that time be drafted to fight in America’s wars and perhaps die, but they could not vote.
Ross Gregory Douthat (/ˈdaʊθət/) (born 1979) is an American conservative political analyst, blogger, author and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor of The Atlantic. He has written on a variety of conservative topics, including the state of Christianity in America and "sustainable decadence" in contemporary society.
