On this election day in a number of states, CNN is doing its obligatory chant about the importance of voting. Part of their drum-beating-as-news informs us that, over a number of decades, only 48% of voting-age Americans turn out to vote, a figure that puts the United States “behind” other democratic regimes. There are those of us who believe that this puts America “ahead” of these other nations; that increasing numbers of Americans are aware that voting is a meaningless ritual premised on the illusion that my wife and I, combined, have twice the political influence of David Rockefeller!