Mmmmm... chocolate...

Tom Goulter over at Fighting Talk has a modest proposal: he and his friends want to buy votes from non-voting Americans. With chocolate. If you're a non-voting American, I'd like to stress that we make damn good chocolate here - the milk that goes into it has actually been near a cow - and if anything is worth selling out for, it's chocolate. And I'd also like to point out 42 U.S.C. 1973i(c), which imposes a fine of up to US$10,000 and/or up to five years imprisonment on anyone who "pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting". ("Payment" is interpreted in the widest possible terms, including lottery chances, and chocolate definately counts).

So, rather than violate US law (and election bribery is a Bad Thing), I'd urge all non-voting Americans to do it out of the goodness of your hearts. We too are affected by your government. If you don't care enough to voice your opinion on who rules you (and, to some extent, us), then how about voicing our opinion instead?