Andy Rooney: "Don't get out and vote"

As voters head to the polls for the 2014 midterm elections, here's Andy Rooney's take on the slogan: "Get out the vote."

The following is a script of "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" which aired on Oct. 21, 1984.

Andy Rooney: You hear a lot of talk about getting out the vote these days. Local politicians are even using government workers to try and register welfare recipients, for example, and several of the big corporations are pretending they're "Mister Nice Guy" by telling everyone to get out and vote in commercials. CBS, for example.

[Commercial: They've already done the hard part. All we have to do is vote.]

Andy Rooney: The companies are trying to sound patriotic and all-American. Patriotism is selling very well this year. I don't want to sound un-American or as though I don't believe in democracy, but I'd prefer to leave a sleeping vote lie.

[Man: I don't know. I'm not into politics.]

[Man: I am not too much in politics. I'm just voting and I don't get myself involved in politics. I'm just looking to the future of my kids.]

[Reporter: Don't you think it makes any difference whether you vote or not?]

[Woman: It does make a difference, but I just never got around to voting. OK?]

Andy Rooney: If someone has a natural inclination not to vote, because he or she isn't interested, that's OK with me. I don't want my vote cancelled out by some numbskull who hasn't thought about the issues. I hate the thought of having anyone dumber than I am vote. In Russia, more than 90 percent of the people vote. Does this make Russia a nice country to live in? In the United States, not many more than half the eligible voters go to the polls in an election year. That's OK with me, too. My advice to you is this: If you don't know anything about anything, please stay right where you are. Don't get out and vote.