I had a conversation with a recent high school graduate at my job in Atlanta about a week ago. His pride was evident as he related to me that he had voted.

“Who did you vote for,” I asked.

“Obama . . .” he fished through his memories for a moment. “I can’t remember his last name.”

He had only the vaguest idea who he had voted for. Needless to say, he could not name anyone else running for president, much less Obama’s opponent in the primary in which he had cast his ballot, but then, he also seemed to think he had voted in a presidential election. When I asked why he had voted for whoever he had voted for, he was similarly perplexed. I gathered that his mother had sent him out to vote with all the information she thought he needed, half a name. But he was confident that he had done his civic duty.

“I didn‘t have time to watch TV,” was his response to my concerns about the propriety of casting a ballot essentially at random. I’ve never known him to forgo Flavor of Love despite the pressing demands of his schedule. But one must have priorities.

His friend nearby interjected that he thought the whole process was stupid, and that he had declined to vote. I am forced to wonder which was the healthier attitude, the optimism that inspired a wholly ignorant young man to participate in the system, or the sullen cynicism that kept another out of it. Everyone should have at least a basic level of confidence in the governing institutions under which they live, but at the same time, for someone to vote without any real knowledge of the issues, or at least the candidates’ names, is to disenfranchise an informed, responsible voter.

I was left thinking that Flava Flav had missed his chance for high office.