Voting Blindly or Not voting at all???

I recently read a blog dedicated to the question: "Is it better to vote blindly, or not vote at all." Here area few of the responses. "Tough one Terri. My view is the folks who don’t vote at all are worse. Some assume that their candidate is going to get in no problem & one vote won’t sway it. If a number of people think that way then there is a huge problem.
Those who don’t vote better not complain. They are doing themselves and the country a huge injustice by not voting." Here is another, "Being an Army veteran I take our duty to vote very seriously. I hear so many people complain but when I ask them if they voted in the last election, usually the answer is no. I tell them that if they didn’t bother to vote, then, they have no right to complain about what they get. I would rather you do your patriotic duty, as I see it (i.e. it’s the least 1 can do to live in the freest nation in the world), and vote whether you understand all the issues or not. At least it shows you care and understand part of what makes this Nation Great." It seems after reading these posts that people feel two things. They believe that there are a certain percentage of people who believe their individual vote will do nothing to get an official elected. They also believe that there is a certain obligation of being a citizen that should increase the number of those voting. I feel that while some people feel it is better to vote blindly than not at all, I think that the government would have a better chance at accomplishing something if the officials placed in office were placed there because people took the time to educate themselves on the issues. Olson calls this behavior rational ignorance, and I believe our system of government would be more apt at handling issues if they were elected and held accountable for their decisions while in office, but it is hard to do so if people are unwilling to educate themselves on the promises of each individual candidate.