We're sending our sons and daughters to Iraq, where too many of them are dying or returning home disabled for life, ostensibly to keep Iraq a viable country. Yet, at home, no serious sacrifice is being required of us. How can we tolerate having another U.S. election — one that will decide who controls Congress — where only a third or so of eligible voters turn out to cast ballots?

It's true we have the freedom not to vote. But is that something to be proud of — being too lazy to choose? It's true that in some races this year, our choices are dismal, and it might seem easier to cry, "A pox on both their houses!" But politicians live in fear of being turned out of office, not by their die-hard opponents, but by those in the middle. It's not the insipid ethics committees that politicians worry about, it's the voters who start paying attention to what the pols are doing as well as saying.

Despite all the hype that this could be a landslide election, there is just as much evidence that it will be close. Many races will be decided by just a few votes. We won't know the results until Election Day night or even later.

It would be a wonderful gift to our soldiers and the rest of us if we had a stupendous turnout Nov. 7, if millions who usually don't vote made the effort to go to the polls.

It might even inspire the next Congress to do its job, stop quarreling, choose new leaders wisely and make us proud. At the least, maybe we could have a Congress where nobody gets indicted or goes to jail.

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Scripps Howard columnist Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. E-mail amcfeatters@hotmail.com.