The attached tweet  was sent shortly after the conclusion of the Alabama-LSU BCS national championship game Monday night.

Luckily for us, the democracy is safe. Calls for stripping someone's privileges for not voting a certain way are usually confined to sports polls and awards.

As a journalist, I'm more sensitive to freedom-of-speech issues. Allowing for dissenting opinions is one of the foundations of our country. If everyone is supposed to vote for the same team or player, then you don't need a poll.

There are places where everyone is supposed to vote a certain way and sanctions could await them if they don't. None of them are countries I want to live in.

To be clear, this isn't about whether any team besides Alabama should be voted No. 1. It's about voters who want to make an opposing argument without being sanctioned for it. It's a poll - a compilation of opinions. Emphasis on opinion. This is how the college football determines its champion - the final two in the BCS, and No. 1 in the AP.

If participants in the polls can't select teams or awards without fear that their vote will be taken away because the Twitter-verse disagreed, then you won't have a true opinion of who the champion is.

College football already has enough problems with that.

- Howard Primer