Should Democracy Be Compulsory?

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Hi, my dear navel gazers! Here's our gazillionth installment of impossibly simplistic and hilariously polarized situations, inspired by the [Poll #1879633]

I'm sure you've learned by now why the options are so terribly extreme.

Comments

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, CENSUS, YAY!

On the other, FREEDOOOM!

There was a similar poll some time ago, about the possibility of having "None Of The Above" as an option, and calling new elections with totally new names on the ballot, in case that option won. I like it.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

My grandma used to always write "YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF DONKEYS" on her ballots. Interestingly, here in Oz, as long as you don't put anything in the box other than your preference numbers you can write whatever the hell you want on your ballot and it's still valid. I like putting little pictures and haikus on them to keep the counters entertained.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Some people would happily vote for Nun of the Above.

[papasha-mueller.livejournal.com]

What the hell.

In ancient democratic Greece 3/4 population did not have vote anyway.
Women didn't vote. Slaves didn't.
God only knows the way of democracy would those be allowed to.

Btw, slaves produced 9/10 of wealth. Women made 9/10 of population.

Ask me another.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Interesting. In your opinion, should women be allowed to vote, Y/N?

If yes - why yes? If no - why not?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Women made 9/10 of population.

That would explain a few things.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

If voting isn't compulsory then neither should taxes and following the law be compulsory. It's called civic responsibility.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Question for you too. Is voting a right or a duty? Or which should it be? And why?

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

What if I want to vote for a Beer party but there's no Beer party around here? What if I'm too lazy to make a Beer party myself? Should I be compelled to vote anyway, vote for someone/anyone, or just write a haiku on the ballot?

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

Government can't run without taxes, and I'd prefer not to have anarchy in the streets.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

"Civic Responsibility" gets bandied about as one of those phrases that ends up being an empty-calorie substitute for actually having to justify making compulsory behavior one agrees with, without having to address detractions.

[koken23.livejournal.com]

I'm a dual citizen of Argentina and Australia. Every single election I've ever seen or voted in had compulsory voting.

...honestly, it's not a perfect system. You get a LOT of apathetic voters who just don't give a shit and turn in what are called "donkey votes", ballots that they've deliberately done incorrectly so they can't be counted.

On the other hand, politicians on both sides of the aisle know they have to appeal to a much wider pool of voters, so you get considerably fewer single-issue politicians or voting cycles - rather than being divided on a single hot button issue with a narrow appeal, like abortion or gun control or whatever, you're much likely to see politicians focus on everyday things like the affordability of food or housing. You get much less money spent overall, since no one has to expend vast effort on convincing people to vote in the first place. You get shorter election seasons, and I'm pretty sure the Americans here are sick of those!

It's not perfect, but I rather like it.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

This is what I'm getting at, but being way less snarky :P Our politicians have to appeal to the middle, which by definition, more people are going to be happy with.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Pfft - this stupid game claims I run a Police State - or at least it did until I nationalized the failing newspapers to only publish government-friendly stories.

Voting should be encouraged as part of wanting an informed citizenry and if it takes a little carrot-stick action to encourage, well then, I guess I lean that way.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Mine is a Civil Rights Lovefest.
Civil rights: superb.
Economy: all-consuming.
Political freedoms: widely abused.

Sheesh...

[telemann.livejournal.com]

"The fact is, if not everyone votes, the outcome isn't truly representative. Some groups, like elderly gun nuts, vote more often than others. That's why we always end up with such terrible politicians."

I'm starting to wonder if some of politicians are non-violent psychopaths, considering new research showing how much frequent this occurs in the population.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I'd wager a bet that it is orders of magnitude higher than genpop.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Short answer, no.

If you don't care enough to make the effort to vote than you don't care enough for your vote to matter.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I can't be bothered not killing people, should I stop not killing people?

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Well, he is my brother...

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

Voting is only one duty of a citizen in a free and democratic society. If the government is going to enforce participation in society, it shouldn't stop at voting. Or start at voting, in my view.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Maybe if anyone who voted got a small tax release?

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

A reverse poll tax!!!

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Yes. Also make it a national holiday.

[omnot.livejournal.com]

Or have the vote on a weekend, like we do here in Australia.

It works quite well, as people have existing plans for their day, and that helps to regulate and spread the flow of voters at the polls. People who are working on the day come early or late (or vote prior to the election) and there are not so many of them that they have to wait long. People who aren't working are often engaged in regular leisure activities or shopping or going to lunch at gran's house or whatever, and they vote on their way to or from that.

Yes, people grumble about the inconvenience, but they still boggle at the idea of a country having the vote on a working weekday, because that would make it even more inconvenient.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

I fully support democracy as a good, but imperfect tool amongst several governing tools, of varying ethical quality, but which is best used in conjunction with other mechanisms to temper it's drawbacks.

I see some evidence among various comments here, that compulsory voting is or is close to, a fetishizing of democracy, elevating it to some quasi-religious institution, where the sin is committed by failing to fulfill vaguely defined (and self-justified) 'civic duties' of questionably grounded merits when compared to the more obvious material necessity of taxes, which it seems most often is compared with by its supporters.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

*like*

[omnot.livejournal.com]

pros: no "get out the vote" nonsense. No denying people the right to vote by "challenging" the legitimacy of their vote, no failing to provide the opportunity to vote because of insufficient planning and resources to permit everyone to vote without undue hardship (minimal 'eternal queues in bad weather' etc), no chance that work considerations will deter people from trying to vote (ie: losing wages due to long waiting times to vote or bosses intimidating workers who take time out to vote etc), encourages people to consider whether they will pay enough attention to politics to form an opinion on who to vote for or expend the effort of voting just to submit a null ballot, removes the social pressure not to vote/ridicule or harassment for voting.

cons: massive logistical effort/cost, costing an hour or possibly two of the time of every eligible voter(not such a productivity expense if voting is held on a non-work day), more null ballots (so?), more uninformed votes (likely to neutralise itself?), and, of course, ZOMG steelin mah freedumz!

These lists are doubtless incomplete, and are from the perspective of a person who is satisfied with living in a compulsory voting country.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

My people have actually fought and died for the right to vote, among other rights. Not for the right to be forced to vote. I suspect they would go to a fight for their right not to vote as well, if need be.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

"My people have actually fought and died for the right to have healthcare, among other rights. Not for the right to be forced to have healthcare. I suspect they would go to a fight for their right not to have healthcare as well, if need be. "

Change a few words around, and what's the difference?

[musicpsych.livejournal.com]

I say, keep the system as is. I've heard about people being bitter about compulsory voting. I guess the way I see it is, the people who care enough to vote are the ones who care enough to pay attention, etc. The ones that don't pay attention are the ones who don't vote. It's not perfect, but no solution is - it seems to be the best solution, IMO.

The other thing is, with all of the hubbub about voter ID laws, and the current process for registering to vote... there would be the matter of deciding just who is required to vote. I know an earlier comment mentioned the census. And some voter ID laws got thrown out before the election. But hypothetically, it's possible that a person who is required to vote shows up and does not possess the required ID, and then gets fined for that reason.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Yes, mandate compulsory voting, but do so by making it as convenient and available for everyone as possible in order for people to be in and out in a hurry and on to other things.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to imagine a Swiss-type direct democracy being tried in the US, where people put their choice in an envelope and send it by mail or email.

Somehow, the picture ain't working.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

IMO, making the exercise of democracy compulsory, and still dubbing it "democracy", would be beyond ironic.