Compulsory Voting

[FA_Q2]

Yea, we need compulsory voting. Because that's what liberty is. Compulsion.

It would be funny instead of sad if the poster advocating this didn't actually agree with this statement...

This is more proof that many people today do not even understand what the concept of freedom actually is.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Freedom to vote also means freedom not to vote.

 

[FA_Q2]

Honestly, voting turned down the wrong path when we started acting as though voting is some vaunted right that for us rather than what it should be rightfully seen as: a RESPONSIBILITY and it should be treated as such. if you are ignorant then you should not be voting - correct your ignorance fist.

No legal framework should be in place for this - the government should not be limiting voting through subjective means (essentially anything other than age). It should be something that we do on our own. You should be embarrassed if you go to a polling place and don't have a handle on the government or who you are voting for.

 

[norwegen]

Honestly, voting turned down the wrong path when we started acting as though voting is some vaunted right that for us rather than what it should be rightfully seen as: a RESPONSIBILITY and it should be treated as such. if you are ignorant then you should not be voting - correct your ignorance fist.

No legal framework should be in place for this - the government should not be limiting voting through subjective means (essentially anything other than age). It should be something that we do on our own. You should be embarrassed if you go to a polling place and don't have a handle on the government or who you are voting for.

Nice post, but more accurately, I think, voting is a privilege. Historically, citizens were privileged to participate in the franchise.

Progressivism's institutionalisation in government, constitutional verbiage, leftist education, etc., have been giving people the impression that it's a right and no longer state-granted.

 

[M14 Shooter]

You do not have the right to say no to health insurance -- what makes you think you have the right to say no to voting?

 

[Star]

Freedom to vote also means freedom not to vote.

Using the Australian model, if someone like yourself feels put upon by voting in a democracy, you can still protest by not voting - simply show up to the polling place, spoil a ballot and your protest is duly noted - IOW's if not being able to not vote is your only concern, you're going to have to make up some other excuse for being against mandatory voting.
And-----and when polled 70% of Australians, a country culturally similar to the United States, prefer mandatory voting.

Below is an article by William Galston about how American politics might change if we had mandatory voting...

Should Americans be forced to vote?

November 3, 2014

William Galston: James Madison would be smiling

Let's imagine a future in which Americans must vote, or face a penalty.

It's April 2021. Media outlets around the country headlined major agreements between Democrats and Republicans on the long-stalled issues of tax and immigration reform. Commentators marveled at the momentous shift in American politics away from the polarization and gridlock of the previous two decades.

What happened? Although opinions differed, observers agreed on one key point: The decision to follow the lead of countries such as Australia and institute mandatory voting in national elections transformed the political landscape. As turnout rose from 60% to 90%, citizens with less intense partisan and ideological commitments flooded into the electorate. Campaigns could no longer prevail simply by mobilizing core supporters. Instead, they had to persuade swing voters to come their way. They soon discovered that these new voters preferred compromise to confrontation and civil discourse to scorched-earth rhetoric. Candidates who presented themselves as willing to reach across the aisle to get things done got a boost while zealots went down to defeat.

Both political parties soon realized that they had a stake in a nominating process that produced the kinds of candidates the expanded electorate preferred. They eliminated party caucuses dominated by intense minorities and opened up their primaries to independents. They discovered that maximizing participation in their primaries was the best way of preparing for the general election. Individual donors, who wanted to invest in winners, favored candidates who could command broad support.

Once in office, members of the House and Senate tried hard to keep faith with the expanded electorate that had sent them to Washington. They spent less time in party caucuses and more doing serious legislative work. Congressional leaders returned power to the committees, where members relearned the art of compromise across party lines.

And somewhere, James Madison was smiling. Reforming institutions to change incentives is always the most effective course, and once again it had worked.

<snip>

How do you propose America become a little 'd' democracy?
.

 

[jon_berzerk]

how about capital R republic

 

[Bill Angel]

If one is a veteran of the military, one can on Veteran's Day avail oneself of numerous offers from restaurants of a free meal, provided one can produce an ID proving that one's a Vet.
See 2014 Veterans Day Free Meals Discounts Sales and Deals Military Benefits

So why can't these restaurants extend the same offer to all voters on election day, provided they can produce a receipt or other document proving that they had voted? I bet that such an offer would serve to increase citizen participation on election day.

 

[Care4all]

the fewer and fewer people voting in a Nation.... becomes a Dictatorship, not a Democracy or democratic Republic.

do I think it should be mandatory no.....but we could make it easier to vote, like having more early voting so the working class has more options, or election day on a Saturday or Sunday

 

[FA_Q2]

Honestly, voting turned down the wrong path when we started acting as though voting is some vaunted right that for us rather than what it should be rightfully seen as: a RESPONSIBILITY and it should be treated as such. if you are ignorant then you should not be voting - correct your ignorance fist.

No legal framework should be in place for this - the government should not be limiting voting through subjective means (essentially anything other than age). It should be something that we do on our own. You should be embarrassed if you go to a polling place and don't have a handle on the government or who you are voting for.

Nice post, but more accurately, I think, voting is a privilege. Historically, citizens were privileged to participate in the franchise.

Progressivism's institutionalisation in government, constitutional verbiage, leftist education, etc., have been giving people the impression that it's a right and no longer state-granted.

I don't really like the word privilege either though. It implies that the government should be able to limit such a privilege based on whatever metric they so choose. We see this all over the place with driving. That is why I say it is a responsibility. It is the fundamental job of a people that wish to remain free to not only take part in their giovenrmental duty of voting but to understand what it is they are doing and advocating. If they are remiss in said duty they should be recusing themselves and allowing those that actually care to chose those that govern. Of course, I don't actually think that the American people want to really be free anymore. Their actions are much more indicative of a populace that would rather be comfortable and secure than free - two things that you are not necessarily prevalent in a free society.

I am vehemently against the government in general controlling the vote. It is supposed to work the other way around - the vote is supposed to control the government.

 

[JoeB131]

I honestly think if we picked 535 names out of the phone book, we'd get better representation than we'd get now.

 

[JoeB131]

I don't think it's the lack of participation that's the problem. People who don't vote don't want to be bothered learning about the issues, and it's probably better if they didn't vote.

The real problem is that there's no compelling reason to vote.

IN off years like this one, we are only talking about 11 senate races out of 33 that were in play. The Democrats effectively conceded three seats from the start, leaving only 8 Democratic Seats and 3 Republican seats that were in play at all. House districts are so Gerrymandered that only about 25 of them can be considered "Swing" districts at this point.

Conversely, because of the continued stupidity of the Electoral College, only 10 states were really in play in 2012. the others- where as the other 40 were foregone conclusions.

Get rid of the electoral college, get rid of midterms by making house and senate seats 4 year terms, and get rid of gerrymandering, and then MAYBE you'd have a reason to vote.

 

[Toro]

No.

People should have the freedom not to vote.

Exercising their right not to vote is just as democratic as voting.

 

[Seawytch]

the fewer and fewer people voting in a Nation.... becomes a Dictatorship, not a Democracy or democratic Republic.

do I think it should be mandatory no.....but we could make it easier to vote, like having more early voting so the working class has more options, or election day on a Saturday or Sunday

Agreed. You might be surprised at how many states don't have laws requiring time off to vote. We need a new "Help America Vote Act" that would mandate time off to vote in all 50.

 

[M14 Shooter]

the fewer and fewer people voting in a Nation.... becomes a Dictatorship, not a Democracy or democratic Republic.

do I think it should be mandatory no.....but we could make it easier to vote, like having more early voting so the working class has more options, or election day on a Saturday or Sunday

Agreed. You might be surprised at how many states don't have laws requiring time off to vote. We need a new "Help America Vote Act" that would mandate time off to vote in all 50.

If voting is important to you, you'll make time to vote.
If voting is NOT important to you, its just as well that you don't.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Freedom to vote also means freedom not to vote.

Using the Australian model, if someone like yourself feels put upon by voting in a democracy, you can still protest by not voting - simply show up to the polling place, spoil a ballot and your protest is duly noted - IOW's if not being able to not vote is your only concern, you're going to have to make up some other excuse for being against mandatory voting.
And-----and when polled 70% of Australians, a country culturally similar to the United States, prefer mandatory voting.

Below is an article by William Galston about how American politics might change if we had mandatory voting...

Should Americans be forced to vote?

November 3, 2014

William Galston: James Madison would be smiling

Let's imagine a future in which Americans must vote, or face a penalty.

It's April 2021. Media outlets around the country headlined major agreements between Democrats and Republicans on the long-stalled issues of tax and immigration reform. Commentators marveled at the momentous shift in American politics away from the polarization and gridlock of the previous two decades.

What happened? Although opinions differed, observers agreed on one key point: The decision to follow the lead of countries such as Australia and institute mandatory voting in national elections transformed the political landscape. As turnout rose from 60% to 90%, citizens with less intense partisan and ideological commitments flooded into the electorate. Campaigns could no longer prevail simply by mobilizing core supporters. Instead, they had to persuade swing voters to come their way. They soon discovered that these new voters preferred compromise to confrontation and civil discourse to scorched-earth rhetoric. Candidates who presented themselves as willing to reach across the aisle to get things done got a boost while zealots went down to defeat.

Both political parties soon realized that they had a stake in a nominating process that produced the kinds of candidates the expanded electorate preferred. They eliminated party caucuses dominated by intense minorities and opened up their primaries to independents. They discovered that maximizing participation in their primaries was the best way of preparing for the general election. Individual donors, who wanted to invest in winners, favored candidates who could command broad support.

Once in office, members of the House and Senate tried hard to keep faith with the expanded electorate that had sent them to Washington. They spent less time in party caucuses and more doing serious legislative work. Congressional leaders returned power to the committees, where members relearned the art of compromise across party lines.

And somewhere, James Madison was smiling. Reforming institutions to change incentives is always the most effective course, and once again it had worked.

<snip>

How do you propose America become a little 'd' democracy?
.

So tell me what's the sense in forcing a person to show up at the poll simply to deface a ballot?

That's like telling people they have to show up at a protest rally only to hold up a blank sign.

IOW it's stupid.

 

[Care4all]

the fewer and fewer people voting in a Nation.... becomes a Dictatorship, not a Democracy or democratic Republic.

do I think it should be mandatory no.....but we could make it easier to vote, like having more early voting so the working class has more options, or election day on a Saturday or Sunday

If voting is important to you, you'll make time to vote.
If voting is NOT important to you, its just as well that you don't.

you and others, live in a world of LA LA Land....

When you are an hourly paid worker, who takes 2 buses and a train to get to work, after you have taken a bus or train to drop your kids off at their school, it is not as easy as you may think....

Especially if you can not miss 1 - 2 hours of work due to your employer or due to the fact that you need every dime that you make to survive and 2 hours lost could be the $30 bucks lost in pay that breaks the camel's back...

We make certain that voting ISN'T important to the masses, and isn't easy....

We don't even make it mandatory to have a civics class in high school, or a mock voting machine or two so that all kids in school can give it a trial run, to at least know the process....

DO you think this is by accident that we spend less than a nano second on it in public schools in impoverished areas?

Not everyone has a car, not everyone has a Salary job, and not everyone has a job, that let's you take off to vote and not every one can just get and pay a baby sitter to watch the kids while out voting....

And yes, not everyone has the time to even pay attention to what is going on in politics, like we do, here on this board...

And we would be considered the savvy and in the 'know' ones...yet through all of our reading and knowledge, we are POLAR opposites....so the educated don't even agree....

and crud......... we are the ones voting....

We'd probably do a better job if those that don't vote now, DO VOTE and us that do vote, DON'T..... we know no more than they do on who really is good for the country and who is not....with all our education....just look at the assortment of loons we have elected over the years and the damage done, under both republican rule and democratic rule....

 

[M14 Shooter]

the fewer and fewer people voting in a Nation.... becomes a Dictatorship, not a Democracy or democratic Republic.

do I think it should be mandatory no.....but we could make it easier to vote, like having more early voting so the working class has more options, or election day on a Saturday or Sunday

If voting is important to you, you'll make time to vote.
If voting is NOT important to you, its just as well that you don't.

When you are an hourly paid worker, who takes 2 buses and a train to get to work, after you have taken a bus or train to drop your kids off at their school, it is not as easy as you may think....

Especially if you can not miss 1 - 2 hours of work due to your employer or due to the fact that you need every dime that you make to survive and 2 hours lost could be the $30 bucks lost in pay that breaks the camel's back...

Nothing here changes anything I said.

 

[Star]

Freedom to vote also means freedom not to vote.

Using the Australian model, if someone like yourself feels put upon by voting in a democracy, you can still protest by not voting - simply show up to the polling place, spoil a ballot and your protest is duly noted - IOW's if not being able to not vote is your only concern, you're going to have to make up some other excuse for being against mandatory voting.
And-----and when polled 70% of Australians, a country culturally similar to the United States, prefer mandatory voting.

Below is an article by William Galston about how American politics might change if we had mandatory voting...

Should Americans be forced to vote?

November 3, 2014

William Galston: James Madison would be smiling

Let's imagine a future in which Americans must vote, or face a penalty.

It's April 2021. Media outlets around the country headlined major agreements between Democrats and Republicans on the long-stalled issues of tax and immigration reform. Commentators marveled at the momentous shift in American politics away from the polarization and gridlock of the previous two decades.

What happened? Although opinions differed, observers agreed on one key point: The decision to follow the lead of countries such as Australia and institute mandatory voting in national elections transformed the political landscape. As turnout rose from 60% to 90%, citizens with less intense partisan and ideological commitments flooded into the electorate. Campaigns could no longer prevail simply by mobilizing core supporters. Instead, they had to persuade swing voters to come their way. They soon discovered that these new voters preferred compromise to confrontation and civil discourse to scorched-earth rhetoric. Candidates who presented themselves as willing to reach across the aisle to get things done got a boost while zealots went down to defeat.

Both political parties soon realized that they had a stake in a nominating process that produced the kinds of candidates the expanded electorate preferred. They eliminated party caucuses dominated by intense minorities and opened up their primaries to independents. They discovered that maximizing participation in their primaries was the best way of preparing for the general election. Individual donors, who wanted to invest in winners, favored candidates who could command broad support.

Once in office, members of the House and Senate tried hard to keep faith with the expanded electorate that had sent them to Washington. They spent less time in party caucuses and more doing serious legislative work. Congressional leaders returned power to the committees, where members relearned the art of compromise across party lines.

And somewhere, James Madison was smiling. Reforming institutions to change incentives is always the most effective course, and once again it had worked.

<snip>

How do you propose America become a little 'd' democracy?
.

So tell me what's the sense in forcing a person to show up at the poll simply to deface a ballot?

That's like telling people they have to show up at a protest rally only to hold up a blank sign.

IOW it's stupid.

Tell it to the 70% of Australian's that like their system of voting.
The point is, if being able to not vote is your argument against mandatory voting, you have no argument - also, if you don't want to vote in Australia, you can pay a fine and move on.
.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Freedom to vote also means freedom not to vote.

Using the Australian model, if someone like yourself feels put upon by voting in a democracy, you can still protest by not voting - simply show up to the polling place, spoil a ballot and your protest is duly noted - IOW's if not being able to not vote is your only concern, you're going to have to make up some other excuse for being against mandatory voting.
And-----and when polled 70% of Australians, a country culturally similar to the United States, prefer mandatory voting.

Below is an article by William Galston about how American politics might change if we had mandatory voting...

Should Americans be forced to vote?

November 3, 2014

William Galston: James Madison would be smiling

Let's imagine a future in which Americans must vote, or face a penalty.

It's April 2021. Media outlets around the country headlined major agreements between Democrats and Republicans on the long-stalled issues of tax and immigration reform. Commentators marveled at the momentous shift in American politics away from the polarization and gridlock of the previous two decades.

What happened? Although opinions differed, observers agreed on one key point: The decision to follow the lead of countries such as Australia and institute mandatory voting in national elections transformed the political landscape. As turnout rose from 60% to 90%, citizens with less intense partisan and ideological commitments flooded into the electorate. Campaigns could no longer prevail simply by mobilizing core supporters. Instead, they had to persuade swing voters to come their way. They soon discovered that these new voters preferred compromise to confrontation and civil discourse to scorched-earth rhetoric. Candidates who presented themselves as willing to reach across the aisle to get things done got a boost while zealots went down to defeat.

Both political parties soon realized that they had a stake in a nominating process that produced the kinds of candidates the expanded electorate preferred. They eliminated party caucuses dominated by intense minorities and opened up their primaries to independents. They discovered that maximizing participation in their primaries was the best way of preparing for the general election. Individual donors, who wanted to invest in winners, favored candidates who could command broad support.

Once in office, members of the House and Senate tried hard to keep faith with the expanded electorate that had sent them to Washington. They spent less time in party caucuses and more doing serious legislative work. Congressional leaders returned power to the committees, where members relearned the art of compromise across party lines.

And somewhere, James Madison was smiling. Reforming institutions to change incentives is always the most effective course, and once again it had worked.

<snip>

How do you propose America become a little 'd' democracy?
.

So tell me what's the sense in forcing a person to show up at the poll simply to deface a ballot?

That's like telling people they have to show up at a protest rally only to hold up a blank sign.

IOW it's stupid.

Tell it to the 70% of Australian's that like their system of voting.
The point is, if being able to not vote is your argument against mandatory voting, you have no argument - also, if you don't want to vote in Australia, you can pay a fine and move on.
.

We are not Australian.

What is it with you people and forcing people to do what you want them to do? If a person decides not to vote for whatever reason it really is none of your business.

I don't care if people don't vote. I have skipped elections when I have felt I couldn't stomach the idea of simple voting for one of only two candidates when neither of them represented my views.

In your world instead of staying home or doing something constructive I would have been forced to drive to a polling place simple to write
**** YOU on the ballot or be fined

Like I said before: it's stupid.