Should voting be mandatory?

[PLC1]

What do you think?

Obama has at least suggested that it should. It is mandatory in Australia. Should it be here? Your thoughts....

 

[Lagboltz]

Wow. With all your opening posts it seems you are trying to stir up life in this forum.
I think voting should be mandatory in principle, but it will never happen. Too many right wingers are trying to make it more difficult for voters by claiming (almost non-existent) voter fraud. Well funded PACs will fill the media with even more crap to persuade less informed voters.

 

[PLC1]

Wow. With all your opening posts it seems you are trying to stir up life in this forum.
I think voting should be mandatory in principle, but it will never happen. Too many right wingers are trying to make it more difficult for voters by claiming (almost non-existent) voter fraud. Well funded PACs will fill the media with even more crap to persuade less informed voters.

I think this forum could use a little life, don't you?

But, I disagree that voting should be mandatory. We already have enough people who have no clue what the issues are or what the candidates stand for going to the polls and voting based on party loyalty or TV ads.

 

[Lagboltz]

But, I disagree that voting should be mandatory. We already have enough people who have no clue what the issues are or what the candidates stand for going to the polls and voting based on party loyalty or TV ads.

You are right if nothing else happens. But there are a lot of frustrated grass roots campaign workers trying to convince people to vote. If voting were mandatory the grass roots organizations will change focus away from pushing people to go to the polls. The new focus will be educating voters. (Or so I think.)

 

[dogtowner]

Yes.
And the caveat...
No vote if you are sucking the govt teet or are a felon.

 

[Aus22]

Mandatory Voting does not seem to make much change in Australia. We still elect the same kind of politicians
. Interest in politics is no greater. We do not campaign any longer . We still have a section of the public interest in politics but supporters of a particular party not just asking you to vote. The rest of the population just vote the way they want with little real knowledge of the issues.

 

[dogtowner]

Mandatory Voting does not seem to make much change in Australia. We still elect the same kind of politicians
. Interest in politics is no greater. We do not campaign any longer . We still have a section of the public interest in politics but supporters of a particular party not just asking you to vote. The rest of the population just vote the way they want with little real knowledge of the issues.

Dont campaign ?
Wouldnt that be nice !

 

[PLC1]

Dont campaign ?
Wouldnt that be nice !

They don't campaign in California, at least not for president. While we're spared the absurd political ads, the down side is that there is no way that anyone but the Democratic nominee is going to win with most of the voters in SF and LA.

 

[Aus22]

When I said We do not campaign any longer, I was comparing an Australian campaign to the American one. It is shorter because we do not have a fixed election date and we do not always know the leader of the party to close to the election.

 

[PLC1]

When I said We do not campaign any longer, I was comparing an Australian campaign to the American one. It is shorter because we do not have a fixed election date and we do not always know the leader of the party to close to the election.

You mean to say that elections aren't scheduled far ahead of time?

Now, that would be an idea. Just announce that the new president will be elected the middle of next week. That would definitely cut down on campaigning.

 

[BigRob]

What do you think?

Obama has at least suggested that it should. It is mandatory in Australia. Should it be here? Your thoughts....

Absolutely not.

 

[dogtowner]

When I said We do not campaign any longer, I was comparing an Australian campaign to the American one. It is shorter because we do not have a fixed election date and we do not always know the leader of the party to close to the election.

It gets better and better !!!

 

[Lagboltz]

No vote if you are sucking the govt teet or are a felon.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...rect_government_assistance_is_that_true_.html
"About 49 percent of Americans live in households that receive some form of government benefits"

What you are saying is totally unrealistic. You would deny the vote to half the population. Only the well-off would have the vote and would surely lead to a worse plutocracy than we already have.

Many states allow past felons the vote after they serve their term. There is no reason not to.

 

[PLC1]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...rect_government_assistance_is_that_true_.html
"About 49 percent of Americans live in households that receive some form of government benefits"

What you are saying is totally unrealistic. You would deny the vote to half the population. Only the well-off would have the vote and would surely lead to a worse plutocracy than we already have.

Many states allow past felons the vote after they serve their term. There is no reason not to.

Perhaps if people on government assistance didn't vote, there would be less government assistance to be had. Would that be such a bad thing?

 

[dogtowner]

Perhaps if people on government assistance didn't vote, there would be less government assistance to be had. Would that be such a bad thing?

If you subsist on taxpayer money you will surely vote to continue and expand it.
Only taxpayers should directvtheir $.