This misses the point. Compulsory voting does not encourage active participation. It is worse than useless, as it pushes people who are too apathetic to look at the candidates to vote. The United States government or any type of democracy relies upon people choosing how their government is run. Not making a decision is still a choice. In taking away someone's right to not choose you restrict their choice.
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I just don't see how not voting hurts anyone. Why would you want to force someone to do something they don't wish to do? That just sounds wrong on the face of it. They're not hurting anyone; just leave them alone, is my opinion.An interesting debate. Should voting in presidential elections be required by law? Of course this excludes felons and non-u.s. citizens. Legal voting age stays the same in this scenario.
My opinion: If you live in the United States, you will be required to vote in the United States. It would be a huge dis-respect to the millions of Americans that died for this country to sit at home on election day. This is a freedom many have died for so get out and participate!
What I really want to know is what the government is going to do about it should people not vote.
Then we get the government we deserve.
How is allowing a none of the above choice, restricting someone's right to not choose a candidate if they so wish?
What I really want to know is what the government is going to do about it should people not vote.
That's a bit non-sequitur.
Would you elaborate on how you came to that conclusion from my earlier post?
How is pulling a lever any more fulfilling one's duty than staying home? Even then, it restricts your right to stay home an make absolutely no say in government. Even a vote for no one says something to the government in a certain way. Freedom to speak implies freedom to be silent.
You asked what would happen if people do not vote. The answer, IMO is that we get the government we deserve. Unless we are willing to put forth the effort of holding our representatives accountable, we deserve the government we get.
OK, how does making people vote help, and how does this address my point about people choosing?
A democratic system can only work through voters holding their representatives accountable. The founders provided this mechanism of peaceful revolution to keep our government representative. If we are not willing to do our part, we will not have a representative government, we will have the government we deserve, IMO.
The constitution gives people the right to vote. Not requiring people to vote. I strongly encourage people to vote, but what about the people who don't care about politics? Would you want someone just blindly voting for whatever name they see first?
An interesting debate. Should voting in presidential elections be required by law? Of course this excludes felons and non-u.s. citizens. Legal voting age stays the same in this scenario.
My opinion: If you live in the United States, you will be required to vote in the United States. It would be a huge dis-respect to the millions of Americans that died for this country to sit at home on election day. This is a freedom many have died for so get out and participate!
A year or five ago, I bought up this very same debate, the majority voted that voting be "optional".
I felt back then that it should be mandatory, and that voting be made much easier...
We simply need a better people.
And, seriously, "none of the above must be an option".....if we are going to have full participation in the process...
I have voted in many elections and I've rarely ever felt the elected government represented my views and beliefs.
Considering that the majority of people polled have been very dissatisfied with the government for the last decade at least I'd say most probably feel the same way.
More people voting won't necessarily make for better government, and it surely might make things worse.
Wheather voting is mandatory or not you are still voting for the lesser of the two evils.
Voting should always be optional.
My vote, no matter who I vote for, is entirely meaningless.
To me, it's a giant waste of time.
I disagree. Democracy is not a spectator sport. What you see the result of, is people not voting out the people that do not represent them in Congress. If more people voted and did not keep re-electing their representative over and over again, our system would be more democratically representative.
But since half the country seems to pre-occupied with the latest edition of American Idol, or whatever, and do want to take the time to go vote and hold their representatives accountable, we have the government we deserve.
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