Should We Have Compulsory Voting?

Your armchair psychology aside, Arlen....

Try driving whatever speed limit you want on the interstate and see how much freedom you have. Using your argument you should be able to do that.

Yeah, having EVERYONE vote puts too much power in the hands of the government.. What? It gives MORE power to the people and lessens the chance that special interest groups can swing an election. Being a citizen of this great country is a privilege and citizens should at least support it.

In the Australian system they don't have to vote for a candidate and if they don't vote they pay a $20 fine. That's it. Think of how much money the government could take in.

I posted this because I happen to support it. It's not an outlandish idea, IMO.

And no, JF, I'm not having a boring day. I'm posting something I happen to want to discuss. Do I need to run my topics by you first before posting?

How, exactly, would this work? Elections are held at a local level. Are you suggesting that they be moved to a federal level?

The same way the federal speed limit works... local enforcement.

Don't all of you find it rather embarrassing that the greatest country on earth has one of the world's lowest voter turnouts?

Here's an idea - implement Compulsory Voting but also require that all elections include an option of 'None of the Above'... if 'None of the Above' wins the majority, a new election must be held with all new candidates.

Conservative Voice wrote: And no, JF, I'm not having a boring day. I'm posting something I happen to want to discuss. Do I need to run my topics by you first before posting?

Nope, and I won't get banned here for responding to you

Constipated Voice/Whiny-One/Wanye of several variants, is the new technique to change your screen name weekly to prevent other posters from easily searching for your previous ridiculous comments and quoting them on current threads?

ShilohLady wrote: Here's an idea - implement Compulsory Voting but also require that all elections include an option of 'None of the Above'... if 'None of the Above' wins the majority, a new election must be held with all new candidates.

They can vote "None of the above" in Australia. I'm not sure about other countries that have it.

But I like your idea.

HEARTLESS wrote: Constipated Voice/Whiny-One/Wanye of several variants, is the new technique to change your screen name weekly to prevent other posters from easily searching for your previous ridiculous comments and quoting them on current threads?

Nope. Wrong guess.

No matter how many times one changes their nic all their posts can still be searched. Click on their profile and then show all posts, or something like that.

I DO love the way changing my nick seems to upset some of the radical conservatives on here, though. That's kind of a plus for me.

The federal speed limit's a bit different. This would be a LARGE additional burden on local law enforcement, but probably would never get enforced. I've asked people why they don't vote before and the most common answer is that they don't know the issues or the candidates. You want all these apathetic people to vote by guess? That's asking for a bumper sticker to win an election. I guess a bumper sticker won the last one, but with this law in place, it would be 10 times worse (if you can get worse than the anti-christ).

And Let's stick to the topic. What I am against I have stated. What you speculate I'm for or against is not relevant here.

I take it you see the US in a position similar to Israel? We have our borders threatened daily in a fashion similar to theirs? To equate the military with the right to vote or to mandate that someone votes is vary different. We both know that is NOT the case. If I have to spell it out for you there is a problem. What I do find interesting is that there is no consideration given to why people don't participate more. One would think that is the place to begin solving a problem. Finding out why it's happening.