Forced to Vote?

Anyone think this is a good idea, and why?

Can't say that I do, but I can understand why a collectivist like our current president supports the notion of treating citizens like subjects of an omnipotent central government. Heck, if the federal government can tax you for not participating in commerce of its choosing, what practical limit exists on their ability to "expand that franchise" to tax you for your failure to behave as they wish in every instance?

Wonder what would happen if they forced everyone to vote and they didn't like the results?

Have to force all those amnesty "un-documented's" to vote.

I wonder how many people in the US know how laws are made (or supposed to be made), what the job of Congress is (or is supposed to be), or how much power the president is allowed under the Constitution? To force people who are not, and may never be, interested in how the government is run, to vote for what they are clueless about, it seems like a very bad idea. I know there are many clueless people who already vote based on prime time commercials only, or by who is the best looking or promises the most, but why make the problem worse? If everyone was forced to vote, the funding for campaigns would go through the roof trying to make promises to everybody 18 and over.

Obama obviously knows which party would benefit from the clueless vote and if he could, I'm sure he would make voting mandatory.

Doesn't suggest that you would have to pick any candidate or check any box. You just need to sign up and submit a blank ballot or check none of the above. Australia has a 92% turnout.
Might lessen the influence of special interest groups too.

Under a non-compulsory voting system, if fewer people vote then it is easier for lobby groups to motivate a small section of the people to the polls and influence the outcome of the political process. The outcome of an election where voting is compulsory reflects more of the will of the people (Who do I want to lead the country?) rather than reflecting who was more able to convince people to take time out of their day to cast a vote (Do I even want to vote today?).

And if everybody must vote, restrictions on voting could be easily identified and steps are taken to remove them.

I just don't think enough people would pick "none of the above", because it's just a natural human behavior to want your pick to win, even if you have no idea what your pick stands for. If everyone was forced to vote, wouldn't that mean we would be bombarded with even more special interest tv ads? If you know you are forced to vote, you will pay more attention to advertising, but that doesn't mean you will pay attention to what's actually going on in your government, especially if you could care less. IMO, the winner will always be the one who promises the most to the least informed. The best candidate should be picked by the most informed.

It's like if Apple decided to take away business decisions from the board of directors and hand them all to the stockholders who have no idea how the business should be run.

Oh well, I don't see this ever happening, but I also didn't think we would be forced to buy a product either.

I think it's just his first baby step towards legally paying people to vote. Next step will be suggesting/then ruling for a tax credit for your vote. You know.. to make it fair because poor people shouldn't have to pay a fine for not voting.
He sure does come up with a lot of the best plans I have ever seen to transform the USA into something else other than the USA.

ScienceChic wrote: Forcing people to vote? Bad idea. I would love to see them get rid of the party affiliations behind each candidates name though, so people are forced to go research each one - look up their records as to what they've actually done and vote based on that (I know, way too idealistic of me...)

I have seen local elections where party of the candidate isn't included on the ballot. Shouldn't be a problem for the informed.