Obama says mandatory voting "would be transformative" (governor, Chicago, CEO)
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Felons gave up their right to vote. That's the law. They shouldn't be allowed to vote. Period.
I agree. IMHO, if one has been proven a criminal and goes to prison, that person has already shown they don't have the mentality and love of America to be entiled to vote.
Now, having made that statement, I do think their might be a bit of wiggle room in the area of what kind of crime is involved.
Would you elaborate why "it would be good to have a women president for once"???
I personally don't see any benefit in having a female or Italian American, Native American or Chinese American president for that matter as it is not the gender nor ethnicity that makes a presidentIal candidate "good" or "bad". Does it?
It's just one of the many inconsistencies with liberals.
When it suits them, all people are equal and all have an equal say in society.
When it doesn't suit them, then people of different genders and races have unique perspectives not shared by other people.
It's like Nancy Pelosi's comments after the recent supreme court decision that it was an injustice that the men on the court were making decisions that affected women's access to abortion drugs. However, in her position in government Pelosi herself as a female cast votes that sent men, and only men, into combat and never considered recusing herself due to her own gender.
So it would be good to have a woman for president for once because that makes him sound sophisticated and enlightened in matters of diversity. But if he ever made a comment that it would be nice to see a man take a position usually occupied by women, then he'd be a sexist pig.
Felons gave up their right to vote. That's the law. They shouldn't be allowed to vote. Period.
Why? Because they committed a crime?
Let me ask you this, what does serving time in prison for the possession of marijuana have to do with voting? What if it was 20 years ago, with no incidents since? A 23 year old kid goes to jail for a few years for having pot, and when they're 50, they still shouldn't be allowed to vote?
And frankly, even more serious crimes, I find that unreasonable. Even if we assume all felons are bad people (and only a true sociopath would think such a unforgiving thing), since when does a person have to be 'good' to vote? Terrible people vote all the time, their terrible actions just aren't illegal.
I can understand a restriction for a short time after being release from prison, but I see no logical reason to keep felons from having their full citizen rights restored after a few years of living clean. It seems to me that the restriction only exists to prove some kind of vindictive point, and I think that no moral government would enact such a policy.
But to get back on topic, mandatory voting, if it were to exist, should mean that no one is prohibited from voting. As it is, I think prohibiting people from voting for any reason (aside from something reasonable, like not being a citizen of the United States) is morally unjust. I would say the same about requiring people to vote, but frankly, if a law like that were passed, I'd get over it. I'd just be annoyed that the federal government actually took the time to pass a completely worthless law.
I really hopes so as it is one of the worst political ideas I ever heard in my life.
I think the concept is stupid, I often exaggerate what is 'the most stupid' or 'the worst ideas' ever, but even I have to say, calling this the worst political idea even as a joke is ridiculous. There are laws that have passed within the last year that were significantly more ridiculous than a law like this.
Frankly, while many are calling this 'big government,' that's not even my issue with this. I'd like to know how exactly mandatory voting could possibly be enforced.
I really hopes so as it is one of the worst political ideas I ever heard in my life and for many different reasons.
Actually it makes a lot of sense when it comes to reducing the influence corporations can have on the vote, but there isn't enough political will to try to increase the participation rate in most states.
Urbanlife. Increasing participation is by itself a great idea but achieving this goal by forcing people to show up at voting booths is plain stupid: people would treat it like they treat driver license renewal today - another dreadful obligation and a waste of time. It would make any elections a farce and it would not limit the influence of corporate money on elections as such unmotivated voters would be the easiest to be swayed by mindless election time propaganda paid for by corporate money. Total fail.
Many people do not vote because they do not trust the system or believe it is outright corrupt, is forcing them to vote going to change their perception? Is this a way to increase civic participation? Give me a break.
If anything, moving the Presidents' Day so the Election Day is a national holiday would help much more to increase participation.
And that is why no one is going to ever be forcing anyone to vote in this country. At most, we will see some states do what Oregon has just done, which registers you to vote when you get a driver's or non driver's license in the state. Also, in Oregon, it is a mail in ballot state, so every registered voter will get a mail in ballot each election making it much easier for people to participate.
That is as close as we will ever get to mandatory voting in this country.
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