Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,326 posts, read 54,344,425 times
Reputation: 40721
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by Objective Detective
Democracy only works if people vote. That starts with voting locally. My proposal is that local voting should be mandatory for local state elections. Here are the stipulations:
a) 3 year minimum state residency in order to vote in state elections. This will help insure integrity for the local residents and help prevent transplants from altering the democracy arbitrarily
b) ID required
c) A basic but random test that shows the voter has basic knowledge of the state's laws and constitution. The test will be administered at the state level by elected reps already in place and non-partisan. Maybe a brief test that shows the voter understands the principles of the candidates and what exactly they are voting for.
d) If someone chooses not to vote without good reason a fine will be imposed by the state($50-100?) which will need to be paid in order to vote in future elections
These basic requirements would be huge for democracy to be more effective and lead to more inherently responsible states. The citizens will be less inclined to be apathetic and point fingers because democracy will be representing the citizens of their states much better.
Only if you're also given a 3 year period of not being assessed state income taxes and local property taxes. Or do you favor a return to taxation without representation?
nope. voting should never be compulsory in a free society. such an idea is anathema to all freedom loving people.
The framers designed our system after spending significant time looking at democratic instances in history and sought to expand on freedom while guarding against the clear dangers inherent to the system.
Democracies are not a panacea. we have seen that in places like Venezuela and Egypt and Turkey where thru democratic means, strong men with evil intent came to power.
There should be impediments to voting. There should be walls of some kind between the voters and those that govern.
The framers created those walls and we have spent the last 200 years breaking those down. We are headed toward the very dangerous day of Direct Democracy. That day will mark the fall of our republic.
Most people realize that their employer is their de-facto “government.” There is no democracy at work; you either obey orders or you get fired. So who cares about democracy? It doesn’t exist for most of us between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm, when it is presumably most important.
Democracy only works if people vote. That starts with voting locally. My proposal is that local voting should be mandatory for local state elections. Here are the stipulations:
a) 3 year minimum state residency in order to vote in state elections. This will help insure integrity for the local residents and help prevent transplants from altering the democracy arbitrarily
b) ID required
c) A basic but random test that shows the voter has basic knowledge of the state's laws and constitution. The test will be administered at the state level by elected reps already in place and non-partisan. Maybe a brief test that shows the voter understands the principles of the candidates and what exactly they are voting for.
d) If someone chooses not to vote without good reason a fine will be imposed by the state($50-100?) which will need to be paid in order to vote in future elections
These basic requirements would be huge for democracy to be more effective and lead to more inherently responsible states. The citizens will be less inclined to be apathetic and point fingers because democracy will be representing the citizens of their states much better.
(d) nullifies the entire proposal.
People who aren't interested in voting wouldn't vote, wouldn't pay the fine, and then would be unable to vote because they didn't pay the fine. And essentially, the fine would become a sort of poll tax that is illegal anyway.
MORE people are voting R which is why MORE states are controlled by R's
What hogwash.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
