I don’t see how it matters in a two-party system.
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I grew up in the states and voted in a few elections before moving to Australia. I remember when living in the USA I was generally reluctant to talk about politics with anybody that I wasn’t sure agreed with me politicaly. For instance I never talked about politics at work because I had to be there all the time and didn’t want to upset anyone. I find that to not be the case in Australia and that I have discussions with people who lean more conservatively than I all the time. As a result I think that I lean less radically to the left then when I lived in the USA and that conservatives I talk to often share some common ideas with me. I do think that mandatory voting makes elections more collective. When you go to the polling place there are often community barbecues and yard sales and it’s a social thing that people come together to do. When I voted in the States I felt more like I was sneeking into the both to take a wiz. I do think a lot of people show up to the polls and cast uneducated votes but that overall mandatory voting amplifies the togetherness that democracy is all about.
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The only realistic antidote to money in politics is ‘the masses’ – people power. Only much of the populous has checked out for much more than armchair debates on social media.
So, I’m with Obama, mandatory voting would be transformative. As he suggests, not only for citizens.
Something tells me if politicians knew they couldn’t game voters with latter day Selma-style obstructions, they’d pay more attention to the non-cash-cow crowd.
Beats the alternative. Which hasn’t worked so well for us. Worth a try.
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Why should I be responsible for what a party or president does that I did not even vote for? And why do you want to institute violence against people exercising free spech, just because they saw no point in voting for corporate sucker A or corporate sucker B?
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I don’t think that would be a good idea, if you consider certain anarchist movements.
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So, folks who think mandatory voting is a great idea, how do you feel about mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance?
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Inaction is not exercising freedom of speech. It’s doing nothing.
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How about writing “Fuck You!” in big letters on the ballot paper? It’s 46 days until the UK general election and that’s how I feel about it already.
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Vote for RON!
That would be better than staying home and and whining about how being asked to leave the house is an infringement of your freedom of speech, somehow. Which I know you didn’t do, but I hear that a lot, and think it’s hilarious.
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Voting isn’t the only form of political action. It’s not even the most important one.
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Revanchist Impossibilism FTW.
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That’s absolutely true! But I think that refusing to vote and then claiming that doing so is “taking action” is ridiculous. Inaction isn’t action, and refusing to participate isn’t sending any message except “I am lazy”.
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The SPGB have a candidate here in Oxford East. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone anywhere in Newcastle though, the closest candidate is at Easington.
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When there isn’t anybody for me to vote for, as I understand the issues, then I need to do something else.
And no, existing outside of the central political system most take for granted is not in any way “easy”, so I don’t know how “laziness” would apply.
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I guess another word for inaction in that case is “apathy” rather than “laziness”. If you’re truly OK with anybody being elected and have no opinion at all on the issues up for vote, that’s apathetic.
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I guess it would be. But doing something else isn’t inaction, it’s merely doing things which aren’t on the menu presented to me by others who misunderstand or misrepresent the issues. Also, I’d argue that pathos tends to be a poor motivation for administrative decisions.
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That depends. When you’re doing something else on voting day, is what you’re doing leading to the passing or failure of laws up for a vote? Or the election or non-election of city, state, and federal officials?
It’s easy to feel that your vote in a presidential election doesn’t matter, since you may feel that the choices aren’t inspiring. But election day also includes local issues and local officials, and those can come down to a few hundred votes each way. If a few hundred people decided not to do something else for ten minutes and go vote, it’d change local laws.
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Aye, we’re strictly NuLab and the Lib Dems sadly. Hopefully the Greens will give them a bit of a fright. I had to endure a speech by Nick Forbes today at the anti fascist demo - you know he had Don nicked for asking him questions at an anti austerity march a while back? Fucker sent the plod round his house and had him carted off I’m the middle of the night while he was looking after his little boy.
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People don’t behave the way one likes? Force them! Brilliant.
I think this comes from a place of misplaced fetishization of voting and democracy. Voting isn’t some magical thing that makes the world better through participation, what makes the world better are actual people doing actual things. Expecting more participation to equal better results is like expecting the draft to result in a more effective army. Not only do you temporarily violate someone’s autonomy, but people who don’t want to be there don’t do a very good job.
Nothing says togetherness like do what I want or else.
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