Original Post
The right to vote (in Australia)
I'd like to put forth a debate here. The right to vote vs. the right not to vote in Australia.
In Australia you have the right to vote. Thats all very well and good except for the fact that you have to exercise that right. You have to vote on pain of a monetary fine.
Why? My attitude to that is this; people that have fought and died in wars over the years to obtain the rights that we have today, to secure our freedom. But, also while doing so, they gave us the right not to vote. Now, why is that important? You have the right to vote, why not express yourself in the election? Well try this out, maybe my opinion is that nobody in the election deserves my vote. Or hows this, if everybody always has to vote then there is no possible way to gauge how interested the populace is in the election process. If, like in Russia, 99% of the population turned out to vote all the time, then you could never really tell how interested they were in politics or not. In America, where only 30 or 40% of the people turn out to vote, heres one thing you can know from that; the people who decide to go vote wanted to. They actually cared about the candidates they voted for, even though the candidates and probably the majority of the voters were complete idiots. Still, you know that they wanted to do it, you know that they voluntarily showed and interest in the candidates. Now if everyone is forced to vote all the time you have the illusion then, that everyone is interested in politics and you're going to have enmity in some of the voters. Some of the voters will be pissed off. They will be pissed that they have to go and vote. Ergo, they may not vote with a good conscience and they may not pay attention to whats being said by the politicians and they simply may not care. So I put this to you, do you want people who vote for you leaders not to care? People who haven't listened to a single campaign speech or issue? Do you really want that?
So, why the hell do Australians have to vote? Post your opinions on this topic.
In Australia you have the right to vote. Thats all very well and good except for the fact that you have to exercise that right. You have to vote on pain of a monetary fine.
Why? My attitude to that is this; people that have fought and died in wars over the years to obtain the rights that we have today, to secure our freedom. But, also while doing so, they gave us the right not to vote. Now, why is that important? You have the right to vote, why not express yourself in the election? Well try this out, maybe my opinion is that nobody in the election deserves my vote. Or hows this, if everybody always has to vote then there is no possible way to gauge how interested the populace is in the election process. If, like in Russia, 99% of the population turned out to vote all the time, then you could never really tell how interested they were in politics or not. In America, where only 30 or 40% of the people turn out to vote, heres one thing you can know from that; the people who decide to go vote wanted to. They actually cared about the candidates they voted for, even though the candidates and probably the majority of the voters were complete idiots. Still, you know that they wanted to do it, you know that they voluntarily showed and interest in the candidates. Now if everyone is forced to vote all the time you have the illusion then, that everyone is interested in politics and you're going to have enmity in some of the voters. Some of the voters will be pissed off. They will be pissed that they have to go and vote. Ergo, they may not vote with a good conscience and they may not pay attention to whats being said by the politicians and they simply may not care. So I put this to you, do you want people who vote for you leaders not to care? People who haven't listened to a single campaign speech or issue? Do you really want that?
So, why the hell do Australians have to vote? Post your opinions on this topic.
