He’s the leftwing outsider who nearly became the Democrats’ candidate for president - twice. As his position on the Israel-Gaza war threatens to upset his support, the veteran senator says he’s tired but determined to fight the return of that ‘ bitter, humiliated man’
We could actually improve our democracy by making voting mandatory.
In Australia, we've tried that. I have to say, that I personally, am not a fan.
The consequences of forcing politically ignorant or complacent people to vote is that they end up deciding the result of the election, and you just get skilled used car salesmen as your politicians. They know all the buzzwords and three word slogans to keep the politically apathetic tuned in.
We could actually improve our democracy by making voting mandatory.
Brazil has mandatory voting, and its just as rife with corruption and fascism as anywhere else. I like the idea of compulsory enfranchisment simply because it operates as a counterweight to disenfranchisement. A state with a legal duty to vote is one with a legal obligation to fully implement elections infrastructure (at least, in theory).
But when it comes to the quality of candidates? Well... Bolsonaro was not a paragon of civic virtue.
you’re right, now that i think about it—as long as gerrymandering gets banned at the same time. because guess who doesn’t want most folks to vote? the R party. you know, the one that wants to rule, not govern.
We could actually improve our democracy by making voting mandatory.
Over the decades the discussion has been had about if voting should be mandatory or not.
It always came down to it should not be, because people would just do bullshit voting if forced to do so, they wouldn't put the effort or the ethics in to vote responsibly.
There's downticket stuff and that shouldn't be ignored.
At the same time, we get meager media coverage of the downticket races so its very difficult to discern who is good and who sucks unless you've got an in-group to turn to. I like to pretend I'm active in Dem circles, but I'll be damned if I know who to vote for on my state senate seat much less all the judiciary races. The one guy I liked to primary out the loathsome Liz Fletcher turned out to be a serial sexual harasser.
But yeah, pretending my vote in Texas will swing the national election is absurd. And then trying to tie that national election vote back to "Oh no, democracy is ending if you don't vote for my guy!" is even fucking dumber.
Oklahoma has very limited down ticket options. I get to choose whether I want to vote for people who call people like me “filth” or well meaning people that’ll burn out and move away after they lose.
It never was, or was ever meant to be, an actual "democracy". Imperial core countries' political systems only serve to protect capital and imperialism, with a thin veneer of "democracy" to discourage uprising and two parties to divide the working class.