Guest Stephen Turner Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Sorry to interupt, but please make sure and vote on the Forum awards 2007. Situated in the Forum birthday party section. Be a day out for some of you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Sorry to interupt, but please make sure and vote on the Forum awards 2007. Situated in the Forum birthday party section. Be a day out for some of you VOTE DAMN YOU, VOTE! DON'T MAKE ME COME ROUND! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Is that a THREAT??? Maybe the US can use that technique to increase participation in elections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Is that a THREAT???Maybe the US can use that technique to increase participation in elections. It already is in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 John, can you detail what you mean? Are there indeed penalties for failure to vote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 (edited) Is that a THREAT???Maybe the US can use that technique to increase participation in elections. It already is in Australia. Not quite, it is compulsory ( a good thing IMO). The penalty is minimal (again a good thing.). I understand 'a reason' for not voting is asked for, and various can provide 'immunity'. Further various types of 'donkey voting' and protest voting where the vote is invalid but messages can get through are, as the voting is confidential, just a tick off of name from registry before being handed voting slips. One may then also just chuck them in the bin and leave. Unfortunately a small number of POTENTIAL voters sometimes vote in the US and the Prez. (which the rest of the world has to suffer the consequences of) is INVARIABLY voted in by a MINORITY of potential voters. Compulsory voting CAN have advantages, as well as disadvantages as a minority of voters are prone to manipulation/swinging with the breeze-no-brainers. (Which makes it encumbent on politically aware to vote.) Parties are aware of this segment and sometimes worthwhile candidates are excluded and non-worthwhile ones slip in through skillful manipulation of this 'gee, he/she has a nice smile' segment. Edited December 5, 2007 by John Dolva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 John, can you detail what you mean? Are there indeed penalties for failure to vote? Yep, voting in general elections is compulsory in Aussie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I like the system where a voter is allowed to express a protest by voting for "None of the above." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Parker Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Yes, we have compulsory "democracy", but it's not very effective. I've never voted, never enrolled to vote, and have never been fined. I'm on a one man crusade to reinstate non-compulsory apathy in the land that invented the ballot box. And Tim, one of the candidates in the recent election here was listed on the ballot as "Above, None Of The". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 (edited) I wonder if one could legally change one's name to "None of the Above" and then run for elected office? Greg's post is interesting. Presumably it is an easy matter for the authorities to determine who has not voted and to send them a fine. But that has never happened to Greg. I must however disagree with Greg re eliminating compulsory voting. I say if you are going to make voting a legal requirement, put some teeth into the law. Make failure to vote a capital offense! And then to really get people concerned, ala Operations Northwoods the government could manufacture and plant false stories about a few people actually executed for failing to vote. Which brings us full circle: what punishment does Stephen intend to inflict on members who fail to participatie his Forum Awards Poll? Edited December 5, 2007 by Tim Gratz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Which brings us full circle: what punishment does Stephen intend to inflict on members who fail to participatie his Forum Awards Poll? I shall visit upon them seven plagues, starting with the locusts....you see if I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 What if they give up and post after the third plague is visited upon them? Well you then show mercy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest David Guyatt Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Mmm. A "compulsory democracy"... doesn't the concept of the right to vote inherently contain the right not to vote as a means of expressing an objection about the fraud of democracy? I never vote for political parties. Nor would I would vote for organised crime families to guard Fort Knox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 What if they give up and post after the third plague is visited upon them? Well you then show mercy? I shall stay my hand Tim, I can be mercifull when obediance is shown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Stephen, apparently no one takes your threat of bodily harm seriously. No one has added to your poll since you first issued your threat. Time to make it real. I suggest you start the locusts with the moderators who have so far failed to respond. Of the moderators, only Kathy has responded to date I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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