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62 sats \ 4 replies \ @Turdinthepunchbowl 8 Oct \ on: What is a resolution to the divisions in the USA? mostly_harmless
What are peoples thoughts around compulsory voting? I've heard some arguments around how if everyone is "forced" to vote, otherwise pay a fine, that it could take some of the more inflammatory parts of politicing out of the mainstream. Currently politicians target their base and rile them up with rhetoric to motivate them to vote, ie "vote or die" or recently the Trump/Musk statements that if they lose it will be the last election they vote in. If voting is compulsory, then there is less of a need to get people "motivated" to vote and thus less of the divisiveness we see in the run up to elections. There are 21 countries in the world that have this type of voting, some more than other. Just curious, because the fear mongering as a rallying cry has a lot to do with it in my mind. I haven't thought much of the downsides to this system however.
compulsory voting
Not a fan.
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What's your reason for not liking it? Legit curious to hear objections to it. Are you opposed because you don't like the compulsory aspect or do you not think it will have any impact on reducing the rhetoric/divisiveness in politics?
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Both.
I don't think voting or not voting is the problem and for sure isn't a solution.
I believe the problem is cultural and if it is to be solved people have to stop trying to enforce their way through the use of force. I am not ready to say that voting is violence but it can lead to that. I do not have a moral problem with people voting to defend themselves but again, its not going to fix the problems we have.
The deep problem to me is that we are trying to co-exist with people that do not want to co-exist. They want to use force to enforce their moralities on others. This is not a right wing only thing. It is on both sides. They just have different moralities.
There is deep hatred between these groups. Often it seems these people hate an invisible man. A fabrication by their side. A boogie man. This is one mechanism of control. The media and parties build up tension up into the election and the election is supposed to release this tension. That used to work but it has started to fail as neither side is willing to accept the outcomes. They each act as if the problem is 100% the other side.
When families cut people out because of how they are voting... we have a deep and stupid problem. There is a pretense that the state has its power by the consent of the people. But many voters really only give lip service to that. In truth they just want their own way and they want to force it on others.
I'm not opposed to all forms of voting. I think given a small enough system voting for those that have narrowly delegated power could and probably does work much better than the super state empire called the US. Again, I think our issues are cultural deep seated.
As many have said in this post, its a zero sum game as it stands and that's not good.
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