...does what it says on the tin. Independent++ : comments.
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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
These people will rather fall into your 'Can't be bothered to educate myself' category. I don't think we have any right to nick these people's votes, and the more complex the system, the more that's exactly what we're doing, whether we put them through multi-guess exams or not.
And before you say 'but hardly anyone's illiterate in this country' think again. Think of the number of kids who leave school with no qualificiations. Think how many more there were thirty or so years ago. I always come back to something we were told in a 'how not to get sued' session at the vet school - that you should be reading the consent form to all your clients, because a good proportion of them won't actually be able to read it.
(no subject)
(no subject)
By doing it orally, they lose their secret ballot.
I'm really not at all sure this is the point, though. We have no right to ask people, literate or otherwise, to jump through hoops for their vote. Universal suffrage should mean just that. Not universal suffrage of clever people, or educated people, or people who are engaged in politics, or of people with views we aggree with. Just universal.
Most people who don't care don't vote, in any case. And I'm sure your BNP / UKIP / random loony party voters would have passed your test, because they *do* care, and *are* engaged with the issues.
(no subject)
And I'm not arguing against the engaged right-wingers. I'm probably arguing most about the people who think New-Labour are Labour, but I wasn't arguing anything in specific. I'm arguing against the people who don't have a clue what they're voting for. The "I don't know anything about their policies, but the Sun said..." or the "my husband always told me to vote for.." etc etc etc. I don't care if people disagree with me politically. But I do want them to know what they're doing, and to vote for the party they actually "agree with"/"think they're voting for".
I think we (and me and Emp) just fundamentally disagree. I think that letting people who don't have a clue and just randomly tick boxes based on 30 year old information is bad for the country, and devalues the idea of democracy and the vote, and you think that everyone should be able to vote easilly, regardless of whether or not they have a clue what they're voting for.
And yes, this was just a mad idea I jotted down in a comment at 8am in the morning, and of course I'd never want it implimented in practise because giving the government that sort of power is a Bad Thing. But I honestly think people who don't know anything about what they're voting for shouldn't go out and randomly tick boxes that affect everyone.
(no subject)