Justin wrote:
If not voting is the sin you seek to prevent, why settle for 33 percent? If it is dumb voters you're trying to eliminate, requiring them to drive their dumb asses to the polls isn't going to make then any smarter or more informed. It might even increase stupid voting patterns by encouraging dumb people to form cliques. They won't want to appear dumb to their friends as a result of voting for the "wrong person," and groupthink is bad for elections.
True, there might be an effect whereby voters just go with whatever is deemed "popular", just to ensure they keep their vote without having to think about it too much. But seeing the way (in the UK at least) that the sheeple flock towards whichever leader and/or newspaper is shouting the loudest this week anyway, I'm not sure it's that different to the current state of affairs. Groupthink forms outside the voting station - the pub, workplaces, the gym, wherever. Whether or not people must or musn't vote doesn't change that much, I think.
The MPs, on the other hand, love groupthink. Quantity, not quality.
.g
