Monday, January 23, 2012
Suffrage
One of the topics for the week is universal suffrage and its implications for both markets and government. And as luck would have it, CNN is doing a weeklong investigation of voting rights and Citizens United. (see here) What do we expect of voters? Should voting be tied to ability to pay taxes?
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Sometimes I hear people talk politics and all I think about is "you're voting for them WHY?!!?" In theory it's a great thing that everyone in the US can vote (granted citizenship) but what about knowledge? How would things be different if even a simple test was required to be passed before you were allowed to vote? Educated decision votes to me seem to be much more important than number of votes....even if that can never truly be the case.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel a bit torn by the idea. I don't think people always know who they are voting for or even what the politician stands for, so is it okay for that person to make a uneducated guess on who would would make the best representative in our government? At the same time, because each US citizens right to vote, it would be unfair to take away that freedom. It could be more efficient to have voters pass a simple test, as Paula suggested, but that would obviously take away the equality between all US citizens.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above posts. I realize that the right to vote is a basic right for U.S. citizens. However, I'm a firm believer that the vast majority of voters are not able to fully articulate the policies advocated by their chosen candidate. I think that people often identify with one to two policy positions of a candidate and cast their vote accordingly. Often times these positions involve social issues because they are the "hot" issues. It seems as though voting has become an activity rather than a serious assessment of the future direction of this country.
ReplyDeleteAs for taxes, there are millions of U.S. households that pay no federal income tax because their income is too low. Yet, they still participate in the voting process. It would be the equivalent of having voting rights in a company even though you own no stock. I don't think its feasible to disallow this group from voting. Will a new voting system ever emerge to offset this problem?
I believe everyone should be allowed to vote. I also agree with what Cate said though, that people simply don't know enough about the candidates sometimes. There are debates on TV and so much information online but because of politics I personally feel you never really here the truth or a concrete answer on anything. Instead of debating taking away people's right to vote, why not educate them (in a simple/universalized way)on who the candidates are and their stances on certain issues?
ReplyDeleteI think Tim has a great idea. I would like to be a more well informed voter. I think some kind of information about who the candidates really are, created by a non-bias third party with information that the politicians don't mention for whatever reason would really benefit all voters.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of the time people just pick the party over the candidate. To be a more informed voter one must know how the candidate they support feels on all the issues. Although it is hard to find the "perfect" candidate. Also voting is a right and freedom in the United States that almost half the country does not take advantage of, for the 2008 national election only 56.8% of the voting age population ended up voting. If this is really a freedom that people value so highly why are more people not voting?
ReplyDeleteI believe that voting should be based on the fact that you are a tax payer. Voting should be based on knowledge and understanding of the candidates. If people are going to vote, they will seek to create a better future opportunity for themselves. A knowledgeable voter is the best voter in my opinion and I believe that their is a correlation between paying taxes and being a knowledgeable voter. What about a weight system based on an individual's ability to pay taxes or not? If someone is paying taxes, their vote has a heavier weight in comparison to someone who does not pay taxes. Although, this may not be the most practical situation...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Colleen that it is an affiliation with a party that dominates the decisions of many voters. I also think she brings up a good point that nearly half of the registered voters do not chose to vote. Although I understand that some feel it is wrong to vote when they are uninformed, it would be interesting to find out how many of those people just don't care enough. This would help evaluate if the right the vote should be given to all.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main problems that arises through informing the voters is the bias that is accompanied by the information. Bias is not something that can be overcome as it is always present when someone reports information. However one way to deal with bias is to learn from many different sources rather than a single source, which many people fail to do either out of lack of time or focus, or because they are content with only listening to "their" side of the story or the story they find most convenient for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many people vote for parties rather than candidate. I think it is much easier for someone based on what they believe to be the general tendencies rather that actually take the time to investigate each candidate. I also think that voting rights should be a basic right given to every american citizen regardless of their ability to pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nick. It is much easier to just say I'm republican or I'm democrat instead of looking at each candidate to which one he or she truly agrees with. Since majority of Americans are moderate, I think they really should take time to look at the qualities they feel are most important in each candidate because they don't agree 100% with one side or another.
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