I am like Sharni, I have always considered a priviledge to vote and always take the opportunity to do so. Local council elections are not compulsary and a 30% turnout is considered good.

The idea that people may not know what they are voting for is virtually a moot question really. The ones that vote in the USA would be mainly polarised voters who support a party and they would vote for that party regardless if the other had better policies.

I don't agree that compulsory voting is an essential part of the democratic process nor that it necessarily affords one a say in the running of the country.

Compulsory voting requires one to endorse a candidates, or in preferential systems, endorse multiple candidates to different degrees. When there are no suitable candidates (in the voter's eyes), the voter must endorse a candidate they do not support. I would much rather the option of offering no candidate my support if I do not wish to do so.

Saying that every voter gets a say in the running of the country assumes that there is a candidate(s) agreeing with the voter on how the country should be run. Let's say, for example, that I believe funding to higher education should be increased, however, no candidate has any commitment to do so. What say do I have in the running of the country, at least as far as this single issue is concerned? What if I find that on all the issues that matter to me, no candidate adequately represents me? Am I to vote against my own views?

To me it's like being locked in a room with a drink vending machine, and you can't leave until you've had a drink. What is there for the voter that sees Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite, and says "fuck that, if there's no water I'll pass"?

At my age one is always passing water! :)

After the fiasco,over my last post,I wasn't going to post anymore,but I have to give an example.My wife & I,have many times voted,for what we considered,the best of two evils.There is also always,a spot,to write in another name.To think that your vote doesn't count,is alot of crap!
Ex:We,technically,live in Barrington NH.My property,is on the border of Barrington & Rochester.A FEW yrs ago,Barrington had no kindergarden.Our
oldest daughter thought that her kids,would benifit from a kindergarden.She
bugged,my wife & I,her sister & husband & her husband,to vote for kindergarden,in the next election.(Town)Kindergarden passed by 12 votes.
My wife & I,=2,youngest daughter & husband=2,Oldest daughter & husband =
2. 2+2+2=6.That's 1/2 of the passing votes,so don't tell me that individual
votes,don't count! Irish

The only prefix I would like to see in front of Democracy is Participatory.In order for it to work,Democracy needs everybody's participation and not just in the voting booth.We don't have to agree on everything everytime. There is plenty of room for differences.But I believe the long road to putting Bush in the White House began with the realization that less than half of the people bother to vote.

Exactly!!

If you think that a polition will ever come along with ALL your views as his policies...sorry but your living in a fantasy world

You make the best of what you DO have to chose from

Like I said, some people find that NO candidate represents ANY of their views on important issues...not that none of them represent ALL their views.

How do you make the best of that situation?

Many elections are on a slightly larger scale. If a particular candidate wins, does it matter whether they win by a landslide, or a close call?

Again....you make the best of what you DO have to choose from

How?

You have x candidates and they're all on an equally bad footing. Do you roll dice?

Well usually when I make decisions in real life there exist choices where I stand to benefit.



How do you weigh say 5 cons against 5 cons against 5 cons against...(etc)?

It's not the same thing.

Dying is inevitable. Voting is only inevitable because a few people decided it should be so.

I wasn't referring to the candidates themselves as cons. What I meant is, say I take into consideration 5 important issues when deciding who to vote for. If all candidates disagree with me on all 5 issues, they all have 0 pros and 5 cons, so there's no seperating them.