Comments on Cappuccino Soul: Should Voting Be Mandatory in the U.S.?

Mr. Patrick,Your Freedom of Speech point is well t...

2008-05-13T12:09:00.000-04:00

Mr. Patrick,
Your Freedom of Speech point is well taken. From someone who used to work for The First Amendment Center, I should know better.
:-)
You're absolutely right -- Freedom of speech means the freedom NOT to speak. Thanks for pointing that out.
But I would also say that here in America there are also lots of people who vote without a clue about who is running or the issues at stake.... Sad to say.

Alicia

I do know of some countries where voting is mandat...

2008-05-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

I do know of some countries where voting is mandatory. Cyprus, where my wife grew up, requires citizens to show up to the polling place and sign in, but does not actually force them to vote as such. Australia also has mandatory voting. But if you read the papers in those places, you see a lot of folks lamenting the number of people who vote without a clue about who is running or the issues at stake.
There seem to me to be two issues here: one, mandatory voting does appear to encourage many people to inform themselves about the political process and participate responsibly, of course it also forces even the most irresponsible to vote as well.
The second issue is freedom of speech, which is guaranteed in the bill of rights. Isn't voting, expressing an opinion about who should hold office, a form of speech? Doesn't freedom of speech also mean the freedom not to speak?

Regina,I think the key phrase there is "without re...

2008-04-23T21:59:00.000-04:00

Regina,
I think the key phrase there is "without really thinking about it." I too would initially say, "Yes, let's MAKE everybody vote!" But then something tells me there's something somewhere in the Constitution that wouldn't allow this.

This raises a very interesting question, without r...

2008-04-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

This raises a very interesting question, without really thinking about it I would say that mandatory voting is a good thing. Millions of our young do not vote for no good reason at all.