Voting: A right or a duty?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Deleted member 87043, Nov 1, 2010.

  1. In the states, you can sign up and vote when/if you feel like it. If you don´t like any of the candidates or their policies, you aren't obliged to vote. Voting is voluntary, it is a right which you choose to exercise or not.

    Here, you register to vote and you have the obligation to vote in every single electoral process in the country, your region (state) and city. If you don´t, you are fined anywhere from 20 to 200 dollars, unless you go through a series of legal measures to excuse yourself from voting, being 200+ kilometers from your residence for example. Voting is mandatory, it is a part of your civic duty as a citizen.

    So, members of the politics forum:

    Is voting a right or a duty?
     
  2. #2 newbienewton, Nov 1, 2010
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2010
    Both. It is a duty as an American citizen to exercise your rights. Especially the right to vote.
     
  3. Good question/ thread idea. I think its a right, but its a right people should feel obligated to fullfill, but not legally required. Requiring people to.vote imo fixes a vote, makes it unfair. Interesting subject though.
     
  4. Sometimes i wish i could vote but most of the time i just dont really give a shit because i dont want any of the candidates.. its always the same shit really.
     
  5. If all the votes were counted correctly, and there were no scandalls around voting every god damn year, id say its more of a right of privilege. Something to keep people happy, even tho, their votes may, or may not have ANYthing to do with the result.... state wide elections, are nothing, the feds can do as they want on top of populous vote, the presidential vote, well, the electoral college decides in the end and have twice now over turned the public vote, so what are we even fucking voting for.... I think its just a way to make people think they are making the decisions
     
  6. So you´d consider it a right foremost, and your civic duty as a citizen to exercise it?

    Would you also consider it your civic duty to exercise the 4th amendment, or any other right, in the same way?

    I´m thinking more universally, as a way you might consider human rights or whatever, and not so much limited to the states.
     
  7. No one should be forced to vote.
     
  8. Voting is an illusion to give voters they actually have a choice. No, it should not be forced on anyone.

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  10. I kinda find it more damaging to the country as a whole when people who are ignorant, uninformed, or just plain stupid vote. I would therefore hesitate to call it a duty or obligation. They have all the right to vote and I'm not at all suggesting it be denied anybody of course, which is why I'd consider it a right. You don't always have to exercise your rights; it's your right to not exercise your rights :p I don't feel everybody should vote just to vote, as that kinda defeats the purpose of electing somebody who is best to lead rather than electing somebody whose name you remember, or who was printed first on the ballot, or who had a catchy slogan (like, oh I dunno, "Hope and Change" :smoke:). It all kinda comes back to my theory that most people are goddamned stupid and that it's getting worse :eek: Voting needs to be more Jeopardy! and less American Idol :D
     

  11. Congress has an Electoral College? :confused:

    I think the problem is more that people put so much into the President when they really should be focusing on the source of the laws the President has to enforce. It's like getting pissed at cops for enforcing laws you don't like, when you should be getting pissed at the people who made the laws you don't like in the first place. People seem to finally be figuring it out, hopefully it will keep going. Ever since I studied the Constitution I've been wondering why people obsess over just one person in one branch of the government as if he were King. People blame the President for anything and everything, but most people couldn't even tell you what the two houses of Congress were (they probably think one is the White House), much less what kinds of laws their Reps and Senators have been voting on and drafting.

    So it's no wonder shit doesn't change after elections, people keep changing the weapon in the hand of the person beating them, but ignore the person swinging the weapon. Get Congress to actually represent us and things start to change for the better. The President can't enforce any laws not made by Congress (well, they're not supposed to anyways...), the President can't appoint Justices without Congress, the President can't raise or lower taxes and the President can't declare war (they're apparently allowed to wage war, they just can't say the word :rolleyes:). The only powers exclusive to the President are to enforce the laws written by Congress, to receive foreign ambassadors (he can't appoint any of our own ambassadors; I'll let you guess who confirms his nominees), to deliver the State of the Union address, and other unkingly stuff like that.

    If people keep staying informed and involved like they are now, the country may start to turn around. When Congressmen know they have to either do what WE want or get the fuck out, we might start getting some Congressmen worth a damn.
     
  12. While it would be best if everyone voted i would not like to see it as a duty.
     
  13. free man.:cool:
     

  14. Thank you.
     
  15. Both. If you don't vote someone will be happy to vote for you. Representative democracy is inherently full of compromise, but its better than a dictatorship.
     
  16. i vote everytime! if every1 says "its only 1 vote and its not going to make a difference" well it does! what if 1 million people said that? then thats 1 million votes that didnt get casted!
     
  17. A right because if you were forced in anyway than that would really destroy the point right?

    Im not taking the easy way out by saying both :D
     

  18. It is a right and not a duty. If it were a duty, then it would not be a right. The majority of those running are only in it for themselves. Up on the Hill in D.C., it would be hard to find a handful who would do the job for free. The pay is great, benefits great, bribes are great, and the retirement is super. Besides all of that, there are city elections where many just do not know anything about the candidates. Being in office for yourself, just does not serve our country. Unless our country gets its act together, we are going to fall. Our country needs to take care of us first and then go out of country. Too many are starving here and too many children do not have a home. We can be strong but we have no right to be a dictator to or of the world. Countries do not like us because we try to always dictate what others can and can not do. Do also do not like the American arrogance displayed by the majority of Americans.

    Let us rebuild our country of the people and not let the fall of the US of A continue.
     
  19. Voting should be a PRIVILEGE. Not a right.

    I am rather tired of the ignorant electorate being taken by the hand and bus load by activist who strongly suggest who they should vote for while promising a stop at Baskin & Robbins on the way back to the inner-city....

    Seriously. If you enter a booth cannot at least identify: Your state governor, state Lt. Governor, state Attorney General, and knowing who your senate president and Speaker of the House is for your state also only helps you to make better informed decisions which directly affect your immediate community. And then at a national level, Knowing the Potus, VPotus, Secretary of State should be mandatory. If i had it my way people would also need to name a Justice of the Supreme Court and be able to answer at least one paragraph question on recent important American History, like: BROWN VERSUS BOARD, Loving verus Virginia, etc..etc..

    FFS, the ignorant should be led like the sheep they are, and kept from screwing society over with their impassioned, single issue, non-retrospective voting thought process.
     
  20. Fuck politicans.... Politicans are distraction from your lives.
     

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