Voting Should Be Mandatory: Obama

[mtangelsfan]

How do you float an idea without stating said idea?

[Jay]

Obama is telepathic !

[nate]

How do you float an idea without stating said idea?

 

"Should voting be mandatory? Here are some pros and cons"

 

"Voting should be mandatory.  If you don't vote you should go to jail or be fined.

 

One is floating an idea, the other is making a statement.  They are vastly different.

[Hollyw00d]

Will we be fined for not voting?

Only if you step out of the voting booth in between votes

[mtangelsfan]

"Should voting be mandatory? Here are some pros and cons"

 

"Voting should be mandatory.  If you don't vote you should go to jail or be fined.

 

One is floating an idea, the other is making a statement.  They are vastly different.

 

and neither one of those kind of quotes are in the article. 

[Blarg]

Only if you step out of the voting booth in between votes

Calhoun is going to be bankrupted before he gets through the primaries.

[HaloMagic]

Yeah, this thread is nuts. A ton of people overreating and asking extremely rhetorical questions knowing full well the answer will not be important to know in the future.

Edited March 19, 2015 by HaloMagic

[mtangelsfan]

Yeah, this thread is nuts. A ton of people overreating and asking extremely rhetorical questions knowing full well the answer will not be important to know in the future.

 

LOL

[HaloMagic]

I count 8 overreacters and I reread the questions. The level of rhetoricalness is off the charts.

[mtangelsfan]

"Off the charts!!!!!"

[Crampknees]

meh, they all do it.  Right MT?

[nate]

Kurt, is your only purpose in life to be a dick?

[Thomas]

It sounded more like he was making the point of making it easier for people to vote by comparing the status quo to the the alternative of a scenario where everyone voted.

[Thomas]

Because the article says he made that suggestion.  You are assuming it is poor reporting.

 

Whose assumption is worse?

 

Disregarding this article for the purpose of the conversation "clickbait" is only getting worse. In five years this will be so slanted in that direction to make the question sadly obvious.

[red321]

Didn't barry say he thought this might get more dems out to vote?

Well, heck, That seems fair and democratic and unbiased.

 

Hold on a second...if one party doesn't have ideas that are popular with a larger voting pool...the answer isn't to shrink the voting pool but either adjust your policies or do a better job of explaining why your ideas are better.

 

It is fair and democratic to have a larger electorate.

[mtangelsfan]

Only if that electorate is informed.

 

That should be the goal. 

[nate]

You can't force people to vote without influencing their vote first.

 

I know there is plenty of influencing going on already but the voting isn't compulsory.

[Jay]

Let's drive 70% of the population into poverty, then force them all to vote!

[Thomas]

Only if that electorate is informed.

 

That should be the goal. 

 

That is always a positive goal but it has also been used as justification to exclude classes (i.e. only white property owning males at the time of the signing of the Constitution).

[red321]

Only if that electorate is informed.

 

That should be the goal. 

 

Absolutely...campaign finance reform to limit spending and then more use of the public airwaves to have a discussion of real issues. Vote outreach...public forums...etc.etc. Hell, grassroots organizing.

 

People truly want to fix Washington...there's your answer. Make the politicians accountable to an informed electorate and make it easy for them to vote.

[mtangelsfan]

Absolutely...campaign finance reform to limit spending and then more use of the public airwaves to have a discussion of real issues. Vote outreach...public forums...etc.etc. Hell, grassroots organizing.

 

People truly want to fix Washington...there's your answer. Make the politicians accountable to an informed electorate and make it easy for them to vote.

 

Agreed red.  I would also like to see consequences when politicians blantantly lie on the campaign trail and then it is proven so once in office.  One of the biggest problems is that journalism is entertainment and straightfoward presentation of facts and positions is simply not entertaining.

[Amazing Larry]

Kurt, is your only purpose in life to be a dick?

 

Another rhetorical question!!!

[InsideThePark]

"If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country," Obama said, calling it potentially transformative.

The title of the article is based on this one quote. Talk about misleading.

[red321]

Agreed red.  I would also like to see consequences when politicians blantantly lie on the campaign trail and then it is proven so once in office.  One of the biggest problems is that journalism is entertainment and straightfoward presentation of facts and positions is simply not entertaining.

 

There are consequences...they are up for re-election. Unfortunately the current financing system makes it almost impossible to beat incumbents...especially when you look at how gerrymandered some districts are.

 

And you are right, journalists have absolutely fallen down on the job...worried more about access and being in the "inside Washington crowd" than investigative reporting.

[mtangelsfan]

If I find out my employees lied to me, they get fired.  They don't get to keep working for another several years.