Bill De Blasio Democrat Ny Mayor A Leftist...!! Progress

[ajoknoblauch]

I agree with a lot of your points, and I think this is a good argument for mandatory voting, flawed as that may be too.

My point is even if you take out a couple of million for under 18s, you still have 75% of the people not having voted for the guy, but he's nevertheless called a democratically elected leader. And no, it's not saying the Repubs are any better, since they have even less popular support. But at what point do you drop the pretence about it being a functional democracy and just say, "OK its an oligarchy but we've just found more efficient ways to keep people from voting instead of outright banning them from the polls"?

And just to repeat, It's not about De Blasio per se. I'll withhold judgement on him until we see how he acts in office.

The libertarian in me (which is very selective) feels uncomfortable with mandatory voting, but we should do everything possible to encourage voting, including automatic registration on reaching the age of 18. That said, one other problem in the US is the fact that registration is local and the population is highly mobile. When I first moved to California, it was a year before I could register to vote here; now, I believe, the requirement is 30 days. Normally I leave for South America before election day in the US (usually the first Tuesday in November), but I am able to cast an absentee ballot; if we have a special election while I'm gone, though, it's awkward to request an absentee ballot and get it delivered to wherever I might happen to be in Argentina, Chile or elsewhere.

I believe Chile has now eliminated obligatory voting, so it will be interesting to see what effect that has on turnout. At the same time, Chile may soon permit its overseas nationals to vote by absentee ballot. My wife has not voted in an Argentine election since we got married, as absentee voting is not permitted.

 

[Napoleon]

It would be nice to move elections to SUNDAY, like in most other Christian-esque countries, AND make is a quasi-holiday.

More people have Sunday off than any other day, so it's the easiest day to make a quasi-holiday without disrupting The Machine.

 

[ghost]

The libertarian in me (which is very selective) feels uncomfortable with mandatory voting, but we should do everything possible to encourage voting, including automatic registration on reaching the age of 18. That said, one other problem in the US is the fact that registration is local and the population is highly mobile. When I first moved to California, it was a year before I could register to vote here; now, I believe, the requirement is 30 days. Normally I leave for South America before election day in the US (usually the first Tuesday in November), but I am able to cast an absentee ballot; if we have a special election while I'm gone, though, it's awkward to request an absentee ballot and get it delivered to wherever I might happen to be in Argentina, Chile or elsewhere.

I believe Chile has now eliminated obligatory voting, so it will be interesting to see what effect that has on turnout. At the same time, Chile may soon permit its overseas nationals to vote by absentee ballot. My wife has not voted in an Argentine election since we got married, as absentee voting is not permitted.

Strange. I get all of my special election ballots by mail in AR

 

[ajoknoblauch]

It would be nice to move elections to SUNDAY, like in most other Christian-esque countries, AND make is a quasi-holiday.

More people have Sunday off than any other day, so it's the easiest day to make a quasi-holiday without disrupting The Machine.

I would agree with that, though I mistrust any link between religion and civics, but we should also make early voting and voting by mail easier. Some states, most notably Oregon, have already done this.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Strange. I get all of my special election ballots by mail in AR

If you're moving around a lot, as I am, it becomes more complicated. If I were in my Palermo apartment all the time, that might be different.

 

[Ries]

Its true, 9% of the total population is low, but it is a non-presidential election year.

But even in Presidential elections, the US has a low turnout.
Current US population is around 317 Million.
Number of Voting age citizens is only about 211 million. And of those, only about 50% to 60% vote in any given presidential election.

So- if, you use the last presidential election as an example-
211 million would be about 56% of the population- and, of that, only 57% of eligible voters turned out- 121 million voters.
Thats only about 38% of the entire population.
And Obama won by getting 51% of that 38%- or, right around 19% of the actual population of the USA.

This was actually a pretty high turnout election- there have been elections where the President won by only getting maybe 15% of the population to vote for him.
And presidential elections in the US always get the most votes- so the idea that elections are won by getting 10% or so of the population to vote for you is very, very common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections
http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2012G.html

 

[EdRooney]

And on top of this, you have to consider how these low turnouts makes it easier to bring a crazed minority to the fore (I'm looking at you Ted Cruz). A 5% minority has alot more power when no one else votes.

In a functioning democracy there'd be scant attention paid to the lunatics who want to do things like shut the federal government down. Sure they'd be there, but they would have the weight of someone like Blumberg or Lopez Murphy here-- instead of having the power to hold the entire country hostage.

Instead, since no one votes, the craziest policies all get implemented. Thus things like the dysfunctional privatised health care system, the cuba embargo, the war on drugs, lack of gun laws.... All things which the majority of Americans consistently oppose in polls.

But when you look at the polls, it seems most people don't vote because they feel neither of the 2 parties represent them. Go figure.

 

[Jaredberryman]

The good thing is third parties exist...time to start voting for third parties.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Its true, 9% of the total population is low, but it is a non-presidential election year.

But even in Presidential elections, the US has a low turnout.
Current US population is around 317 Million.
Number of Voting age citizens is only about 211 million. And of those, only about 50% to 60% vote in any given presidential election.

So- if, you use the last presidential election as an example-
211 million would be about 56% of the population- and, of that, only 57% of eligible voters turned out- 121 million voters.
Thats only about 38% of the entire population.
And Obama won by getting 51% of that 38%- or, right around 19% of the actual population of the USA.

This was actually a pretty high turnout election- there have been elections where the President won by only getting maybe 15% of the population to vote for him.
And presidential elections in the US always get the most votes- so the idea that elections are won by getting 10% or so of the population to vote for you is very, very common.

http://en.wikipedia....ntial_elections
http://elections.gmu...nout_2012G.html

What you describe is an aristocracy.
http://en.wikipedia....iki/Aristocracy

It is clear that there is not a Democracy in the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

Instead it can be described too as an oligarchy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

If you have a better democracy, then the election day has to be a holliday, otherwise workers cannot vote even if they want.
It also has to be mandatory to vote.

All this are ideals, it is not white and black. The US has a system closer to an oligarchy than to a Democracy.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

I cannot understand why voting should not be mandatory. The "curtails my freedom" argument is completely selfish given that men and women from your country have died and given their lives in the belief that they are fighting for your freedom to be governed as you please. If you don't like a candidate, start a party or spoil your vote. At least let that be an exp<b></b>ression rather than the laziness of not turning up.

Correct, it must be a day off, the economy will survive. democracry is more important than a day's profit... isn't it?

Off course the current arrangement plays into the hands of the power sharing corporate oligarchy currently in place. When a third candidate appears, he runs to offer even more deregulation for the corporations! ...who by the way don't care what you smoke or who you marry so long as you remain a viable consumer.