Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 6 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 5 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Hehehe careful, he might call you a fascist like he did me! I was thinking something along the same lines though, but not something like a poll test...those are usually used for exclusionary reasons. I was thinking something more in line with a community gesture. I don't mind people having a vote that aren't necessarily smart in areas. What I find a problem is that most people do not vote. In fact, the lowest voting demographic are the lowest earners: the lowest 20% earners have a 36.4% turn out. Those people are basically under represented in democracy. There are many reasons why this is the case, but the most important reasons is that it doesn't hold much value in peoples minds. I have come to imagine that this is because it is "free", and something free has little value in your mind. After the wheels of the government have been spinning for so long, I think there is a complacence that comes over the voting population.

If you look at this data, it doesn't look good. Voter turn out from 1824 - 2008 has been on a jumpy decline. And even at its best, at 75% or so, that is still not a majority vote when a vote is achieved (50% of 75% = 37.5%). My idea was to have some sort of event, some sort of right of passage if you will so that not voting would seem like you wasted that old time back in the past and add as an extra motivation factor in fighting against government corruption. Also, it takes the arbitrary nature of birth out of the equations, and only people willing to make a small sacrifice would get those extra set of rights that we all take for granted now.

This is all just a thought experiment at this point, I think it has a lot of merit though, the same with your idea as well. As with any, there are pitfalls and things that you don't anticipate. Most assuredly, my system wasn't to exclude poor people, in fact, in the example I was drawing from, the poor people had the highest voter turn out...for the rich it wasn't worth the time to earn the right to vote. Then again, wealth shouldn't have anything to do with your right structure, only that persons commitment to be a good citizen, however he chooses to do so.


In reply to this comment by sillma:
I would test peoples knowledge of politics, finance and such to see if they're capable of understanding what they're voting for, I'd expect around 5-10% of the population to pass it. After heavy studying of course.

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 4 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Thanks for pointing that out to me

In reply to this comment by sillma:
that's from quiz of the year '08 btw.

Fixxxxeeeeeeeed annnnnnnnnnd thannnnnnnnkkkkkkk yoooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuu!

In reply to this comment by sillma:
*deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaad

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He is goddamnit! Are you female? If so come back to me and i'll argue it with you, if not, how would you understand

OK maybe you're gay... Anyway, either way there's something about him

In reply to this comment by sillma:
Sexy? you're weird

In reply to this comment by sillma:
seems to be rather dead

Thanks for the heads up! T'is fixed now.