Who should get to vote?

If you ignore the movie and read Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", you get his interesting take on this very topic. (For those who don't know, Heinlein started as a lefty but turned extremely right in the late 50's. His novels cover the spectrum even into the 60's) In Starship Troopers you must serve the community, often in arduous or dangerous jobs to gain the right to vote and be a citizen. Most people don't bother. There are whole sections of the book devoted to political discussions of what citizenship means and political history. I read this book every few years and get something different every time.

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DrewDad wrote:

FreeDuck wrote:
Well, there is this whole concept of democracy and self-rule. I happen to like it.

But why?

Philosophical reasons? Pragmatic reasons? What?

In one sentence: Everyone who gets to feel the consequences of the choices made by the government, should have a say in who gets to be in the government.

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Education or political interest has nothing to do with that. You dont need to have a college degree or watch C-SPAN to be affected by the policies of the government. In fact, the people who do are the ones who have least to fear; they'll get by any which way. It's poor kids without a degree who are most likely to end up in Iraq fighting a hopeless war of choice, for example.

--

It's all fine and nice to talk of giving the decision to those who are most informed and best educated. But in the end those people are also just likely to predominantly vote in their own socio-economic interests - and thats hardly necessarily whats in the interests of most people.

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nimh wrote:

In one sentence: Everyone who gets to feel the consequences of the choices made by the government, should have a say in who gets to be in the government.

Then you must be against the voting age.

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DrewDad wrote:

So do you have any thoughts on why the will of 50% +1 of the mob should rule?

50% + 1 doesnt rule,

5% + money rules.

DUH.

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there is also selling large quantities of cocaine, in which case the poor kid will end up richer than most with college degrees.

The hood does a good job of making people smart. or just filtering out idiots.

criminals, the dumb ones end up in prison, the smart ones end up in government.

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MAY I ASK the views of the participants here
about Berluscony achievement during his past rule?
Are any italians or Europeans on line to uphold this nonsense?

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OGIONIK wrote:

DrewDad wrote:
So do you have any thoughts on why the will of 50% +1 of the mob should rule?

50% + 1 doesnt rule,

5% + money rules.

DUH.

Shirley you're not suggesting the democratic process can be corrupted by money.

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Democracy is the worst corporate controlled commercial enterprise.
.
Nothing to do with decency
nor decorum .
barbarism pure
Ask PUTIN
BerLUSCONY
Bush.

Democracy in USA is the worst form

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The more rules you make for voting the better chance there is for politicians to bend those rules.

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Ramafuchs wrote:

MAY I ASK the views of the participants here
about Berluscony achievement during his past rule?
Are any italians or Europeans on line to uphold this nonsense?

No.

Ramma Damma Ding Dong!

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ebrown_p wrote:

FreeDuck wrote:
What do you prefer?

A Meritocracy.

I have been on several software products that were run as meritocracies (which basically is a form of Oligarchy). There is one person, or a small group of people who get to decide which of the members deserve more power.

The truly deserving (as determined by the people in the ruling group) are eventually invited to become part of the ruling group.

This perpetuates the good in the organization and rewards those who contribute.

This would be great if we could institute it nationally.

And who gets to decide who that "small group of people" is?

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