25-12-2003 04:24									#31
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quote: Originally posted by yavoon u lefties are hilarious. no inane, silly or superfluous invasion of freedom is ever out of bounds.

Since when is Lefty Scaevola a "lefty"?

	25-12-2003 04:49									#32
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Bring back machine politics, even if the living don't vote, the dead will for them!

	25-12-2003 05:08									#33
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quote: Originally posted by KrazyHorse Get political parties who are differentiable from each other.

Close...get away from the winner take-all-elections and go to a parlimentary style government. Right now, the two main parties have sold-out to their special interest groups and the minor parties can't win diddly. Why vote?

	25-12-2003 05:11									#34
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Make foreign policy a matter for the people.

	25-12-2003 05:44									#35
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quote: Originally posted by Azazel voting is mandatory in Australia?

Yes indeed, you face a rather hefty fine should you fail to vote. Despite this, we never have 100% of people voting.

	25-12-2003 06:23									#36
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people are lazy

figure out a way to make it super easy for them and they will turn out

	25-12-2003 06:36									#37
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Maybe make it a prerequisite to miss work that day. If you vote, you get the rest of the day off .

	25-12-2003 07:05									#38
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There is nothing wrong with low voter turnout as that shows that people believe that what the have to do besides voting is more important.

That shows that government is, on the average, working well for the people.

	25-12-2003 07:07									#39
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Or that people have given up on the process .

Jeez, Ned, you sugercoat America's faults so much, it almost make ME look anti-American .

	25-12-2003 08:19									#40
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Imran, faults? What you call faults are actually virtues.

	25-12-2003 09:16									#41
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I just love leaving the smilie out of posts.

For a real suggestion, have all elections on saterdays, and close the bars and other popular entertainments on election days.

	25-12-2003 09:35									#42
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Just make the presidential elections into a reality show, with people voting via their remote control.

	25-12-2003 10:08									#43
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quote: Originally posted by Verto Just make the presidential elections into a reality show, with people voting via their remote control.

I think that was a Twilight Zone episode...

	25-12-2003 10:12									#44
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quote: Originally posted by KrazyHorse Get political parties who are differentiable from each other.

Jesus, KH, pay attention. This is supposed to be for realistic ideas. This is America, fer chrissakes.

	25-12-2003 10:19									#45
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quote: What you call faults are actually virtues.

Low voter turnout is a VIRTUE? You been smoking that ganja?

	25-12-2003 10:56									#46
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui quote: What you call faults are actually virtues. Low voter turnout is a VIRTUE? You been smoking that ganja?

too much fox news has turned his brain into mush

low voter turnout is GOOD!

widesperad ignorance and stupidity is GOOD!

highest murder rate in the industrialized world... GOOD!

Highest gap between rich and poor... GOOD!

largest group of poor per capita... GOOD!

when you watch non-stop republican propaganda, you turn into an idiot

	25-12-2003 11:42									#47
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The easiest way to improve turnout is to:

a) Raise the voting age back up to 21
b) Repeal Women's Suffrage.


After that, problem solved

	25-12-2003 11:45									#48
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quote: Originally posted by Timexwatch The easiest way to improve turnout is to: a) Raise the voting age back up to 21 b) Repeal Women's Suffrage. After that, problem solved

Same reasoning I gave when my Tax professor asked me how to raise more tax revenue for the state: Encourage people to smoke! Oddly enough she didn't really like that answer...

	25-12-2003 12:13									#49
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quote: Originally posted by Harry Tuttle Same reasoning I gave when my Tax professor asked me how to raise more tax revenue for the state: Encourage people to smoke! Oddly enough she didn't really like that answer...

1. legalize and tax currently illegal "vices" like drugs, gambling (in some areas), prostitution, and maybe fast food

2. make corporations pay for all the raping and pillaging of the planet they do...

3. cut out all the ****ing pork in government

my $.02

	25-12-2003 12:16									#50
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how about we go back to the old system, where only old white men can vote. we didnt seem to have turnout problems then.

	25-12-2003 12:30									#51
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quote: legalize and tax currently illegal "vices" like drugs, gambling (in some areas), prostitution, and maybe fast food

In what part of the country is fast food an illegal vice?

	25-12-2003 12:42									#52
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Do we want people who don't care about politics to vote? The real problem is that people don't care, and those that do care are generally kneejerk idealogues.

	25-12-2003 13:32									#53
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Do you want people who are too lazy to research voting records and actual positions voting? We have too many lazy voters who just vote party line or vote based on attack ads already. I'll never forget one election, when I lived in Ohio, where they have elected judges.

Since the race was non-partisan, nobody ran any info on the judges. In desperation, on election day I went to both party headquarters - Democrat and Republican. Neither had any concrete data on their candidates record as judges or even lawyers. They looked at me like I was an alien - all I wanted was facts!

I think the lottery mentioned earlier is the only one that would work. Make it a check-off on your tax return, and voting enters you in it. Make the pay-off at least 100 million, and you will lets lots of people who are too lazy to vote knowledgably out in droves. What an improvement.

	25-12-2003 13:38									#54
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quote: Do you want people who are too lazy to research voting records and actual positions voting?

Well, in the democracy we don't make value judgments on if the people know enough about the people they are voting for/against. Generally it is expected that people should vote no matter how much they know on the issues .

	25-12-2003 13:54									#55
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Which is why you have people who honestly believe George W. Bush is an environmental, pro-worker and consumer friendly, pro-little guy president. I hated Gore, I LOATHED Bush (look up Harken energy for the case of a consummate, unapolegetic inside trader - he was on the audit committee for **** sakes, and says he didn't know the stock would tank in two months ). Or his statement that he thought Scalia and Thomas were his kind of Supreme Court Justices . Or that President Musharif of Pakistan overthrew a democratically elected government, but that things had gotten pretty chaotic and he brought order, so that's a good thing . I can't remember who said it, but "The price of democracy is eternal vigilance" not "consummate laziness".

	26-12-2003 02:21									#56
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Back in the good old days candidates saw to it that liquid refreshments were available to voters at the polling places. It was such a great idea. I have no idea why it was discontinued. In the future a more enlightened government might restore this voter perk, and even add to it an allowance for a smoke of one's favorite health product.

	26-12-2003 02:30									#57
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quote: Anyone have any realistic ideas on how to increase voter turnout

Why would you want to do that?

	26-12-2003 02:36									#58
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quote: Which is why you have people who honestly believe George W. Bush is an environmental, pro-worker and consumer friendly, pro-little guy president.

So what? Don't they have a right to decide who their leader is? Or do you believe only that smart people have the right to a democracy?

quote: Or his statement that he thought Scalia and Thomas were his kind of Supreme Court Justices.

There is something wrong with this?

quote: Or that President Musharif of Pakistan overthrew a democratically elected government, but that things had gotten pretty chaotic and he brought order, so that's a good thing

If you knew the history of Pakistan, it is MUCH better that Musharraf took over. Democracy was going to fail soon anyway, and the next government? An Islamic fundamentalist government with nukes. Democracy is a good goal, but having a fundamentalist regime with nukes (which may be willing to use them) may turn that goal into a bad one .

	26-12-2003 04:56									#59
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui Or do you believe only that smart people have the right to a democracy?

Hmm, a Zkribocracy!

	26-12-2003 16:20									#60
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People have the right to decide who their leader is, at least in our Democratic Republic. I don't mind the neocon who votes for Bush because he believes in what Bush does. The person I detest is the individual too lazy to discover the truth, too slothful to genuinely find out what the candidate stands for, and too big a fool to understand how important his vote is. Let me have a genuine argument over the issues. I may the positions Greens take because I am a conservationist myself (now there's a term that's fallen out of use!), but at least they truly believe in their issues, as do genuine neocons. It's the idiots who only vote at the last minute based on the most recent attack ad whom I hold in contempt, that kind of person puts democracy at risk. Democracy requires INFORMED voting.