Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
It's not really about whether people would be inclined to vote or not if there was a test. I think all the voters that actually get out there and do it, do it it based on strong enough convictions about the candidates themselves, the political landscape that gets them interested in the candidates and their policies, or simply being supportive of their party or ideals.
Requiring citizens to prove their aptitude at making a personal choice regarding their own ideals and vision for the future of their country based on some predefined political knowledge baseline would not only limit the the entire idea of choice of representation, but limit the demographic as well. To even implement something like that before ensuring that your educational systems and standards were up to par (which they're totally not) would reek of discrimination and would certainly provide a means of outright manipulation.
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So what you're saying is the voting process should have no way to filter out blaring ignorance? I will admit their are some problems with having a
basic test. For one, in the past tests which are supposed to be objective across all ethnicities, culture, class, etc. (like an IQ test) have failed miserably in most regards. A good example of this is the literacy test in 1917, made by the white man of the southern states to keep blacks from voting- obvious tool of oppression. In response to that, we should have the availability of a spoken test for the illiterate, and some sort of accommodation for every handicap with the exception of blatant ignorance.
The test would not be long, it would be more like a quiz. If you chose not to vote for a particular subject, you wouldn't have to take the quiz. For example, you go to the poll and before you vote on, say, Prop 123, you have to answer maybe five or ten quick questions about who is for what, what the arguments basically are, etc. Theoretically to pass this test, you could have a IQ of 90, be deaf and illiterate, and could still pass the test if you knew what the prop was about.
Find a reason to disagree with that.
11-10-2010, 07:33 AM
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