latest blow against democracy
 

just watching a program on tv where some idiot is suggesting that it be made compulsary to vote in elections and fines be issued to those who dont

hes realy struggleing at the moment because he has just been asked what punishment would a person get if he refused to pay the fine

although i do vote i would like to think that i had the democratic right and freedom of choice to choose not to if i decided not to vote and not face prosecution if i didnt

it seems to me that every week labour find a way to strip our rights away one by one

we no longer have freedom of speech and if they get their way we will loose free will

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Told you before Chav, if you must watch TV-

Shopping channels daytime.

Adult channels night time.

;)

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

wasn't aware we had any rights left lol

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Your right we should be allowed to choose if we vote or not if people can't be bothered to vote they forfiet the right to complain about what government/council is elected. To force these people to vote would make an even bigger farce of who ends up in control.
Do not worry about free will I'm sure that some film mogul will come up with a sequel to it (or maybe two) with a catchy title such as free will II and free will III.

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Re: latest blow against democracy
 

lol yeah i suppose your right cashman

funny thing is we send our troops abroad to give freedom to others but whos protecting our freedom

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

I dread to think who the people who can't be bothered to vote would actually vote for if they were forced to do so.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

if implicated the voters may well vot against the people who made them vote so they could be shooting themselves in the foot if they carry on with this idea

i know i wouldnt vote for somone who made me vote

i think there would be a lot less labour mps for sure lol

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

if you dont vote and your choice loses ,then tough.
but forcing people will just get their backs up..

p.s. ...i always vote .....

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Erm, Granny if you don't vote then you haven't made a choice so it can't lose!

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Re: latest blow against democracy
 

your right less .....:o

p.s. keep your little smillies coming :D

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Where our voting system goes wrong is not taking into account the votes that are not cast. It doesn’t matter why. What matters is that something like 35% of the voters do not cast a vote.

But forcing people to vote under pain of a fine or even prison is just about the level of this hair brained government who I might add are in place on a minority vote.

I get the distinct impression that Labour KNOWS that they will not get in next time and maybe not even last the term so they are putting forward as many daft schemes as they can so that the next government will be lumbered with them.

Ever wondered why we have this 30 years rule?

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

It is compulsory in Australia to vote. The folks there are fiercely against people who do not use their vote. If you lived in Australia and didn't know who to vote for.... then you could always go and tick all the candidates......that would spoil your vote......so even though you have voted your vote would not be counted.

I think people need to be accountable........the Elected AND the Electorate.......and I don't see anything wrong in voting being made compulsory.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

i agree that people should vote but at the end of the day people should have the choice to or not to vote

its not so much the voting that bothers me but the fact that people can be forced to vote

if they get away with this what else are they going to force us to do because once they get away with forcing people to vote it will start the ball rolling to many more things

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

ive always voted,for the simple reason i have the right,also the choice,the day i have no choice is the DAY i will NOT vote.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Talking of voting anyone any idea who won the by election held in Gt. Harwood on June 30th.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

How can we say that this government is 'democratically'elected when something like 39% of the population failed to vote.....? This Government is almost ruling by default, because it doesn't have a majority mandate.........people need to be educated about their rights to vote and see it as their civil responsibility.

There was an article in the paper today about being 'forced' to vote........if you truly don't want to vote then you can spoil your ballot paper........write on it, or put it in the ballot box blank.......but it means you have to think about that choice......nobody makes you vote for a particular candidate or party. Though I suspect that the Labour party would bring this in hoping that they would get the votes. It is a fair assumption that the disenfranchised youth and the socially challenged would be unlikely to vote Conservative.

The Electorate has lost faith in the politicians....and I speak from personal experience.
Maybe Electoral reform is long overdue.......maybe proportional representation would solve some of the problems......but the main problem is apathy, and that is very hard to reverse.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

yes you could spoil your vote but the fact still remains that you would still be forced to go to the polling station so that you could spoil your vote so your freedom of choice is still been taken away from you

not surprising when nearly every week a politition is exposed as either a crook , sexual devient or for abusing their position

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

I dont always use my vote, but I dont agree with losing that choice.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

i do think people should vote but i would never demand that somone voted it simply isnt any of my buisness

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

No, Chav.......you could register for a postal vote. In fact the postal voting fiasco was supposed to get more people to vote........that was one time when I didn't vote........I thought it was very confusing.......I would prefer to take myself off to the polling station...even if I am going to make a void vote.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

i think you have misunderstood somwhere along the line

what i am saying is that if a person dosnt want to vote they shouldnt have to no matter what sytems are put in place like postal , email , carrier pigeon or whatever method is thought of if a person dosnt want to vote they should not be made to do so

freedom of choice is one of the few rights we have left and labour want to take it away from us it would seem

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

If attendance at teh station is compulsory then we should definately get a

'None of this shower of $*&!'

option. If we have to tell them how we feel we should be given the opportunity to express our true feeling.

I too always vote. I believe you can't complain about the current goverment if you didn't do your bit to change it. However finding a viable alternative does seem to be getting more and more difficult.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

I agree with you entwisi, and this last election was a nightmare......but I did vote.

What point is there in having a democracy (so called) if people do not exercise their right to vote..........and you do have freedom of choice. You are free to choose who to vote for.

Like I said in an earlier post it is compulsory to vote in Australia, and australians do not see that their rights are compromised by this. How can you have a democracy when more than a third of the population do not vote.......?

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

to me freedom of choice who to vote for is limited freedom of choice.

Re: latest blow against democracy
 

Gordon Prentice has suggested giving people who vote a free lottery ticket....in an attempt to encourage people to vote.
It would be far better if the politicians realised that the prime reason why people don't vote is because they have lost faith in all politicians.

The politicians need to get their act together and listen to what the electorate is saying.