this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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Futurology
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Non-compulsory voting is one of the biggest problems in the US system.
Everyone always bangs on about their rights in a democracy but what about the responsibility of deciding who runs the place?
It leads to "We have to make our base angry enough to get off their arses and vote", rather than "What policies will appeal to the most people".
First past the post voting is a much larger problem. Many votes in the US system actually don't matter and making voting compulsory does nothing to change that.
I completely agree.
That is why I said "One of" not "the only".
Another big one is the use of the electoral college and that it has not been rebalanced to reflect population changes in decades.
Another is gerrymandering.
The overarching problem is that, since ww2, the USA has turned their founding documents and institutions into holy relics that cannot be changed.
Without a "none of the above" option, compulsory voting is just compelled speech in support of the regime.
Venezuela has fairer elections than we do.
They have universal Healthcare and got rid of the "mass shooter" problem tho.
Edit: the deleted comment above said that Australia had mandatory voting and was as fucked as the us.
To expand on what the other comment stated.
After a mass shooting the Aus Conservative party passed laws that basically ended mass shootings decades ago. Despite the fact there are now more firearms in Aus than before the laws were passed.
Universal healthcare, far from perfect but it actually exists and has been in place for 50 years.
A level of worker protection that the USA can only dream of. You cannot be fired without good reasons and because i said so is not one of them. Mandatory sick leave (10 days) and holiday pay (20 days) for all full time workers.
A minimum wage that automatically rises every year to keep up with inflation. (it went up 8.5% this year alone)
Can't find work? As long as you are actually looking you will receive benefits, for years.
Abortion is not a political issue. It is a medical decision for the woman involved and that is it.