12 Replies to “http://2ndthotz.dr-mikes-maths.com/2011/11/why-voting-should-be-compulsory/”

  1. If “extremism” achieves growing support, which often happens in desperate times, however, it then becomes the new center…that said, yes, voting should be compulsory…and of all the people I enjoy political debates with, I find it interesting how many don’t vote! Don’t vote = can’t complain…but what is extreme to you, is not to another…personally, I find some centrist views very extreme in some cases…it’s relative.

  3. Exactly…the spectrum is skewed from culture to culture, country to country and no country and should well be allowed to do so…we are also the number 1 provider of aid to other countries in many ways to our own peril internally, so I’d suggest people to think twice before saying it like it’s an insult.

  5. It read incredibly sarcastic to me, if it was unintended, my bad. Based on the attitude I get from many outside the US on the subject of politics, I generally get a very condescending attitude, so perhaps I have knee jerk reactions as such.

    I respect other opinions, and actually like good debates (like we generally have) I just get annoyed when it moves beyond “I believe this” and enters into “therefore YOU should do this”…and both extremes are VERY guilty of that.

  6. I was thinking of how people in, say, Sweden or France would view the USA what I said “almost radically”.

    @ I just get annoyed when it moves beyond “I believe this” and enters into “therefore YOU should do this”

    Doesn’t that lead to logical difficulties? For example, when you encounter people who say “I believe this : that YOU should do this!” After all, you can hardly turn around and say “you are free to believe that, but YOU should not tell me so!!” and retain a semblance of logical consistency. Maybe that’s not important in such situations.

  11. Well, I wouldn’t try to force them not to…. 😉

    We humans are very much social creatures. For many in Asia, individualism seems wierd. I had one student (in Malaysia) doing Computer Science – she didn’t want to do it, but her parents insisted, so she said “Oh, well, if they think so, I’ll do my best”. She was a straight-A student.

    It’s hard for me to imagine that attitude being held by an Aussie.

  12. Or held by an American student. Like a tell my kids, individualism starts when you are paying your own bills. 🙂

    The youth of America are being so sissified and over empowered by a weakened school system and uncaring, uninvolved parents, it’s sad…

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