Should voting in Ireland be compulsory?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PRAF wrote: »

If people can vote for the Voice of Ireland, surely then they can also vote for who they want to control the country for the next 5 years.

Problem is, they use the same criteria for voting.

PRAF

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Problem is, they use the same criteria for voting.

In that case, FF or FG should get Bressie to run for election. The 'Bressie Bounce' must be worth at least 10-15 seats. The women in particular seem to love him

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PRAF wrote: »

In that case, FF or FG should get Bressie to run for election. The 'Bressie Bounce' must be worth at least 10-15 seats. The women in particular seem to love him

No idea what the bessi Bounce, but the principle sounds the same.

Bergkamp 10

If voting was compulsory FG would be out of government so they wont allow this to happen.

markfinn

As long as "None of the above" is a valid option on the ballot, indicating that it is the voters desire that the election be re-run in (say) one month with none of the existing candidates permitted to participate.

returnNull

Forcing people to vote would lead to lots of people voting for issues they might be clueless about.

A lot of people just dont care about politics.

PRAF

markfinn wrote: »

As long as "None of the above" is a valid option on the ballot, indicating that it is the voters desire that the election be re-run in (say) one month with none of the existing candidates permitted to participate.

Someone's been watching too much of "Brewster's Millions" on sky movies

VinLieger

returnNull wrote: »

Forcing people to vote would lead to lots of people voting for issues they might be clueless about.

A lot of people just dont care about politics.

Yet they still go out and complain about decisions made by politicians which means they actually do care about politics, what you meant to say was alot of people are just to fuck ass lazy and ignorant to walk up the road and tick a box or two

RichardAnd

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

I'm a no here as well.

The idea what I should vote implies that there is a candidate worth voting for. And spoiling a vote just brings us back to square one.

And I don't go with this ****e that if you don;t vote you give up your right to complain about the government. If you did vote and your choice was elected, THEN you give up such a right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk

I was just thinking of George as I read through this thread, kudos to you for posting the words of such a great man. I don't post my own political views as I don't consider them important to anyone but myself but I do not at all espouse the argument that one must vote in order to complain.

If anyone would like to read a very erudite argument against voting at all, take a look at the following article:

https://sites.google.com/site/vagabondtheorist/why-i-don-t-vote

returnNull

VinLieger wrote: »

Yet they still go out and complain about decisions made by politicians which means they actually do care about politics, what you meant to say was alot of people are just to fuck ass lazy and ignorant to walk up the road and tick a box or two

No I meant what I said,a lot of people really don't give a sh1t.Dont put words in my mouth,thanks.If it makes you feel better saying that they are lazy or ignorant ,thats you're look out.

Also people excercising their right not to vote in a democracy(for whatever reason)does not stop them from critising politicians,their policies or taxes.It doesnt make their points any less valid then if they voted the cretins in.

RichardAnd

returnNull wrote: »

No I meant what I said,a lot of people really don't give a sh1t.Dont put words in my mouth,thanks.If it makes you feel better saying that they are lazy or ignorant ,thats you're look out.

And a lot of people have a great interest in the science and history of politics yet they themselves, might never cast a vote. I can think of a few such people.

The lesson here is simple, one can't tar all people with the same brush. People often have good reasons for doing (or in this case, not doing) something. Some of the posters on this thread need to be more open minded and less judgmental.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

returnNull wrote: »

No I meant what I said,a lot of people really don't give a sh1t.Dont put words in my mouth,thanks.If it makes you feel better saying that they are lazy or ignorant ,thats you're look out.

Also people excercising their right not to vote in a democracy(for whatever reason)does not stop them from critising politicians,their policies or taxes.It doesnt make their points any less valid then if they voted the cretins in.

1 - I think it's more a case of people are too **** ass lazy to actully read up on and eduate themselves as to what's happening and waht different politians stand for, and then just tick a box out of habit. Certainly less "lazy" tha the guy who does his research and dcides to abstain.

2 - Agree with your second paragraph.

PRAF

I may be repeating a previous post I made here but.....I do think we should try to make it as easy as possible for people to vote. There must be hundreds of thousands of voters who work in a different electoral conststituency than the one they live in. Could the powers that be not think up some form of system whereby those people could go to a central location in whatever town / city they work during their lunch break to cast their vote.

At the moment, voting can be a pain in the a$$ for a lot of people. I can understand why lots of people just don't bother.

Compulsory to vote for a shower of gangsters?


No ta.

DarkDusk

I don't see why people vote at all. If you vote, you lose the right to complain. It doesn't matter who you vote for, the politicians will still lie to get in to government and not fulfil their promises. Politician take away your freedoms and your rights, and yet the sheeple population still vote.

It doesn't matter who's in, the agenda of the elite will always be followed.

Wake up people.

DarkDusk

@RichardAnd @Ikky Poo2

I was thinking the exact the thing! I have great respect for George and also for Bill Hicks, both legends in the search of truth.

DarkDusk

DarkDusk wrote: »

I don't see why people vote at all. If you vote, you lose the right to complain. It doesn't matter who you vote for, the politicians will still lie to get in to government and not fulfil their promises. Politician take away your freedoms and your rights, and yet the sheeple population still vote.

It doesn't matter who's in, the agenda of the elite will always be followed.

Wake up people.

Not much more needs to be said.

DarkDusk

Deleted User wrote: »

Not much more needs to be said.

Indeed, but it needs to be said louder, and by more people...

Scortho

Voting shouldn't be compulsory. It's a right that one can choose to freely exercise or not.
Forcing someone to do something that they don't wish to do is not right. We've gone nanny state too far already.

Also looking at most Dail elections, people's biggest question for candidates when they come canvassing for votes is what is that person going to do for me.

It shouldn't matter what candidate A or candidate B is going to do for you, it's what is candidate A or B going to do that's best for the country, in line with your core values.

DarkDusk

Scortho wrote: »

It shouldn't matter what candidate A or candidate B is going to do for you, it's what is candidate A or B going to do that's best for the country, in line with your core values.

Sounds like utopia :rolleyes:

Cookie_Monster

I think it would be useful to have registration compulsory but not voting.

mlumley

I would only agree to it if there was a box at the bottom stating, I vote for none of the above. I belive that governments would like us all to vote, so they might have more chance of more votes. So, if the, I dont want any of this bunch in power, box was in place, they might have to up their game a bit, but I wouldnt hold my breath.