Should voting be mandatory?

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

HELL NO!

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Why should people be forced to wreck an entire day of their lives to take part in a meaningless exercise in futility? Life is too short to waste it waiting on line at the polling place.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Why should people be forced to wreck an entire day of their lives to take part in a meaningless exercise in futility? Life is too short to waste it waiting on line at the polling place.

That's possible the most ridiculous argument against voting I've ever heard in my life. Please, Libertas, you can do better then that.

Um, you've never voted, or you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

If it weren't for absentee balloting, I wouldn't have even voted in 2008.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Why should people be forced to wreck an entire day of their lives to take part in a meaningless exercise in futility? Life is too short to waste it waiting on line at the polling place.

That's possible the most ridiculous argument against voting I've ever heard in my life. Please, Libertas, you can do better then that.

Um, you've never voted, or you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

If it weren't for absentee balloting, I wouldn't have even voted in 2008.

Actually, I've been to a voting precinct on election day several times. I've also voted three times via absentee ballot. Granted, those were all assisting other members of my family.

Finding time on a school/work day to go stand in line to take part in something that's essentially meaningless is not really conducive to most people's lives.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I'm not going to respond any further in this thread seeing as I'll get the same recycled "answers". 

Well you never successfully refuted my answer in the first place....

As Morgan said, the idea of forcing people to show up at a polling place is utterly pointless.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Why should people be forced to wreck an entire day of their lives to take part in a meaningless exercise in futility?

Only in fascist hellholes does voting take more than a couple of minutes.

Maybe if you live next door to the polling place, there's no line to vote, no problems with your registration, and you have no job/school to be at. But it can be a serious inconvenience for most people.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

That makes no sense. If anything it is not voting that you have no right to complain since you did nothing to change things. If I vote X and Y wins, I have the right to complain. Or if X wins and does the exact opposite of what he said, I have the right to complain about them being a lying scumbag.

So if one is against the system, he has no right to voice his opinions unless he wastes time voting in the system's own sham elections?

Makes sense.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Come on Barnes!
It is kind of hypocritical to force people to show up to vote in supposedly "free" and "democratic" elections.

Well like I said, you don't have to vote. But being a lazy-ass and complaining about the system and then complaining about the people elected, even when you didn't care enough to vote, is kind of hypocritical.

Uh, how is it hypocritical if you don't like any of the choices being offerred?

"Dissolve the government" is not an option found on the ballot.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

You should at least be required to show up at the polling place. Also, there should be an "Abstention" option on the ballot.

Come on Barnes!
It is kind of hypocritical to force people to show up to vote in supposedly "free" and "democratic" elections.

Well like I said, you don't have to vote. But being a lazy-ass and complaining about the system and then complaining about the people elected, even when you didn't care enough to vote, is kind of hypocritical.

Uh, how is it hypocritical if you don't like any of the choices being offerred?

"Dissolve the government" is not an option found on the ballot.

It's not hypocritical. That's why there should be some sort of "invalid" option. Then, people can at least see the number of people disgusted with the system. As it presently stands, you either vote or you stay at home. There is no real expression of dissatisfaction like you have, Libertas.

And what if people object to voting as a matter of principle? They don't have the right to complain about the results of voting?

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

No, this was not be a good idea. That said, I really dislike the attitude that voting isn't worth the time and effort. Yes, one vote is unlikely to make a direct difference, but enough people having that attitude can (and sometimes does) affect the outcome of an election.

Most elections in the U.S. only have one possible outcome: Republocrat victory.