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Civic Participation




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Should ignorant people be allowed to vote?

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people.. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. [1] But since majority got chance only recently to influence the government decisions more directly, and shit has been happening for thousands of years, why is history full of these stupid events when it was guided by 'chosen' ones? Majority is stupid and logically should not be let to influence the political decisions as they wouldn't know. First make candidates pass those tests. When I go to a doctor I don't need to pass a medical exam! All I need to do is ask people I know if they know some good doctor.

Make a political science more exact so that politicians can get certificates, diplomas, and licenses. Hmm, Zeitgeist movement and Venus Project talk about application of scientific method to social problems. [2][3] Exactly! Why do we let politicians become candidates before passing political tests? We wouldn't issue a driver's license to someone unable to pass the written test, knowing the potential damage that person could do behind the wheel. Why do we look at voting differently? Make people who want to vote first pass a test modeled on the one given to immigrants who want to become citizens. [4] Maybe they do get informed about things they care about, they think are important. One cannot get informed about everything political since politics is such a broad, deep, and complex topic. Who is to decide what should people get informed about. It is not upon anyone to exclude others from participating, it is only upon interested parties to motivate others to get informed and participate. [5] Well this is exactly the problem, people are inherent shareholders of the country/state they live in, but without having invested money in initial shares (although they do invest each year through taxes, etc.) and yet they don't get informed. If I was a shareholder in a company I would love to have a say about who is being hired as a next CEO. Why would I buy shares in a company if I didn't know anything about its business, its operations, its CEO, etc. What kind of nonsense would be becoming a shareholder without getting some information about these things first? I doubt many of us would feel comfortable as a shareholder in a company that asked people who knew nothing about business to hire its next CEO? A better analogy would be: how can I as a non-medical person elect the best person to operate? Obvious answer is to choose a doctor with appropriate specialization (which is told to me by general practitioner). However, how can I select the best doctor - I can only ask people around who's good.

This example points to another problem, not posted by original question. Doctors (politicians) should have certifications (pass tests about politics). This seems more important than me being informed. How is this example analogous to voting question?
I guess unknown medicine is a government policy represented by someone who knows nothing about the government, and I am about to give a vote for them.
I think that this is a wrong example/analogy. It does not matter whether that someone does or does not know about medical field as long as I think he does (in politics you don't have certifications). The essence of voting question is my knowledge and not knowledge of who I vote for. If I were to ask you to ingest an unknown medicine from someone who knew nothing about the medical field, you probably wouldn't do it. How people who know nothing about politics can go out and vote? No wonder why Washington is run by a bunch of idiots - because politically ignorant people elect them. [6]Should ignorant people be allowed to vote?
Is voting a right or privilege?

Democracy exists only when people participate.





Expand a current thought with...

References:

1. http://themessagingproject.com/Jefferson.htm
2. http://best-google-videos.com/video.php?csid=290
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83LAk3BT7no
4. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=88086338b3281210VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7a649ddf801b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
5. http://best-google-videos.com/video.php?csid=281
6. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-12/opinion/granderson.ignorant.vote_1_ignorant-voters-political-system-ignorant-people?_s=PM:OPINION


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