Jennifer Government: Day 1
Saturday, March 31st, 2007Jennifer Government is a create your own government game at http://www.nationstates.net/
Here’s what I voted today. This question — should voting be compulsory? — came up when I sat in as a guest at the Brooklyn Free School, a school where even the five-year olds have a vote. Unfortunately, the actual administration of the school is run as a non-profit benevolent dictatorship, not as a democracy. But the student democracy there is wonderful.
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Wow Themes Decides:Should Democracy Be Compulsory? |
Government Acts
The Issue
In response to a slow news week, certain highbrow newspapers have stirred up the debate over voluntary vs compulsory voting.
The Debate
- “Compulsory voting makes about as much as sense as having the death penalty for attempted suicide,” says civil rights activist Roger Jones. “You can’t force people to be free! You can only give them the choice. Besides, if all those derelicts who can’t be bothered to get off their ass once every few years voted, who would they elect? I shudder to think.” This is the position your government is preparing to adopt.
- “It’s not contradictory at all,” argues political commentator Anne-Marie Li. “The fact is, if not everyone votes, the outcome isn’t truly representative. Some groups–like elderly gun nuts–vote more often than others. That’s why always we always end up with such terrible politicians.”
[Accept] - “This raises an interesting issue,” says Jazz Nagasawa, your brother. “And that is: why do we need elections, anyway? Seems to me it would be much simpler if you just decided what was right, and did it. Wouldn’t that save everyone a lot of time?”
[Accept]
The Government Position
The government has indicated its intention to follow the recommendations of Option 1.
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