Just a thought I guess. Not a debate, possibly a discussion. There's something all of us on this board share, and maybe some of us haven't yet realized how closely we share it. You've felt it before, when you were thinking of something that happened in the news, maybe elsewhere in the world and it made you feel good or bad. You've heard it too. Maybe when you tried to share it with someone new. "Did you hear that XYZ happened?" Then the answer that makes us all cringe in exactly the same way. I tend to get a twisting feeling in my chest when I hear it. "Oh I don't really follow politics. What's going on in politics?" That's when you think: how can someone not care about the way things work? What do they care about? Why do I care? That's the feeling we all share. It unites us. The D&D Gene. We care about the way things work and how they'll work out. As far apart as we may be on issues, we forget sometimes just what a small portion of society we make up and what we share. So for once, let's celebrate something we all have in common. Whether we do anything about it or not, we all have this thing inside us which makes us care about people other than ourselves and that's not as common as we may think. Thanks for letting me fling poo at you, and I'm happy that I can be there for you to fling poo at. I appreciate it very much.
Sadly those people who say those things make up the majority of the electorate. They decide who runs the country. Such is the system of government used in the United States and much of the rest of the world. That is why I think we should institute either a test or a tax to be able to vote. $25 to vote in a primary or local only election, $50 in a statewide election or off year national election, $100 to vote in a presidential election seems like a reasonable tax rate. For testing, just a short and simple multiple choice test about say 2 or 3 policy questions from all the candidates stated positions, or 15 questions about a single candidate the person wants to elect. I would even settle for a simple test on the structure of the government, so you know what positions you are trying to fill, even if you don't know who you are voting to fill them. Maybe you can take the test at home and it gives you a unique identifier if you pass to save time at the polls. People will be on the honor system, but if you know someone that can help you cheat, maybe you learn the system as you go. That enough to make this D&D worthy?
Um, the 24th amendment was specifically ratified in order to abolish poll taxes. Bringing them back would literally be unconstitutional. Although I do get what your saying, that's just a bad solution.
I care about it, to an extent. I've recently learned that today's problems are more than enough to keep me occupied, no need to overly focus on tomorrow's or things that I have absolutely no control over. Life is way too short, and we all only get to experience it once. Politics, can be an interesting distraction. But it's exactly that, a distraction. Too much life to live and things to accomplish. And no time to let fawkery constantly occupy my mind. I guess that means you hate me too OP. But it's all good.
The 18th amendment prohibited the sale of alcohol, then we smartened up and passed the 21st amendment.
You've got some great ideas in there. Perhaps we could go a little further and figure out which groups we especially don't want voting, and then just count them as 3/5 of a person. I don't know...I am just spitballing here. It's nice to see someone thinking outside the box and coming up with fresh new ideas. Keep 'em coming!
You realize that counting slaves as 3/5 of a person was a way to reduce the power of slaveowners right? The slaves were not allowed to vote, it was used to determine the number of representatives apportioned to slave states in Congress. The north wanted them to count as zero, and the south wanted them to count as a whole person (for apportion purposes only).
I understand what you're saying but we also need to consider that politics do also affect our lives. While politics are becoming as another put it "Show business for ugly people" they are more than that. If you believe things like Obamacare, legal gay marriage, and abortion all affect your life positively or negatively you should care about politics. Just in the last few months those issues have been hotly debated in Congress and tried in our courts with very profound implications for our society.
It's not that I don't care, it's just that overr the years I just find more and more of what I hear to be complete bull ****. I don't know what is true anymore. I don't trust the media on either side. I do have my own opinions, but I really don't care if others agree with me, so why try and change their opinion. I will glance at this forum because there are members that can open my eyes, even if I disagree with what they're saying. Major is a great example... But majority of the posts in this forum are monkeys throwing poo.
This is absolutely legitimate. And I agree, to an extent. But beyond staying aware of current events and following your conscience/voting - What else is there to do? Arguing and bickering over views and opinions can be fun, and I often find myself participating at times. But at the end of the day, I can't say that I list politics high on my list of things that I care about. And for someone who says that they don't really care, I sure am posting in this thread a lot. :grin:
Is the United States a country or a corporation...? Because if it's a corporation than we are just a bunch of slaves discussing politics under the illusion of democracy.
No thanks. Part of why a country this large and diverse functions is because a large swath of individuals would sooner do their homework, learn and employ a skill or trade, play with their family, pay their bills and taxes and mind their own business rather than to niggle over and legislate every function or feature of society. Structure, compliance and cooperation is just as valuable to a prosperous civilization as political activism, too much of the former destroyed Europe in the first half of the last century and too much of latter keeps most of Africa in constant chaos.
I don't understand how your points are in opposition to my proposal. How would taxing voting or requiring a test to vote prevent people from doing any of that? If anything, wouldn't it reduce political activism to those who cared enough to put their money where their mouth is or study up on the candidates?
