sharklover

November 8th, 2022 at 7:12 PM ^

Ever heard of signature verification? I'm in Oregon, where all elections are by mail (for over 20 years, now), all signatures are validated before votes are tabulated, and fraud is no more frequent then anywhere else in the country (I.e. fractions of fractions of a percentage point).

Joined: 11/30/2015

MGoPoints: 6140

jmblue

November 8th, 2022 at 2:56 PM ^

While I think it's generally good to have more people engaged in the political process, fining people for not voting is too much.  If people don't feel represented by the options on the ballot, they shouldn't be forced to support one of them.  I've sat out a lot of local elections when I frankly didn't feel invested enough in the outcome to go to the polls.

If voter turnout isn't high, we shouldn't blame the voters.  Blame their supposed representatives for not doing more to engage them.  

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 103093

BornInA2

November 8th, 2022 at 3:32 PM ^

Not until we stop collectively behaving like a spoiled tween.

Our best and brightest generally don't want to hold office, and I don't blame them. There's no real path to success, aside from *maybe* perpetually instilling fear and resentment of anyone different in any way.

Go to congress. Get death threats from lunatics normalized by a past president. Be blamed for not getting things done when one party's entire agenda is blocking everything the other party is for. Spend more time trying to raise money for your party than representing people.

You want that? I know I don't.

Joined: 02/15/2014

MGoPoints: 12802

StephenRKass

November 8th, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^

Glad to see students participating in the process. Glad to see many people voting. Tis a good thing.

However, I never thought of voting as a "sacred" right. Sacred means:  "connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration." Again, I never thought of voting as being connected to God (or to gods,) or thought of voting as dedicated to a religious purpose. That's an interesting concept.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23103

StephenRKass

November 9th, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^

I learned something new today. Thank you. I have mixed feelings about words that are so fluid. Nonetheless, I can "love" Michigan football, "love" a good steak, "love" my children, and more specifically "love" my wife tonight. All of those have a pretty different meaning.

Being a pastor, I tend to think of the word "sacred" in a more specific way.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23103

goblu330

November 8th, 2022 at 3:41 PM ^

I don’t disagree that politics has turned into something akin to religion for some, but I don’t think they worship at the alter of “democracy.”  Democracy is merely a method of determining leadership. “Democracy” is only as good as the outcome it yields.  

I think the bigger issue is wildly divergent understandings of the constitution and ideas of what “freedom” means and entails. 

Joined: 01/07/2022

MGoPoints: 32325

ex dx dy

November 8th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^

I didn't intend to make any value judgments on democracy or politics as a belief system. Just wanted to point out that "sacred" is an apt word for voting for a large segment of the population. Although you may be right that people are increasingly shifting their veneration from democracy itself to the outcome of the system. So maybe voting *was* a sacred act, but isn't anymore.

I think vague philosophical/sociological observations about the country's attitude to the act of voting in itself is about as close to politics as I dare to wander in a (theoretically) nonpolitical forum.

Joined: 10/30/2018

MGoPoints: 4500

StephenRKass

November 9th, 2022 at 4:04 PM ^

I'm a spelling nerd . . . "Altar" and "Alter" are two very different words. I suppose because of the nature of modern society, "Altar" isn't much used linguistically any more. Historically, an altar is where a blood sacrifice is made. And in a church setting, it is the place where the "sacrifice" of Jesus' body and blood are placed.

As regards "Democracy," I think there are many assumptions we make about "Democracy" which are not necessarily true. That, however, is a larger discussion, and not an appropriate one for Mgoblog.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23103