“… whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body. This means merely he will be forced to be free.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
For President Obama the definition of a free society contains an astonishingly frequent use of the word “mandatory”. His latest foray into the concept that freedom is whatever the government tells you it is, was his comment during the week that it might be time to consider the idea of mandatory voting. To counteract the influence of big money in elections it would be “transformative” (here we go again!) if everyone voted, and that could be accomplished by fines or eventual jail time for those who failed to do so. It is fascinating how often the President finds the answer to protecting freedom lies in restricting it. Of course his suggestion is a thinly veiled desensitizing toward eventually finding a way to compel voters more likely to vote Democrat to get to the polls, even if it means giving them a shove. In support of his premise he cites the other countries that have compulsory voting. This has become a staple for progressives, to point to other countries to demonstrate how backward we are here in what we used to think of as the greatest nation on earth. “But other countries are doing it!” I think my Mom might say, “If Australia and North Korea jumped off a bridge would you too?”
We do generally look at voting as a civic duty, but in a free society not all duties are mandated because of what is lost in the mandating. Yes, we want more people to vote, but we want them to vote because they want to vote, not because they have to. If you cook a dinner that none of your kids want to eat, you can force them to eat it, but a better response might be to investigate what’s wrong with your cooking. If people aren’t voting you need to ask why, not just force them under penalty of law. If we announced that all voters would receive a $1000 check after casting their ballots, I expect we would approach 90% voter participation next election day, even if we implemented voter ID laws. Ultimately the cause is motivation, or more particularly the lack of motivation. We want people to vote because they are passionate about voting, not because they are paid to do so, or fined for failing to.
There are those who exist on a plane where they are too preoccupied with other things to even care what kind of government we have. Young people are often more concerned with newly discovered adulthood than with thinking about how the government they can choose might affect the rest of their lives. New parents are wrapped up with the joys and trials of their children and can neglect to consider how their vote might impact those children’s future. As we move through life, careers, homes, divorces, health issues, and the cares of the world can cause us to neglect the duty we have to help steer the ship of state. But of all the reasons for failing to vote, the one most often referenced is that it really doesn’t matter; one choice is as bad as the other. The political machine is too corrupted and immense to be swayed by you or me. The fix is in, what’s the use of pretending otherwise. These have either surrendered to the tyranny of corruption, or moved on to more subversive tactics; but most often they just try to live out their simple lives without crossing paths with the powers that be, hoping to pass on before Armageddon arrives. One can hardly blame them. It is discouraging to see the sad choices we are given. It is discouraging to see the level of deception and incompetence in both parties. It is discouraging to be lied to, have promises broken, and to be treated as though we are fools. But when trying fails, we need to try harder; not trying means Liberty’s flame cannot be rekindled, and I for one am not ready to accept that.
IMHO: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink; and if you could, you probably shouldn’t… that goes double for human beings. Forcing people to vote is, respectfully, a monumentally dumb idea. If people aren’t motivated enough to get to the polls and cast a meaningful vote, they probably aren’t the ones you want deciding the destiny of your nation. At the same time, we can’t be like the President, putting all the blame on the voters; if we make a more appetizing dinner, the kids will eat it; if we find more appetizing candidates the voters will vote. Beyond that, we need to shrink government down to a size where the voter doesn’t feel so small, corruption doesn’t seem so big, and the ship of state not so impossible to steer.
“There’s a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with a position. I think your position exists to provide these people with freedom. And I go to make sure they have it.”
Braveheart
