Prerequisites for universal suffrage

[Archon_Wing]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It wouldn't really take much mental capacity at all.


[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly, poor people wouldn't be hurt by it at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then is it really worth the trouble? I think my own suggestion would do more and would cause less hassle. But the point of contention of here is that assertion that poor people have less time to do stuff, etc. My feeling is that a lot of people don't already vote, so this will make things even more difficult.

What problem are you trying to deal with here?

[Money2Burn]

Not really a problem, I had just stated earlier that I thought it might do some good to institute some sort of civics type test about our country that people had to pass in order to be able to vote. My feeling, which comes from my own experience, was that the more knowledge you have the better decisions you can make. Then someone asserted that this test would only hurt the poor people, but I don't really think so. Anyway, I don't feel strongly enough about this issue to keep arguing about it, so I will bow out and resume my reading of all the intelligent posters in this forum.

[Archon_Wing]

[ QUOTE ]
Not really a problem, I had just stated earlier that I thought it might do some good to institute some sort of civics type test about our country that people had to pass in order to be able to vote. My feeling, which comes from my own experience, was that the more knowledge you have the better decisions you can make. Then someone asserted that this test would only hurt the poor people, but I don't really think so. Anyway, I don't feel strongly enough about this issue to keep arguing about it, so I will bow out and resume my reading of all the intelligent posters in this forum.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which brings us to the core of the problem. Stuff about civics and the government processed should have been taught in school, but obviously it's not being taught that well. That's only natural though; in my experience critical thinking was not really something touched upon in high school, and that is necessary for proper decision making. Thus you have people looking in terms of black and white. A "right" and "wrong" answer without analysis. Come to think about it, maybe some people do view a voting form the same manner as they would a test. (Voting is necessary to sustain a democracy (T/F))

So, maybe we do need a test-- in school. Instead of that "A for effort in regurgitation" nonsense [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

But truth be told, there are a lot of folks out there who I really don't want making decisions. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] But it's a risk of the system we have.

And looking at my voting booklet, the whole thing does seem rather drab and opaque. Perhaps, larger and more colorful text would actually get people to read the stuff more clearly. And plainer words as well! I'm actually being quite serious here-- there could be a lot to be done to make materials more accessible. Indeed, spelling things out to people saves us from so much trouble, although yea, it's not always successful.

Cheers!