Prerequisites for universal suffrage

[garcia1000]

Hey guys,

This is my first post in this forum. I wanted to ask you guys about universal suffrage. Basically it means 'one person one vote' and stuff, like democracies do.

What do you think is the minimum educational requirement for it to be, on balance, a better thing for a country than alternative methods of government?

Should countries err on the side of introducing it too early (e.g. Philippines) or on the side of introducing it too late (e.g. South Korea)?

I thought of this when re-reading an old article on Bhutan (link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5f68d3e6-f...b5df10621.html )

Would love to hear your opinions!

[VayaConDios]

Looks like someone has a term paper due.

[bobman0330]

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I thought of this when re-reading an old article on Bhutan

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lol

[MuresanForMVP]

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Looks like someone has a term paper due.

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hahaha please let this be the reason for the op

[Low Key]

I would like to see a "One foot, one vote" policy implemented, where you get to vote once for every foot tall you are. Then we could be ruled by the tallest of us, ala Invader Zim.

[garcia1000]

I have a folder of interesting links saved. I thought of it when I was reading this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7025675.stm

It is written by BBC, a liberal media lapdog crony overmind who hates America.

[Money2Burn]

There should be some sort of test people had to take to be able to qualify for voting. Like a civics test of some sort. I wonder what kind of effect the implementation of a test, especially if it was hard, would have on politics in this country?

[JayTee]

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There should be some sort of test people had to take to be able to qualify for voting. Like a civics test of some sort. I wonder what kind of effect the implementation of a test, especially if it was hard, would have on politics in this country?

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I could probably pass it, but I'd never find out.

[iron81]

We tried that. They were called literacy tests and they were part and parcel with Jim Crow as a way to keep black people poor and disenfranchised and thus unrepresented.

The problem with the OPs suggestion is that people tend to vote their own interests no matter how uneducated they are. I think a good example of this is laws restricting teenage driving. If politicians get wind that a certain category of people can't hurt them at the ballot box, the mind they pay their interests pretty much goes to zero.

[garcia1000]

I am more thinking on the line of prerequisites for a country to introduce universal suffrage. For example, if you introduce it in a country where the citizens are totally unready for it, it could do more harm than good.