Live show discussion?

[ramram]

(First, i am canadian and have little knowledge on american politics, since this is a universal fourm, keep the ideas general, ie democracy as a whole)

Topics discussed:

Getting rid of representative parties

Relative voting

X: The population can vote on anything forming there society to fit them.
Y: People are uneducated in politics and this would lead to a crooked system.
X:... make only the educated allowed to vote?... population now has a direct reason to be educated.

Should we have representative parties?
Should even the uneducated be allowed to vote?
Should we even vote on ideas or come to an agreement what is best for everyone?

Let the ball roll....

fellow pogonian
-ramram

[blingpunjabi]

I found this as a very interesting discussion and I'm happy I stayed to watch the end of the show to hear it.

I kind of agree that representatives are needed due to the fact that there are SO many people that have no idea whats going on in the government at all. For example, I'm a junior in high school and I feel that I'm more informed about government and politics than my parents. And I'm not even legal to vote yet.

There should be some sort of representative system in the government, seeing how a direct vote from the public would simply not be balanced due to the number of uneducated people. Maybe if only certain people were allowed to vote or something? I mean don't get me wrong, I really hate the idea of having people make our descions, but it just wouldn't be fair to have people who have absolutely no idea what's going on contribute to a vote that is for an important descsion.

Maybe if there was a solution to prevent people who aren't educated on the situation from voting?

[ramram]

perfect... this is what i was trying to get at, thank you

registered voters should take a test to see if they have a minimum knowledge about political organization... however than the test can be biassed

what about.. you can only vote if.. for example you have taken passed politics 101.. or something in a basic in a college program

i believe that the educated least biased people should run a country

open minded leaders taking a bit of everything

Moderation in everything is good no?

thanks, stay awesome
-ramram

[DreamLurker]

Yes I think representatives are needed but blingpunjabi had stated it is because some people have absolutely no knowledge of government or what would be best for people and I think this is where some might only be thinking of what would be best for them in terms of what could benefit them the most. So if Ramram's idea of having passed a certain class or have taken some kind of test allow you to vote on something it would be better but also, I feel at least, that it's possibly demeaning those who might have knowledge about it but either can't afford it or something of that nature and a test would have to be graded by someone and this someone can favor someone or another and it's hard to say who and who should not be running it.

But what you are saying yes! The least biased people should run a country but, isn't that what we were aiming for in the beginning and then corruption came into play, taking kickbacks and whatnot so even open-minded people might not always be the right answer but the direction is a good idea and I think maybe we should get back to basics and as Dan was saying last night do something new. Basically strip this government down to it's bare bones and possibly rework another form of government.

[mrmrmr8]

Im sorry, but i think it should just stay the same way. Saying only some people can vote is unconstitutional.

[Cortney]

Mar 24, 2010 14:35:49 GMT -5 mrmrmr8 said:

Im sorry, but i think it should just stay the same way. Saying only some people can vote is unconstitutional.

In the original Constitution, women and black folks couldn't vote.

I'm not that I agree OR disagree with you, I'm just saying things change. ;P

[DreamLurker]

Haha true Cortney and also I'm not saying they can't vote. I'm saying unless you have a certain knowledge it would be right to the rest of the population to let you vote because your knowledge of politics is so minimal that it might do more harm then good and that might even help people to become MORE politically aware.

[Nakor]

Despite the possibility of changing the constitution, I can't imagine taking the vote away from uneducated people would be a terribly good idea. Yes, there are a lot of problems with the representative system, but it would be a lot better than throwing all that power at large-scale votes among the people.

Now what I could see myself accepting is that votes for certain large changes would need to pass a vote across the entire population. For example, here in British Columbia for an election reform to pass, there has to be a public vote on it which must receive a 60% majority from those who vote. Very few things require that public vote, in no small part due to how incredibly expensive that can be, but I could see my way around having a few other major changes voted on that way.

Don't forget that the representatives don't just vote on bills either. They have to build them from the ground up. It's not just about being educated, it's about being educated specifically in politics. And you should also not forget that a lot of bills pass on a regular basis. It's not just occasional big ones like health care, there are bills being proposed and voted on on a nearly constant basis. Far too many to have a public vote on every one.

What I have always wished for was that members of Parliament (the US equivalent being members of the House of Representatives iirc) had a method by which they could easily and inexpensively poll their electoral district (in Canada the country is split into regions of roughly equal population, each region voting in one member of the House of Commons to represent them) and then cast their vote based on the needs and desires of the district that voted them in -- the district that they are supposed to be representing -- rather than merely voting along party lines, as often happens both in Canada and in the US.

[mrmrmr8]

Mar 24, 2010 22:30:28 GMT -5 Cortney said:

Mar 24, 2010 14:35:49 GMT -5 mrmrmr8 said:

I'm sorry, but i think it should just stay the same way. Saying only some people can vote is unconstitutional.

In the original Constitution, women and black folks couldn't vote.

I'm not that I agree OR disagree with you, I'm just saying things change. ;P

I'm not talking about the original constitution, I'm talking about the Constitution with all the changes.