Earning the Vote

[The Grand Nudger]

For alot of us, any test would just be an extra barrier to prove we have the right to cast a vote that cannot matter.

People who are convinced that votes don't matter aren't likely to vote at all. So, not much of a barrier.  It's kind of like being convinced that skydiving is too dangerous, then bitching that parachutes are out of your price range.

Boru

It's not really an issue of simply being convinced as it is being plain and simply true by design.  That's what we murricans are always bitching about when we talk about extreme gerrymandering.  About cracking and packing. That much is assuming that a party you would vote for even runs a candidate where you are, too... but often enough, they don't - because gerrymandering makes it a waste of funding.

It's weird over here, obvs. We seem to realize all these problems and then, mystifyingly, we insist that voting is the solution. Voting is a solution to all sorts of things....but only if you vote in a system where votes can matter. Even if we solved all of that, and even in a thread titled "earning the vote" precious little thought is given to politicians and parties earning the vote. Because that's not actually how it works here. They don't earn shit and don't have to, and will make sure that they don't have to, if they ever worry they might.

So, you know, it's our fault. There's something wrong with the citizens. They.....they...should have to earn the right to vote for someone they don't want to vote for in a contest where their vote can not matter, though that person need do nothing to earn that vote - and it's factual meaningless is irrelevant to the browbeaters. Brilliant, no notes.

So here's my suggestion. We can come up with as many tests and qualifications as we like. All of them, every one, will apply to parties and politicians, not voters. For example...politicians must demonstrate basic competence and understanding of issues. It's their job to communicate this shit to us, not our job to be experts. We can hook politicians up to a polygraph when they describe their policies and supposed benefits. We can demand that politicians have served - civil or military. We can demand that politicians take a quiz every time before they cast a vote. I bet that leads to real change, and more change...quicker...than any disenfranchisement scheme.

That we even find ourselves asking these questions today is because a con man and carnival barker lied on his resume....and then we met george santos.