Mandatory voting

[popeyespappy]

The only argument I can think of that is valid is the following - Sometimes a lot of people don't vote, and as a result (at least it happens in Europe) politicians are elected by 40-50% of the population, and since everyone votes for different parties some politicians only have the support of 20-25% of the population - This violates the principle of democracy because in theory the majority didn't vote for the current government.

I'm just trying to lay out the pros and cons, but why do you think specifically that it should be mandatory - What benefits do you see?

Voter turnout in the US for the 2014 election cycle was less than 37%.

The benefit would be forcing a change of leadership. As others have pointed out that might not be good but something needs to be done. The last time the US congress had an approval rating above 50% was 2003. They have been running at less than 20% since 2011. Most Americans think congress is doing a shitty job and major changes need to take place. That doesn't happen though because most voters think their individual representatives are doing a good job. It's everybody else that is fucked up. Maybe forcing people to the polls will get some new people up there.