 Can Democracy be Compulsory?In Australia every person 18 years and over must enroll to vote, and at each state and federal election each registered voter (everyone baring long term prisoners) must turn up at a polling booth and have their name ruled off the list, collect a ballot paper and vote. I f one is out of the country, an invalid or has other reasons that would make it difficult for them to vote they can do a postal vote or an absentee vote. All must vote, and if one does not financial penalties apply. For all my voting life I have been one of the keenest advocates of this system, especially in a rather apathetic nation as Australia. It meant that those elected could truly say they represented the voting power of all the adult citizens. It forced people (I believed) to be concerned with the way their country was being run, and I hoped it encouraged a interest in others and political affairs. It also prevented those with a vested interest in power from dominating public power. Intelligent friends from the UK, where voting is not compulsory had made good but until now not convincing arguments that compulsory voting was at the least unnecessary. They had said when a change in government was truly needed people turned out in their droves to vote, and when things were going smoothly they don't need to interrupt their normal lives with political concerns. The most recent Australian federal election has made me reconsider my life long faith in compulsory voting. The Australian Liberal Party won the election two weeks ago, gaining more seats and perhaps a majority in the senate (which has not happened for a long time), giving them more power than ever before. This was in an election I believed along with most educated people would be at the very least close, and could quite possibly (and should have) been won by the Labor Party. The major contributing factor seems to be interest rates, the Liberal Party ran an advertising scare campaign, saying that under the previous labor governments interest rates were much higher and now they are very low. In a country obsessed with home ownership this hit Australinas a lot closer to home than other major issues, such as the war in Iraq, health care, refugees, etc. It didn't seem to matter that what was being implied was false. It is true that under the Hawke and Keating governments interest rates were much higher, but this was due to many (global) factors, and the major contributing factor to the current low levels of Australian interest rates is the low US rates, which is completely out of the Australian governments power, no matter from which party they come from. At the very least the cause of high or low interest rates is arguable, but people in this past election seemed to take a small implied relationship, labor = high interest rates, liberal = low interest rates, and believed it, and voted accordingly. Is the electorate stupid? Well I'm sure some are, but I really think people don't care to know more about interest rates or any other political matter, and don't really care to vote. So perhaps they shouldn't. If people are going to make ill informed, knee jerk voting decisions that effect the lives of all, they shouldn't vote, for they just make life harder for us that do care. It seems now time for compulsory voting to be abolished, and let the stupid sheep watch Australian Idol instead. David Campbell Editor |
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