We're not in disagreement, but we're talking about two different things: People's responsibility to balance their own budgets, and people's responsibility, as citizens, to vote and communicate their informed priorities to their elected representatives. Your comment on Wednesday addressed the former; your comment last night pertains to the latter. I fully hold the American people responsible for the clusterf* that we're in, on account of our abdication of our civic duty. Elected representatives get away with catering to special interests when they know that the special interests will hold them accountable, but constituents may not. Lobbyists know exactly how much of the budget goes to their interest; many citizens think 50 percent goes to foreign aid. As I'd written last night, our collective ignorance and apathy, and often misguided, selective rage, are largely behind this mess.
You know, before I had the roommate from hell, I had, for over four years, a great roommate with whom I got along great. But I lost profound respect for him in 2004 when he told me that he didn't vote. In that election, in Virginia! He shrugged it off, said that it's not like it would make a difference for the issues he cared about, which were education and the environment. Really? Now just think about all the people all around the country just like him: they care about issues, but can't be bothered to get out and vote. We all pay the price of their choices.
Some countries have mandatory voting. In Australia, you get fined. In Bolivia, they garnish something like half your wages. There are doubts about that system: would you just have a bunch of people showing up to vote without doing the research? Would more people actually bother to inform themselves, since they're going to vote anyway? Is it even politically feasible to suggest something like this? Something to think about.
What is IRL?
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Actually, I love mandatory voting. You'd think it would encourage more dumb people to vote, but when I was in Japan, I was impressed by how informed my Australian friends were b/c they had to vote, and I really do think it's been to Australia's benefit. Back in my 20s, I used to only vote in "important elections": governor or president and I was always surprised how some sense of civic responsibility kicked in during those times leading me to actually read up on the other stuff I would be voting on, even if I didn't care about the candidates or the proposed tax or law, so that I could make an informed decision when I voted. I absolutely think that voting should be compulsory for both Congress and the people of America.
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