Here we go again.
Every couple of years, this seems to come up again. You know, the idea that we need to consolidate our polling places into one warehouse to make things easier for the County to administer election day.
While I am all for efficiency, I am not persuaded. Putting more tsuris on the voter is not the answer to declining participation at the polls. Instead of treating the franchise like an onerous burden, we need to remember that our democracy depends on its vibrancy.
Let me be clear; it was a mistake and a shanda to decrease the amount of polling places as was done several years ago. Neighborhood voting should be encouraged.
Our county clerk and recorder seems to want to push us all to mail ballots. While this would make her job easier, it is no good as an answer to her logistical difficulties. Over the past ten years, our country has been moving more and more toward voting-by-mail and as a result, the principle of the secret ballot has suffered. Your vote is your vote; there needs to be no question as to whether you were able to vote your conscience when presented with your ballot.
There may be no law requiring neighborhood voting. However, there is no law requiring common sense, either. Resigning our community to have to either wait in long lines in a confusing warehouse environment or to vote by mail will only decrease participation in the polls. It is a bad idea and deserves to be thrown out again.
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Why encourage voting? You cannot legislate morality because to do so would defeat the purpose of morality - it must come from the heart. In the same vein, you should not enact legislation to encourage people to vote. People should vote of their own volition. Democracy works best when the voters feel they have a vested interest in their society and express that interest through their vote. If they choose not to do so then perhaps democracy is not the correct form of government for our times.
Make voting as difficult as getting a college degree in Political Science, and America will be a saner place to live. Seems that Treasure State Jew wants even more uneducated adults to vote. God help America!
America is shifting from a representative republic to a dictatorship maintaining the guise of a representative republic. Much like the Romans di in the times of Augustus. The difference is, we are waiting for our Augustus.
Guess they didn't hear y'all.
Apparently didn't care much, either.
Agreed. Your hero George W. Bush is a modern day Augustus.
And where did that come from? Anon, I think you need to investigate your sources.
Now who's being niave, Aaron?
Anon;
No, I don't think I am naive at all. You might be right about the track our country is taking. I hope you are not. However, I try to stay away from national politics in this particular venue.
In any case, you need to investigate your sources before you make assumptions about whom I consider a hero and whom I do not. In these pages, I have mentioned that Einstein and Sagan are heroes. Never mentioned a politician, though.
Fair enough question; you can tell a lot about a person by who he considers a hero. If I restrict myself to US Presidents, the list would be small, indeed.
I have a great deal of respect for Jefferson and Lincoln. I don't know if that respect rises to the level of hero, however.
I also think that Jackson and Roosevelt (FD) deserve to be on a short list. Neither of them are heroes, but I respect their accomplishments.
We haven't had a President I consider respectable since the TV made the office a beauty pageant. Let alone any heroes.
You make some interesting points. I was just busting balls by the way. I never saw you as a GWB supporter. I was particularly interested in your point regarding the TV making the office of president a beauty pagent. On the surface (I have not done any independent research on this subject) that seems true to me. It would also suggest that the possibility of real leadership emerging within this system would be unlikely - although not impossible. I fear that the system will continue to degrade until the mold is broken by some American Augustus. This could possibly harken a rebirth of culture and power at the expense of liberty. My train of thought has reached the station.
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