Australia up next: Federal election tomorrow

[EricHiggin]

SvennoJ said:

EricHiggin said:

As to "validity", I agree, but this then also opens the door to things like a minimum age change.

Who really believes an 18 year old is wise enough and well informed enough to vote? They aren't now, and we weren't back then either. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote", only really makes sense if you're forced to fight. If you've chosen to fight, that's simply your choice. There was good reason why min voting ages were higher in the past, or not even based on age, and while people may argue that, today, we're more educated and have more info at our fingertips, that doesn't necessarily make you more intelligent overall or less prone to being fooled in a world of free, instant social media, where reasonable consequences for those trying to fool you don't really exist.

I'm not for being forced to vote either, but I don't necessarily see any of these rules as black and white, right or wrong. As long as the majority decides and agrees on them then that's acceptable since it would be their choice, assuming they're free to leave as well if they disagree.

Depends on the education. I was far more informed about politics and aware of the political process at age 18. I grew up in The Netherlands and political science was part of the curriculum. Schools also did mock votes (at least in my time) and then compared the school's results to the nation wide results.

So yeah I believe I was far more qualified to cast a vote at age 18 than now with the way the media distorts everything. 

Sorry to say, but today we are less educated :( The quality of education my kids receive here in Canada is woeful to what I got in high school in The Netherlands. Since Covid education is a joke. My kid (currently in high school) only has 8 subjects a year. Two semesters with 4 subjects a day, the same 4 every day. I never see him do much homework either, gets it all done in school.

I had 6 or 7 different subjects a day, different every day, 3 trimesters. (Of course as a tiny country, French, German and English were all mandatory subjects) No time to do homework in school, 1-3 hours a day after getting home.

And of course nowadays kids all use chatgtp, google, copy-paste, you tube. We had to read books, write on paper without a backspace button and go to the library for information! I don't understand now how I had the time for all that and still go over to friend's houses to play video games lol.


But sure, validity is questionable with any system. It's far too easy to manipulate people with shady ads. At least with a compulsory vote you have everyone show up, not just the ones that want the immigrants out or whatever negative voting point politicians are pushing.

Well I was basing it more so on Canadian edu. As you've found out, our edu sucks, and has for a long time. Wasn't much different in HS for me. We had 2 semesters, 8 subs per semester, 4 subs one week, 4 more the next, back and forth. About 1 hr homework per night on average. Politics was barely taught and was done as a part of history class, and very few students took it seriously because there was a general mindset amongst young people that politics didn't matter, for different reasons, and teachers or parents didn't really seem to care much that the kids didn't care, which just reinforced the mindset. Same with French class, nobody paid attention, and nobody seemed to care much. French teachers were always terrible at their job which didn't help either. Sounds like I had it better than you, but worse than your kids, or maybe it's the other way around, and you had it best.

Manipulating people get's just that much easier when there's only one political view in the news, or when one political side is always cast as the 'bad guys'. Compulsory vote with a bunch of people who don't really know who or what they're voting for isn't any better, and could totally be far worse. What do you do when you only have a few parties, and all options are clearly terrible? You force yourself to submit to that? That's not what democracy is supposed to be, and just because it may not be clear that moment has come yet, doesn't mean it won't or can't, so why put yourself in that position to begin with, if you didn't have to? Force is always the last choice in a true democracy.