Is it really a right? Why should it go into the hands of the masses? If something so important as voting goes to all persons, regardless of their intelligence, etc, how can we know that we've made the best choice at the time?

Any good democratic system have some mecanisms that prevents mob rule.

[ 10-22-2005, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: Stratos ]

We don't know we made the right choices. That's the price we pay for democracy. Hell, I can't even COUNT the number of people I look at or listen to and think, "My God, they have as much say in the next election as I do." It's a scary thought, but that's how things are.

Good topic! The practical side of me says that everyone should not be equal in this regard, but there's a niggling voice at the back of my head reminding me that a lot of people did a lot of dying for the right to vote. Also it probably was the very people we might wish to exclude that did most of the dying...

<font color = lightgreen>Yes, it is most definitely a right. Every should suffer equally. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously, though...there are plenty of people I feel don't deserve the right to vote, but it isn't up to me. So there. If a mob wants their way, regardless of what that way might be, then I say let them have what they want--they'll get exactly what they deserve. </font>

But unfortunately, it means you and I get what the ignorant mob deserves.

<font color = lightgreen>Sometimes...but not always. [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] </font>

hmm, perhaps a mandatory test to prove a basic understanding of civics and how civil society functions before being allowed to vote?

Perhaps that's too close to the Poll tax and how it was used to discriminate against other ethnic groups in the US...

I was thinking mandatory IQ tests and high school (or equivalent) diploma.

What if you don't test well? And, really, you can have a high IQ but absolutely NO COMMON SENSE.