Should Voting Be Mandatory in the United States Essay Example
Voting Debate CON
“If we force everyone to vote, the electorate will become even more irrational and misinformed.” It is because I agree with Jason Brennan in this position that mandatory voting would be an invasion of our freedom and would cause ignorant voting. I feel compelled to negate today’s resolution that voting in general elections should be mandatory in the United States. Our ancestors fought for our freedom and there is no reason that we should be taking any of that away. We have the right to vote and the government should not force it upon us. We have a right to vote and we should have the freedom to exercise that right whether we would like to or not. Choice and freedom is something that we pride ourselves of. Why go against that and force or make anyone to do anything. Making the United States for compulsory voting would be unconstitutional. By making voting mandatory we open a gate for all the people who are ignorant to politics. The University of Michigan carried out the most comprehensive survey with The National Election Studies (NES). What these studies showed was that Americans fall into three categories with regard to their political knowledge. A tiny percentage know a lot about politics, up to 50%-60% know enough to answer very simple questions, and the rest know next to nothing. This study just shows how ignorant and uninformed the people of this nation are. Do we really want someone who doesn’t know anything about our candidates to vote the person in who they think, “has the coolest name?” Even something as simple as our former presidents, the people of this nation can be rather clueless. Most today do not know who Herbert Hoover was, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey in 2004. Just 43% could correctly identify him. Only 35% know that Congress can override a presidential veto. Some 49% think the president can suspend the Constitution. Showing how ignorant some people are to just the
“If we force everyone to vote, the electorate will become even more irrational and misinformed.” It is because I agree with Jason Brennan in this position that mandatory voting would be an invasion of our freedom and would cause ignorant voting. I feel compelled to negate today’s resolution that voting in general elections should be mandatory in the United States. Our ancestors fought for our freedom and there is no reason that we should be taking any of that away. We have the right to vote and the government should not force it upon us. We have a right to vote and we should have the freedom to exercise that right whether we would like to or not. Choice and freedom is something that we pride ourselves of. Why go against that and force or make anyone to do anything. Making the United States for compulsory voting would be unconstitutional. By making voting mandatory we open a gate for all the people who are ignorant to politics. The University of Michigan carried out the most comprehensive survey with The National Election Studies (NES). What these studies showed was that Americans fall into three categories with regard to their political knowledge. A tiny percentage know a lot about politics, up to 50%-60% know enough to answer very simple questions, and the rest know next to nothing. This study just shows how ignorant and uninformed the people of this nation are. Do we really want someone who doesn’t know anything about our candidates to vote the person in who they think, “has the coolest name?” Even something as simple as our former presidents, the people of this nation can be rather clueless. Most today do not know who Herbert Hoover was, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey in 2004. Just 43% could correctly identify him. Only 35% know that Congress can override a presidential veto. Some 49% think the president can suspend the Constitution. Showing how ignorant some people are to just the