h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

actually for the last US presidential election the number was withing 0.1% of half voted.

Probably in part because the vote was predicted to be a very close one. But it's obvious that there are still a lot of people in the US that feel excluded from the process, and cynicism about who the politicians *really* represent is an important factor in this.

Noggin

I don't think that the corruption would be as great as it is if people would get of their fat, lazy butts and make use of their franchise.

Isn't there a country that fines people for not voting?

I say if you don't vote (barring unforseen accident or emergency) you lose your citizenship.

"Isn't there a country that fines people for not voting?"

Australia has compulsary voting. To be honest I think it is quite a good idea provided there is a "None of the above" box. If people didn't want to vote for a candidate then it would have to be a political choice.

Or the Great british option of the spoiled ballot

"writing B***ocks to the lot of you across the form, gives a certain pleasure"

It's a quote but I can't remember who said it.

[BB]

I might spoil my ballot paper at the next GE.

Only trouble is I am starting to get a bit worried that the Tories might actually win ... so I might be forced to vote for that damn Blair again.

"spoil my ballot" just sounds funny.

I'm sort of on the fence about compulsory voting, since you end up with a bunch of idiots who don't know the issues and just vote for the candidate their friends/parents/neighbors do instead of being informed voters.

I like informed voters. They tend to get rid of people like Shrub.

Unfortunately, there are more uninformed voters that informed voters so, we end up with people like Shrub.

This is why I don't like compulsory voting.

Of course, if campaign spending were severely limited, I might go for it.

I'm against compulsory voting but in favour of a none of the above box on the ballot paper.

As for Ferrettbadger we live in more than a two party system ever considered voting Liberal Democrat?

To be honesat DD I think it is a fallacy to suggest that we live in a multi party system. Sure there are more than two parties but due to the nature of the FPP system and social cleavages in this country only Labour or the TOries will ever win an election without voting reform.

Consequently IMHO to vote Lib Dem would be to waste my vote or use it as a protest. Fine if I think the election is sowed up (as for last time... where I voted green as a protest vote) but the next one is going to be close I think. What would I rather have a bad Labour govt or a worse torie one is the question going through my head. The answer for me is bad labour so I will grudgingly vote Labour probably

Apropos of things being discussed here, there is an absorbing article in the latest Atlantic Monthly about the collapse of globalization. I hope someone else here reads it, cos it's fascinating, but I can see conclusions being drawn that I don't know enough to argue back on.

There is also an article in that issue about the cadaver-for-hire business which is just surreal. There really has been a company called "Limbs & Things" .

Did I say Atlantic Monthly?? I meant Harper's.

Its a problem being so well read at time Lil.

I have to read that article.

Speaking of cadavers (not unrelated to the election ), several months ago I read a book called "Stiff"--the author's name escapes me at the moment--about all the ways in which one's body can be used when donated to medical science. Surprisingly for me, I had to stop reading it halfway through because I couldn't take some of the descriptions. I must be getting sensitive in my old age. Anywho, not only is there the usual organ donation business, but you can also be used in plastic surgery school (they cut off your head and use it to practice rhinoplasties and face lifts), the military (the effectiveness of bullets), the auto industry (a very real crash test dummy) and forensic science (they leave you out on a hillside to measure the rate of decomposition). I recommend it to those of the not so faint of heart, as it is very graphic.

I miss the connection to the election in that last post. Unless of course the Shrub is all wooden by connection.

Is there anywhere we can get that online, Lil?

Noggin

I fail to see the connection myself.