By Slanted Light

To be honest, we're told what to do alot less in this country than in any other country I've lived in - certainly less so than in America, for instance, and there I found the "telling" often comes in sneaky ways, rather than openly...

I'm sure you'd get alot of people complaining about being "told to vote" if it was made compulsory here, but I suspect that'd be outweighed by a gradual feeling of greater involvement as the process became more familiar. And I should have added that my grand plan would also make polling day a bank holiday - again, letting people be more involved in the day, giving them time to stand around chatting and discussing it all, and also making them feel rewarded for being a part of the process. People who postively don't want to vote can spoil their papers in protest - and that'd be counted to show exactly how many people are feeling disenfranchised - people who can't be bothered will be encouraged to be bothered, and if they really can't be bothered can choose to pay a fine as they do in Australia (Jaycat explained that aspect well in a post about voting, though I think the lj where she did is locked...) - why, after all, should we reward laziness? Let people get away with laziness? Quite honestly I'm tired of cleaning up after other people who can't be bothered to do their own dishes, or put the dirty teaspoon down in the sink rather than on the counter where it messes up everyone else's work - I don't see politics as being all that different really...