Are you are Enrolled to vote

[magpiesgirl]

What a strange,crazy lot of laws they are.Glad I enrolled when I turned 17 then

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Sure I like to make a difference, but ya know sometimes I just don't feel like it.
It's not mandatory to enrol to vote but once enrolled you must vote. I'd like to have the freedom of being able to refrain as I feel

[member34258]

If you don't vote, then don't complain about anything you think the various governments of Australia should or should not do.

[sherrife]

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. It's called rational ignorance. We impact everything, but are often powerless to control.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_ignorance

[sherrife]

What if everyone follows that delightful excuse for apathy? Kant has a perfect answer for that piece of pseudo-logic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_Imperative

[David]

What's with the title of this thread, it's playing with my mind

As for the above debate, it's hard to justify the rational ignorance line, but it does make sense in some ways. If one starts off with a premise of not wanting to consider the issues, then he is left with two options: either make a blind decision, or make no decision at all. Based on that premise, the latter option must be the better one.

Of course, one could argue that it's wrong to ignore important issues in the first place, but I guess in an odd way we are granted that right.

Also, I know that this argument is quite flawed if viewed hypothetically and logically extended, but we can basically say at the moment that it's not going to make a lot of difference whether Liberal or Labor are elected into government. Both will look after the country well enough, and by abstaining from voting it's really not going to make a whole lot of difference. As I said before, it's not a particularly sound idea in theory, but in our current situation it sort of works.

Actually, most countries in the world have such a system, that is, non-compulsory voting. Those who aren't interested don't vote. So it's not all that terrible a concept.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Like I said, sometimes.
It's not everyday I get up thinking I can change the world, it just so happens that some of those days there's an election on

[sherrife]

It's not every day i get up and want to lift a finger, but it's my duty to myself, to those i love, and to those i try to consider who i don't know.

Can't really sympathise with apathy, laziness, selfishness, or whatever you're trying to argue for mate.

Dave, I think you know clearly enough that the principle is completely self-defeating, and if you accept that it's okay then you're basically saying that being rational and doing what you know is logical isn't important. I don't get the vibe that you're that kind of person, so how about just agreeing with me for once when you said you do anyway

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Ok then, I'll put it this way. If I don't feel that either of the two main parties (lets face it, there's only two parties have a genuine chance of winning) gaining of power would make any profound impact on my day to day existence, would my abstaining from voting make any difference?
Perhaps I'm being naive, admittedly my knowledge of politics is very limited, but I don't always see an overriding difference between the big two.

BTW, I'm not totally with the rational ignorance view, in an atttempt to justify my apathy I found it to be a not too illogical argument, more in jest though than in all seriousness

[David]

[sherrife]

If i started a topic about Collingwood winning the flag in here, would you disagree and said you go for Carlton?

That could be a good way to defeat you, oh nemesis of mine.

[David]

Hey, it's a two-way street, do you ever agree with me?

I'm sure there have been some topics we've agreed on in the past. Right?
The funny thing is, while we're sort of on opposite sides of politics, both of us are fairly moderate (well, it appears so...) - therefore, in theory, we should actually share opinions on a lot of issues.

Of course, feel free to disagree with the above