Compulsory Voting: A Bad Idea Whose Time Should Never Come

Really, really stupid. And fascistic:

Not enough people vote. It’s a perennial source of concern in American politics. There’s no shortage of reforms designed to address the problem, but one idea that seems particularly promising, at least in theory, is compulsory voting. It would produce much higher turnout for the obvious reason that it requires people to vote. It’s long been dismissed, though, as an impossible pipe dream, unlikely to ever happen in the United States. But if reformers were to start at the municipal level, they could set into motion forces that might lead to its nationwide adoption.

First off, who cares if you vote? The United States began its life as a democratic republic by deliberating restricting the franchise to those who had a stake in the game; a nation of goodie-voting freeloaders terrified the Founders. Second, a source of concern to whom? Why, to the Left, of course, whose power rests on hordes of low-information voters with their mouths open and their hands out. Third, just in case you think this notion is too crazy ever to be adopted, remember that there is nothing too stupid or too destructive for the Left to advocate. If you doubt this, just look at the White House.

There are many policies that, if implemented, would increase turnout. Extended early and absentee voting would lengthen the period for casting ballots. Automatic voter registration would add drivers to the rolls when they apply for licenses. And moving Election Day to Saturday would make it easier for full-time employees to participate. But the most obvious way to get more people to vote doesn’t attract nearly enough attention. It’s to oblige people to vote.

Compulsory voting isn’t as draconian as it sounds. No one is dragged to the polls against his or her will, and no one is thrown in jail for refusing to cast a ballot. Instead, a modest fine (about $20 in Australia) is levied on people who fail to show up and have no good excuse for their absence. There also isn’t any danger of political speech being compelled—a no-no under the First Amendment. People are free to do what they like with their ballots, including turning them in blank.

There’s a reason that the Unholy Left flees like vampires from the Host when confronted with the fact that the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was both socialist and fascist. Because so is the National Socialist American Workers’ Party, aka the Democrats.

Read the whole thing to see the Leftist road map toward national compulsory voting at the link. And if you think their taste for compulsion can be slaked by voting, think again.