Name: York !TnfC957mQY 2005-08-23 13:12
Why the fuck not?
It would not be based on educational degrees, or on income, race, sex etc. It would center around exactly how well you know the candidates. For example: every voter is entitled to one vote, as per usual. It would be a (relatively) simple matter for an informed adult to test into a second vote, by articulating their political views, and demonstrating a certain degree of knowledge of all principal presidential and congressional candidates. You could test into three or more votes (maybe four or five) only by demonstrating a knowledge of every candidate on every field on the ballot at your polling place (with legal allowances if a couple of them bite it right before an election). This process would have to be completed by interested registered voters for each new election, thus cutting down on gimme-votes-only the dedicated and informed would get their precious status votes, and good for them. It would spark comparable numbers of conservatives and liberals, all vying for better-than-you votes, to actually KNOW things about THINGS. Partisan bickering would get the acceptable "tests" (I envision simple, unambiguous, multiple choice questions, which we would all bitch about endlessly) to an acceptable place.
I mean, shit, we already have weighted voting in the form of an electoral college. Let's just make our priorities explicit, and base them on something that actually matters.
It would not be based on educational degrees, or on income, race, sex etc. It would center around exactly how well you know the candidates. For example: every voter is entitled to one vote, as per usual. It would be a (relatively) simple matter for an informed adult to test into a second vote, by articulating their political views, and demonstrating a certain degree of knowledge of all principal presidential and congressional candidates. You could test into three or more votes (maybe four or five) only by demonstrating a knowledge of every candidate on every field on the ballot at your polling place (with legal allowances if a couple of them bite it right before an election). This process would have to be completed by interested registered voters for each new election, thus cutting down on gimme-votes-only the dedicated and informed would get their precious status votes, and good for them. It would spark comparable numbers of conservatives and liberals, all vying for better-than-you votes, to actually KNOW things about THINGS. Partisan bickering would get the acceptable "tests" (I envision simple, unambiguous, multiple choice questions, which we would all bitch about endlessly) to an acceptable place.
I mean, shit, we already have weighted voting in the form of an electoral college. Let's just make our priorities explicit, and base them on something that actually matters.