Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dagger

In the following chapter, Dagger goes on to explain the problems of apathy and how they play a role in a consumer model of democracy as well as republican liberalism. In the consumer model, voting is seen as a way to pursue one's interests and preferences, and he claims that low turnout can blurr those preferences. On the other side, republican liberalism and apathy are at odds because civic participation and community involvement are essential to the idea of republican liberalism. Dagger then goes on to give the example/possiblity of Instant Direct Democracy. It is very interesting to see how he explains the process. I have to agree with him that this might be conceivable, but not desirable. Although the idea effective and it would provide for most participation, it would take away from the greater benefits that come with participation such as duscourse, discussion and interaction with others. One of the disadvatanges of this system is the inablity of people to understand the complexity of issues and their effects. This reminds me of Jasmine's point today, how some should't vote because they do not have the skills, etc. I don't think Dagger would go as far as Jasmine, but he claims that this direct democracy would give the change for the ill-informed and misinformed to have the same kind of voice as those that have more knowledge of the issues. This may be a disastrous idea. Overall, Dagger uses these disadvantages to prove his larger point. He claims that this kind of instant direct democracy discourages active, public-spirited citizenship, which he claims essential to republican liberalism.

Dagger further talks about compulsory voting. This part I found very interesting. There are countries such as Italy and Australia that follow this model, and their turnouts are very high. In the view of republicansim, Dagger claims, this is a great idea. There are several problems with compulsory voting, such as the restriction on the freedom of the individual. For liberal republicansim to succeed, there has to be a balance, and compulsory voting tips the scale away from the liberal side. He does introduce a possible mediating option, and that is compulsory registration. "The citizen will have a duty to register...but a right to vote." I like this idea; it seems to be the middle ground. By having compulsory registration, there will be emphasis on the importance of civic duty, yet it will not be forced. Dagges claims that those who register themselves, as opposed to those that are registered by the govt., are more likely to vote. Why hasn't the US enacted something similar? It is scary to see how low our turnouts are.

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