[TriLUG] OT: OpenVote

[Pat Regan]

sholton at mindspring.com wrote:
> Pat Regan <thehead at patshead.com> writes:
> 
>>If you can make voting easy enough that people can do it from home would
>>bring us to the point where we it would be possible to have a direct,
>>instead of a representative, democracy.  Election day could be every day.
> 
> How much time did you spend, for the most recent once-every-four-years
> vote researching the #1 issue in that election? How about the #2 issue?
> 

I had a long response written up that I just deleted, I felt I was going
way too far off topic.  I'll try for a quick summary instead.

Personally, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about many
issues.  I have no idea what kind of job Al Gore would have done as
president.  My problem is that my choice was to either vote for him, or
a man who can't pronounce nuclear...  :)

> I'd see the 'election day every day' world as either a world where no one bothers
> to research anything before firing off a vote or a world paralyzed by an 
> electorate that pases laws today based on the color of Katie Couric's blouse
> and rescinds them tomorrow on the forecast of light rain..
> 

I would hope no one would be encouraged to vote on every issue.  In
fact, I would hope just the opposite.  For instance, 95% of the general
public doesn't know what the DMCA means.  They should probably just
ignore it and let the 5% who understand the implications make the
decision.

> It's perhaps worth study, but I'll venture not likely to happen in my
> lifetime.

I agree that it is worth study, and I believe we could take baby steps.
 How much different might previous elections have turned out if you
moved issues like abortion, gay marriage, and things involving "the war
on terror" directly onto our shoulders?

What politician would pass a law taking power away from them? :)

Pat
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