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Originally Posted by DJ Happy
I countered his argument by saying that his criteria would segregate voting in terms of financial ability rather than intelligence as there are plenty of bright, well-informed people who did not or were unable to attend university, and that many of degrees on offer do not require that much brain-power in order to pass (see: Golf Studies at Southampton University).
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There are also plenty of intelligent people who choose not to go, and a lot of people who go to spend a few years getting shit-faced at their parents expense.
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Originally Posted by DJ Happy
But it did get me thinking. After all, there are plenty of uninformed, "intellectually challenged" (how's that for a PC term?) people who hold my fate and the fate of my country in their hands. How do they know what's best for the country?
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They don't, and neither do you.
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Originally Posted by DJ Happy
Should tabloid readers who simply regurgitate the views of the nation's rags be allowed to vote? Or those who base their views on "documentaries" made by the likes of Michael Moore? Or those people who know nothing about anything but will vote for a particular candidate because of a long standing and unjustifed party affiliation?
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I'm glad it isn't up to you who is allowed to vote. Graduates automatically read broadsheets? Tabloid readers aren't capable of critical thinking?
Who do you trust when it comes to this kind of information? If there's a news source that is totally impartial then I don't know of it.
I would say knowledge of party policy is just as important as intelligence as you can't make a valid decision without the facts. Even then, how can you possibly know which parts of policy will actually take effect, which will be successful and which will just change.
The only way you could enforce the kind of thing you're talking about is by having the entire electorate take an exam before each election. People can vote for who they want for any reason they want, that is democracy. If the people currently in power held the view "you can't vote if you think differently to us", we'd be living in Stalin's Russia.