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Originally Posted by Charlatan
If political campaigning is so deleterious to the public's ability to make a clear and reasoned choice, why not ban campaigning. OK, too far, correct? Perhaps there is something to be said here.
Why not ban all ads and not just the ones paid for by the candidate. Also ones by organizations like moveon.org and Swift Boat types... Allow, all the stump speeches, debates, campaign signs, etc. But ban all other forms of advertising.
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Why is banning campaigning too far? It takes up elected officials time (espeically for House members who only have 2 year terms and are essentially constantly campaigning). I would agree with what you propose.
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In addition to this, increase spending on Education of the people. A democracy (or whatever sort of system you wish to call the American one) requires a well informed populace. Part of this comes from the schools system, the other part of this is supposed to come from a free press. Sadly, our informed populace is at the mercy of spin doctors and modern advertising. We are all subject to this, no exceptions (see Art's thread on this here: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...t=mind+control).
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A republic doesn't require an informed populace. Also, many people either have no desire or aren't able to be educated.
The only thing I can see that will come of limiting the vote to those who can qualify is that it will likely end up with a higher percentage of higher income earners, property owners and educational elite deciding the fate of the nation and excluding those who don't have the time to take the test or the inclination to study for it.[/QUOTE]