voting: right or privilege

[onenote]

I haven't been able to watch the debate today. Did any of the repugs argue that voting is a privilege not a right? I think that's what they believe, but I wonder if they have the nerve to say it. I bet you hear it from the O'Reilly/Hannity/Hume crowd....

onenote

[clydefrand]

1. It's both!

[Dhalgren]

2. It's a right, a privilege, and a duty.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. It should be regarded as a duty...and EVERYONE should be required to

show up at the polls..even if they check the "none of the above" option.
This year's record turnout was stil only a bit more than half of the eligible people who could have voted. So what does that say about taxation without representation?

[AllegroRondo]

4. Doesnt Australia have mandatory voting?

I think you can actually be fined for not voting. Anyone know how well this has worked for them?

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I believe they do.

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Same day primaries with ranked voting ballots for the Dems, and
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[Joe Chi Minh]

5. Jesse Jackson, Jnr

went right to the core of the problem of redressing the villainy in your elections, when he prioritized the necessity for the right to vote to become a citizenship right and a federal matter, rather than coming under the aegis of the individual States, to be incorporated in the Constitution.

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Incidentally,

I think that when Democratic politicians hold forth on the subject of democracy, they need to make the connection between "democracy" and "the people", by immediate apposition. In the abstract it is inevitaby disembodied and dry; it needs to be incarnated for better effect on heart and mind.