Should the ignorant be urged to vote? Declining voter turnout (voter apathy) is worrying since it reduces the legitimacy of democratic outcomes. But a growing number of Canadians (60%, in 2007) now don`t understand how our parliamentary democracy works. Also, more people respond emotionally to (and vote based on) slogans, misinformation, and fear-mongering than actually spending the time to analyze facts and make rational decisions. So...should these people be encouraged to vote? Do we really want a government elected by people who were only harassed to "do their civic duty" but who know little of the actual issues?
(or does this point to the need to increase public education and awareness of issues?)
That's why they're targeting students and encouraging them to vote, and then mass media-ing to force them into one decision. Personally, I've been hearing way too much trashing against the Conservatives, and I wonder how much of it is true and whether there's some foul play going on. How can I tell whether these are true or false? Even worse, I see it way too often on Facebook for example my friends expressing their clearly biased opinion on a certain article trashing (again) the Conservatives. All this is just driving a one-sided election. I just feel like these self opinions should be kept to oneself, and just share the article. Even though the article may be biased, it just won't feel as uncomfortable to me than hearing a strong opinion from a friend. Just my little rant.
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