Compulsory Voting

Is it correct to force someone to participate in an election? Since 1918, Australia has made voting a mandatory citizen duty. However, in the United States, there is a voluntary voting system set in place.   For the United States, voting is an extremely important part of what makes up our democratic government. For the federal elections in 2008, only 56.8% of the voting age population voted. In fact this number was up tremendously from the 2006 elections. If our government were to enforce voting, there would be a dramatic change in the people elected and how the government is run.
A large problem with the United States population is the lack of direct involvement in the government. Although we are able to elect officials to represent us, sometimes it is difficult to make clear on what exactly they stand for. If there were more “everyday” people apart of the government, especially congress, then maybe we would see a rise in voter participation. Because people feel disengaged, they do not see the point in taking time out of their busy day in order to vote. Additionally, it is hard to trust the people representing us when many times there are scandals that deal with congress men and women. Between lack of trust and lack of time, it is difficult for America to have a full turn out come voting time.
If people in America were forced to vote, this might result in many changes with who is elected into office. Citizens will take more of an initiative to learn about people running for elections and how they will affect the everyday life of everyone. In order for our democracy to survive, the people need to have an interest in it.   Additionally, voluntary voting makes the election more expensive because the candidates have to work much harder in order to earn people’s votes. With the amount of money spent by each candidate there are many other ways it could be spent to help the poor of America. Also, the   negative “mudslinging” advertisements where politicians point out...