On 07/11/2012 10:45 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:56:14 +0000, Stephen wrote:
>
>> 1/	No one wants to stop existing when they die so the believe in a
>> religion that promises life after death.
>
> I disagree.  There are some who accept that that is the reality of the
> situation (to the best of anyone's actual knowledge), and are OK with
> that.
>

You are right to disagree. I was sloppy with my language.

>
>> BTW I think that the talk in this thread (not you) where some people
>> discuss just how intelligent/wise you should be before you should be
>> allowed to vote, is marching to the sound of the Goose step.
>
> I don't think that's a "Godwin"-worthy comment to make.

I do.

> Objectively, there are ways to measure someone's competence (we do that all the time
> in the courts to determine if someone is 'competent to stand trial'),

True.

> and a measure of competence and understanding of the issues being voted on
> would seem to be a reasonable expectation to set.
>

Obviously it does to people who believe that.
I see it as, if you are a person who is capable of deciding to vote then 
you should get a vote. If not where do you draw the line?
If you deny the vote to people who are not competent then someone might 
decide that if you don’t want to vote for the “right” party then ipso 
facto you are not competent and have the right to vote removed.
It is a slippery slope etc.

> In this election, for example, I was unaware that there were two
> positions being voted on for school boards.  As I was in the voting
> booth, it was too late for me to learn something about those issues, so I
> abstained from voting.  Too many people see choices like that and decide
> that their vote doesn't matter anyways, so they pick a choice at random.
>

I often wonder if picking politicians at random would be any worse than 
picking one who put themselves forward.


>
> We require demonstrated competence for driving a motor vehicle and for
> many other things we do in our daily lives.  If providing proof of
> citizenship is such a high priority, certainly it seems that providing
> reasonable proof of competence also should be a high priority.

Have you read any Robert Heinlein and do you agree with his views?


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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