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From: manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vincent Manis)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Free trade, Canadian culture, $$, Really Democracy
Message-ID: <883@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Mar-87 22:17:02 EST
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.883
Posted: Tue Mar  3 22:17:02 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Mar-87 02:45:07 EST
References: <210@fornax.uucp> <135@radha.UUCP>
Reply-To: manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vincent Manis)
Distribution: can
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science
Lines: 25

In article <135@radha.UUCP> sanand@radha.UUCP (Sanand Patel) writes:

>As an aside, in a (free) country where there is low voter turnout, I
>would infer that most are *happy* as things are. As voter turnout
>increases, I would infer that the (any) country is in trouble/turmoil.
>Countries that are in turbulent times/troubled times have a *very* high
>turnout >90%. [see also Megatrands by ?? for stats only].

I'm not sure I buy this reasoning. I have voted in every election for
which I was eligible at the civic, provincial, and federal levels. I even
voted in civic elections when I lived in the suburbs, where most elections
are fought over obscure zoning battles. People who vote may do so because
they're mad as hell, happy as hell, or merely feel an obligation to do 
so.

They may also vote because they're legally required to. Both Australia and
the USSR have this requirement (I believe), though I wouldn't want to
compare the happiness of their citizens.

In fact, if people have given up on their government, they're less likely to
vote. In the US, the percentage of people voting in the presidential
elections has fallen each time, with more and more people saying it just
doesn't matter.

Moral of the story: VOTE!!!