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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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politics
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I don't think this would have the effect that you want in practice. One of the biggest obstacles Democrats face is getting their own voters to care enough to vote. Republicans, despite being less popular as a percentage of Americans, don't struggle nearly as much getting their supporters to the polls.
Adding additional barriers to voting will decrease voter turnout across the board, and this will absolutely hurt Democrats more than it will hurt Republicans.
That's kind of my point though. The large majority of active voters in America don't have a damn clue what they're actually voting for. Many democrats don't vote, but those who do generally do so because they're informed and invested in politics. Most Republicans vote, largely because their pastor tells them to and tells them who to choose.
If voters were required to have an informed opinion in order to vote, I bet you'd see a significant change in those percentages.
But none of this is practical anyway, it's a bad solution to a bad problem. It's basically unenforceable and any way that it does get enforced is going to be a net loss of rights and representation. I don't like this idea. I just have a hard time coming up with alternatives at this time. It is clear to me that the situation we have now is not tenable. I just don't know where to go from here, and it seems nobody else does either.
Reinvesting in education is really the only way America is ever going to solve the foundational issues with its democracy. Unfortunately, education is now one of the most highly-politicized topics in American culture, so... yeah, not looking great.