To think there should be a minimum intelligence cut-off for being allowed to vote?

[FireCanal]

Woman on train has just told her companion that "in my district, the person who gets the most votes will be the local MP, not just the government". She genuinely appears to think there is something unusual about this
She followed it up with "do you think there is a polling station in Liverpool?"

StellaAlpina non-whites have never been stopped from voting because they were non-whites - until the early 20th century there was a property qualification for the male voters, if they met this and citizenship conditions they had a vote and indeed could stand for Parliament - the first "eithnic" MP was Dadabhai Naoroji a Liberal, and the second was Mancherjee Bhownagree a Conservative - both elected in the 1890s.

But is there a polling station in Liverpool?

There used to be but some scally nicked it.

You could easily understand every word of the manifestos but then they come into power and sometimes do the opposite, there's also tactical voting, voting on a local level and got in voting on a national level. I bet most of the population don't fully understand all of it and I include myself in that - I've believed a lot of false manifestos in the past!

Although your post was a bit mean, I get what you mean.

My mum was going to vote ukip because they are apparently going to 'stop immigration.' That was all she could tell me about them.

Luckily I showed her the vote for policies website and she has now changed her mind and knows a little about the party she's voting for.

wigornian

there are too many facts in your post. Please rewrite using bold assertions with no references other than you "know this" because "someone told me on FB".

love and peace

It should be taught in schools. I'd pass any intelligence test you'd care to give, but when I first went to vote at 18 I had not one single clue about anything! I could have found out, of course, but I was am a head-in-the-clouds airy-fairy dreamer type and hadn't got round to it I voted Lib Dem because of some vague idea that was who you voted for if you were a young lefty

I'd like there to be a minimum intelligence test for the candidates first

I'd like there to be mandatory evaluation of all putative politicians for sociopathic traits, evidence of which over a certain level to bar them from office. You can be intelligent and still be a shitstain of a human being that shouldn't be allowed near policies affecting actual human lives.

Schools have Young Mayor programmes which if run well can do so much to boost knowledge of how the system works.
The council where I worked used to send cards to every new 16yo too.
FWIW I attended a desserted polling station in Liverpool this morning so they're there but I suspect in Riverside not many would notice if they weren't.

LurkingHusband - no need for that! It's true because it happened! Not obscure data! - and not via FB

LurkingHusband - doh, I see what you were doign there!

I'm a 'key' seat and have been leafleted and canvassed more than enough - leaflets and door knocks twice a day for weeks now. The one actual candidate I met, dodged my question on a very important local issue with the same old disingenuous party rhetoric. The leaflets have been really quite vague and fluffy - I now know all the parties "care" about all the issues but little of proposed policy.

I could conclude none of them are really seeking informed voters just the ones who knee-jerk in their direction.

It's not so much a general intelligence test, but just to have some knowledge of the political system. I mean, I have a friend with a 1st class degree in Philosophy who once asked me (in our twenties) what the difference between left and right wing is. I would be surprised if she could name the three main party leaders.

The concept of any kind of test to establish this is, IMO, obviously wishful thinking pretty unrealistic. Better political education in schools would be a very good start.

Of course this is not a new problem ...

panem et circii

The system IS complicated, but only adults can vote and most adults - in theory - should be perfectly capable of educating themselves - if they want to.

The woman on the train may have been taught politics at school, (unlikely, yes,) but since then she has made a deliberate choice, like many in this country do, to avoid broadsheet newspapers, to avoid TV news, to avoid debate and discussion around politics, to avoid even googling 'how democracy works'. But still, she'll trundle off to vote. (probably UKIP)

Naturally, if you aren't interested, you will fail to learn anything of how the system works. You are surprised you don't have the party leaders on your ballot paper. You are surprised that people in Liverpool are allowed to vote. :)

Lurking, that quote a few pages back about democracies collapsing due to endless raids on the piggy bank makes me anxious...

I remember Labour sending me a video about voting when I was eligible for my first election. My parents were horrified they were wasting money on expensive video cassettes!

MehsMum

Lurking, that quote a few pages back about democracies collapsing due to endless raids on the piggy bank makes me anxious...

It's not a modern one - it's from the 1800s

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler

there's another section which follows on from the one I posted:

The average age of the world's greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Not sure if that helps or not.

Yes it would be an interesting exercise, if we would all put who we voted for against our test results, because Labour seem to think the people who vote for other parties are thick.

They think people who do not vote Labour are educated only via the Daily Mail and cannot be trusted.

But still, she'll trundle off to vote. (probably UKIP)

The mechanics of it all are confusing.

If she votes for any party due to her own personal experience so what.

^ as I said above, very condescending attitude to have.

After the conversation I've had today, I'm inclined to agree. Or at least some sort of short quiz to show you know who and what you're voting for.

Chatting to a man I know today, he voted UKIP "because of all the fucking immigrants" apparently his son can't get a job because "all the immigrants are coming over here and taking all the jobs"

His daughter can't get a council house "cos the council let 'em jump the queue"

I pointed out to him that we live in an area with one of the lowest levels of immigration in the UK, with less than 1% of the population of our area non-British - all information easily available with 10 seconds on Google.

Nope, all the immigrants fault.

He always came across as quite a nice bloke

I'm surprised at how many people think politics should be a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Seriously, how hard is it to google this stuff?

Next we'll need compulsory lessons for getting dressed and breathing.

nequidnimis

I'm surprised at how many people think politics should be a compulsory part of the school curriculum ....

Next we'll need compulsory lessons for getting dressed and breathing.

Well breathing is a reflex, so happens anyway. Getting dressed we tend to learn from our parents. All very well when your parents can dress themselves. No so easy if your parents don't know how to - which is the situation a lot of kids are in.

Seriously, how hard is it to google this stuff?

Something you could say about anything, really. Why bother with school at all ? To be honest, if it's not on Google, it's probably not worth knowing.

I think she means that people are voting for their MP as a person rather than because they want his party in Government. That's how I understood it anyway.

I may well make the same decision myself. My local MP is brilliant - but represents a party I don't want in government.

Agree only clever people - decided by you of course - can vote -- and the clever people can then pass laws that shaft the unclever people, (low pay, dirty jobs, no schools, no opportunity)

Nequid Google + lack of education = a crank's paradise. I've observed an English teacher and a maths teacher explain to teenagers how stats and language is used in advertising. It's shocking because they think they're savvy until they realise how rhetoric, anecdote, correlation-as-causation and graphs with one axis not labelled are used. You see the light bulb moment.

Learning politics in school might not be a bad idea.

I'd much rather the system elected stupid people who promote a bonus culture in my industry.