Giving up the right to vote for an Ipod?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rocklobster
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Yeah but only the last couple of generations have had to deal with it. I’ll just beet that if my Dad’s generation (WWII) had had the right to vote at 18, they would be more interested in good times than in politics.
 
The “giving up one’s vote” is only a side effect of a greater problem and obviously a great deal of it has to do with what schools are teaching, or more appropriately what schools are not teaching. I don’t see as much of an emphasis on history and tradition in schools these days. With so many progressives in the classroom it seems that they are concentrating too much on the future or present without being mindful of the past.
 
The “giving up one’s vote” is only a side effect of a greater problem and obviously a great deal of it has to do with what schools are teaching, or more appropriately what schools are not teaching. I don’t see as much of an emphasis on history and tradition in schools these days. With so many progressives in the classroom it seems that they are concentrating too much on the future or present without being mindful of the past.
It would seem to have more to do with either what parents are/are not teaching (either directly or by example) or that parents are ceding their entire responsibility for a child’s education to the government. It is perfectly possible and desirable for a parent to educate their child about the importance of their role as a citizen. The majority of families in this country managed to do that for quite a long time before we had “free” public education and have continued to do so afterwards, whether their kids are in “good” schools or “bad” schools.
 
It would seem to have more to do with either what parents are/are not teaching (either directly or by example) or that parents are ceding their entire responsibility for a child’s education to the government. It is perfectly possible and desirable for a parent to educate their child about the importance of their role as a citizen. The majority of families in this country managed to do that for quite a long time before we had “free” public education and have continued to do so afterwards, whether their kids are in “good” schools or “bad” schools.
To a certain extent you are correct, I merely limited my response to one institution. There are four institutions in this country that are letting our children down; Government,. education, religion and Family. It is the responsibility of all these institutions to teach, to a certain degree, something about freedom, rights, obligations and responsibilities.

It is a more of a question, in regrds to the education system, to be doing a better job of what they are supposedly there to teach in the first place. Parents should teach kids certain things about everything this thread has talked about but the eductaion system should do what they claim they are doing. Ultimately it does becoem the parents responsibility if one institution fails but what angers me is that the education system fails almost all our children in this area.

I had catholic and public school education and not once did we ever cover WWII. I am wondering, how on God’s green earth do we expect kids to understand anything about this country if they never study WWII. They study mathmatical equations till they are blue in the face but don’t understand the signifigance of America’s involvement in the war and how it redefined this country. It truly saddens me as to how ignorant people are of their own country’s history. They don;t realize how young men dying in Vietnam gave 18 year olds the right to vote and that is just painful.
 
It is a more of a question, in regrds to the education system, to be doing a better job of what they are supposedly there to teach in the first place. Parents should teach kids certain things about everything this thread has talked about but the eductaion system should do what they claim they are doing. Ultimately it does becoem the parents responsibility if one institution fails but what angers me is that the education system fails almost all our children in this area.
That would be one of the myriad of reasons we opted out of it, admittedly.
 
My personal advice is to go to private education if your able to afford it fo your children. The Catholic education system is far beyond the level of education offered by the public schools and they do much more with less.
 
Well, were they selling their vote in this one election for an iPod? (An 80 gig video iPod I hope…or maybe an iTouch phone with service fees paid too…now that would be cool.)

My iPod gives me more pleasure and utility on a regular basis that occasional voting does.

I doubt I would sell my permanent right to vote for an item of limited life though. iPods aren’t immortal and there might be a particular election or ballot referendum issue in the future I might care about.

So the kids are answering rationally, in a way. From a basic micro-econ 101 standpoint.

I live in an area where there have been prosecutions and convictions for vote-buying.

For country magistrate, one candidate was on the road just around the corner from me paying $1k per vote. I was mad that he didn’t come down my street. (j/k I wouldn’t commit a crime to sell my vote.)

But selling your vote is still rational because the candidate cannot control how you vote in the booth. What, an honor system among crooks?!

Most vote sellers aren’t prosecuted, just the vote buyers. So selling your vote could be a rational choice and a reasonable risk and vote how you want to anyway and laugh all the way to the bank. (If you don’t have an honest and well-formed conscience.) 😃
 
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