Voting as a Choice, Not an Obligation
Hwang Yoo Jung 200904349
Intermediate English Writing I (Tue 78)
An argumentative essay on page 114 (first draft)
Whenever election time is nearing, a stale social issue in Korea reappears. That is the very low voting rate in national elections. In fact, according to a report about national voting rate released in 2009 by International IDEA(Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), Korea stayed in the 26th rank among the OECD's 30 members. Some people believe that this low voting rate is blocking progress in democracy. So, they suggest that the law, forcing the people to mandatorily vote, be enacted. However, I disagree with compulsory voting in that democracy should respect personal freedom and right, and abstention is obviously a way to express political stance.
Election is one of institutions to realize democracy; so, it is meaningful when it is conducted democratically. If it is obligatory for the people to vote in national elections, their political right can be infringed in the name of democratic development. It is extremely contradictory. In other words, it is nonsense that the right to vote is forced mandatorily. Democracy can really be attained, only when election itself is conducted democratically.
Abstention or refusing to vote should be respected as one way expressing personal opinion. For example, anarchism or atheism has been already accepted as ways indicating personal political or philosophical position, and same rules should be applied to voting. Namely, not to vote can be understood as intentional political unconcern. In fact, focus should be on irresponsible politicians, not on whether voting or not. In reality that even President does not keep his promises during election campaigns, how many voters are there wanting to vote?
Some people blame those who do not vote in that they give up the opportunities to change our society rightly, so run counter to democracy. High voting rate, however, does not guarantee democracy. For instance, in autocracy, elections tend to be tainted by corruption and high voting rate often becomes means to justify seizing power. Thus, the government should seek effective ways to boost it rather than compel voting. For instance, some countries in Europe introduced the proportional representation system to more exactly accept opinion of the people. In the case of US, Social media like Tweeter, Facebook or YouTube were actively used in the last presidential election.
Over 20 countries around the world are already forcing their people to vote by law, and among them, developed countries are also included. So, it is natural that compulsory voting be suggested in the country with very low voting rate like us, Korea. However, compelling voting should not be accepted in that it can infringe personal freedom and right, and abstention or refusing to vote are a way to express personal opinion. Also, especially politicians and social leaders before blaming those who do not vote, should find out ways to restore trust of the people and attract them to the polling places. That is the best policy to raise voting rate.
Voting as a Choice, Not an Obligation
ReplyDeleteHwang Yoo Jung 200904349
Intermediate English Writing I (Tue 78)
Final draft - an argumentative essay on p.114
Whenever election time is nearing, a stale social issue in Korea reappears. That is the very low voting rate in national elections. In fact, according to a report about national voting rate released in 2009 by International IDEA(Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), Korea stayed in the 26th rank among the OECD’s 30 members. Some people believe that this low voting rate blocks progress in democracy. So, they suggest that the law, forcing the people to mandatorily vote, be enacted. However, I disagree with compulsory voting in that democracy should respect personal freedom and right, and abstention is another way to express political stance.
Election is one of institutions to realize democracy; so, it is meaningful when it is conducted democratically. If it is obligatory for the people to vote in national elections, their political right can be infringed in the name of democratic development. It is extremely contradictory. In other words, it is nonsense that the right to vote is forced mandatorily. Democracy can really be attained, only when election itself is conducted democratically.
Abstention or refusing to vote should be respected as another way expressing personal opinion. For example, anarchism or atheism has been already accepted as ways indicating personal political or philosophical position, and same rules should be applied to voting. Namely, not to vote can be understood as intentional political unconcern. In fact, focus should be on irresponsible politicians, not on whether voting or not. In reality that even President does not keep his promises during election campaigns, how many voters are there wanting to vote?
Some people blame those who do not vote in that they give up the opportunities to change our society rightly so, run counter to democracy. High voting rate, however, does not guarantee democracy. For instance, in autocracy, elections tend to be tainted by corruption and high voting rate often becomes means to justify seizing power. Thus, the government should seek effective ways to boost it rather than compel voting. For instance, some countries in Europe introduced the proportional representation system to more exactly accept opinion of the people. In the case of US, Social media like Tweeter, Facebook or YouTube were actively used in the last presidential election.
Over 20 countries around the world already force their people to vote by law, and among them, developed countries are also included. So, it is natural that compulsory voting be suggested in the country with very low voting rate like us, Korea. However, compelling voting should not be accepted in that it can infringe personal freedom and right, and abstention or refusing to vote are another way to express personal opinion. Also, before blaming those who do not vote, especially politicians and social leaders should find out ways to restore trust of the people and attract them to the polling places. That is the best policy to raise voting rate.