Sunday, November 18, 2012

Why do we vote?

The lower house of Japan was dissolved in 16 Nov and now is going to the general election next month.

A light vote in younger people is deemed to a problem in Japan. Indeed, recently general vote rate is about 50 to 70%, and the majority of the twenties did not take a vote, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.


The highest vote rate was recorded in North Korea. Some other countries such as Australia and Singapore have legislation to vote as a duty and penalty for non-voting. But Sweden has also high vote rate without compulsory voting. The vote rate is under 50% in Swiss, France and US.

Some scholars claim that a heavy vote does not mean that the citizens are aware of democracy. Forcing to vote can be an infringement of human right. Ignorance to voting might be an attitude not supporting existing politicians or political system itself. I will vote in the coming election, but I do not blame them for not voting.

In the world, why does a person vote? The possibility for your own vote to change the future is extremely low. Do we have a dream or believe a miracle? Voting is not free. We spend not a short time for voting. Of course, time is money.

Mr. Tim Harford, author of “The Logic of Life” says that they do not think that their own vote would be critical at all. According to him voting is a fun. This is the reason why many people take an unreasonable vote.


Then, to make a heavy vote it is helpful to make a social belief that voting is so cool in our community.

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