| Abstrakt: |
Americans don't vote. For all their talk of democracy, US voters have some of the lowest turnout rates in the developed world. Other countries have taken on their turnout woes with a direct approach: compulsory voting. Nowhere in the United States—save one city in the 1890s—has yet followed. But recently, American democracy reformers have begun mainstreaming the idea. If they succeed, the policy has the potential to revolutionize democratic participation. It can only do so, however, if it passes—a tall task at a time when Americans disagree about democracy's meaning and increasingly question its value. To turn compulsory voting from dream to reality will take a new approach—one based not in abstract appeals to democratic principles but a practical pitch that more voting means more power for everyday people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
