Brexit: What is Democracy? | Philosophy Tube

Incredibly delayed and more specific than necessary comments on the weirdness of the Brazilian compulsory voting system, which probably no one will ever read: Another problem of compulsory voting (I'm Brazilian and I see this happening all around me) is that it does not increase, by itself, the interest of people in politics. I've heard, from people in front of me in the lines to enter voting booths, things like "Oh, I guess I'll vote for this guy because I like his radio show" or "I'll vote for this guy, it's the only one whose name I recognize", "He seems nice", and many other comments like that. Most people don't know or care, and they vote for a person they know nothing about, but whose name they vaguely recognize - and believe me, the investment in propaganda is Huge. Politicians may not need to encourage voters to go out to vote, but as a whole they spend billions every election to convince people to vote for them, which, in most cases, Does Not include calling any attention to their actual projects, when there are any. This, so far, I imagine, happens almost everywhere. The strange things about our system are the other stuff: the voting system here is electronic (each candidate receives a number, which is usually the number of their party + the number of the candidate, and you vote by inserting the number of the chosen candidate in a machine, which shows you their face and asks you for confirmation). You can vote by (a) inserting the number of the candidate or (b) inserting the number of their party. Executive branch offices are elected according to the amount of votes received, but, for legislative offices, the number of votes the party receives is also relevant, so, when you choose (b), you can add to the votes of a specific party whose ideology you support, despite not knowing well specific people in it, or wanting to choose between them. In order for the member of a party to be elected, not only they must have enough votes, but their party must reach a minimum threshold of votes (adding up the votes of the people in it (a) and in the party itself (b)), which means that, if your party did not reach the threshold, you will not be elected, even if you get enough votes. As a result, people who have a high number of votes may not be elected, and their seats may end up with others who had less votes than them. Also, the party can sort of "divide the votes", meaning that, if one person had a really large number of votes, the party can "pass" some of them to other candidates, electing two or more people - which, of course, is a tactic that sleazy parties use to elect their worst representatives: they get some popular figures to enter their party and atract a huge number of votes, which the party divide among other dudes that would never be actually elected but are influent inside the party. Most people in the country have no idea that this is how the system works, and it's not taught anywhere, not even in the schools. There's also weirdness in the issue of compulsory voting, more specifically, there are weird buttons in the machines that receive the votes: one is labeled "white" and the other, "null". The "null" button just nulls your vote. That's it. Your vote won't go to anyone (which is the same thing that happens if you type the number of a candidate that does not exist). I always thought this was very weird in a compulsory system, since it means that basically you must go to a voting place in order not to vote, but some people see it as a sort of barometer of how voters are feeling about politics and the candidates. The "white" button is even weirder (and I never saw anyone mentioning how telling and horrifying its name is): if you press it, your vote will go to the person who, currently, in this particular machine (the machines are not connected to any network nor to each other), has the most votes. You basically vote to whoever is winning. I have no idea why this button exists (there's probably an explanation somewhere, but I never heard one or searched for it). Since most people have no idea that this is how the system works, many press this button thinking it has the same effect as the null button. It's sort of impossible to gauge how it influences the results, if at all. There are no fines if you don't vote, nor any punishment of the kind, but you lose many rights as a citizen (you can't have government jobs, receive welfare, enter public universities (which are the best in Brazil), etc.).

I saw this the day it came up and I watched it in 2 sittings with one break. Most content I ADD away and don't end up finishing. Great work Olly

Mike

This is the video that made me become a patron 💜

This is excellent, thank you! Relatedly, have you seen this video from Bemundolack (titled: "Anarchists Should Vote and Here's Why")? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKSH0_je8c" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKSH0_je8c</a>

This video was so good that I decided to finally become a patron. You're reaching new levels, Olly.

Well done, per the usual. A nice way to start the weekend: to think on these things.

Micah Campbell

Listened to this at work and I can’t wait to give it the viewing it deserves at home.

As far as I'm aware, compulsary voting in Belgium hasn't been enforced for ages. It's technically still there, but noone cares. Their turnout is still around 90% each time. In The Netherlands, my country, which in many ways is very similar, as the 2 only separated a couple hundred years ago, turnout is about 75%-80%.

Kakirtog, the Charr in gold

Compulsory voting in Australia means that you turn up and can choose whether or not to vote, but you don't leave it blank: you can draw a dick on your ballot paper. In fact, you can draw a dick on your ballot paper AND vote and it will still be counted. Compulsory voting also hasn't quelled protests; since our current government has been in power, there have been a lot of protests (government is seriously making a mess right now). A political comedy program pointed out that we could argue that the current government has actually been quite progressive (eg, finally passing marriage equality) but only while kicking and screaming in the face of public pressure, which makes it a hostage-ocracy. Oh, and compulsory voting doesn't stop lobbyists and "look out, immigrants!" scaremongering. Much of our mainstream media is bullshit (thanks, Murdoch).

Naomi Hatchman

This one was a trip... as a foreigner who might be moving to England soon for University, Brexit scares me quite a bit

Isadora Fonseca

Good job! Thanks!

Massimo Fiorentino