How Do We Get The Younger Generation Interested In Voting?

[Hairyloon]

PR would probably lead to perpetual broad coalitions that will never agree with one another on all sorts of policy issues. Recipe for disaster.

 

You are succumbing to their propaganda.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Voting in Australia is compulsory for those on its Electoral Roll.

Maybe it should be likewise in the UK?

Remember that mantra "No taxation without representation"?

Well, try "No representation without participation"!

[Hairyloon]

Voting in Australia is compulsory for those on its Electoral Roll.

Maybe it should be likewise in the UK?

 

I used to be in favour of compulsory voting, but then I thought about it some more: how would it be enforced?

The only way would be a reasonably small fine, say £20. The net result of this would be that voters would be £20 better off than non-voters.

 

If that is the result, then why not come at it the other way and give all the voters £20 for showing up? It would be more popular and save on an awful lot of administration.

[Cyclone]

Calling the state pension a benefit is unhelpful for the purposes of most discussions.

[Hairyloon]

Explain again how state pensions relate to young people voting?

[Cyclone]

Nothing to do with young people voting, but way back on page 2 someone claimed that only 2% of 65 year olds have an occupational pension.

 

---------- Post added 02-05-2017 at 22:46 ----------

 

What makes you think baby boomers are opposed to policies which aid the young? Or that they have a nimby sense of entitlement?

 

 

Which had itself come from a comment that the grey vote was generally opposed to policies which help the young at the expense of the elderly.

 

Hardly a shocker, people vote for self interest... Even over voting to help their own children and grand children.

[Hairyloon]

Which had itself come from a comment that the grey vote was generally opposed to policies which help the young at the expense of the elderly...

 

Ah, well that would be a generalisation and all generalisations are wrong.

[Anna B]

No benefits apart from the state pension, you mean. Or don't you consider that to be a welfare benefit? Because that's what it is - in fact, by far the most expensive one. It's just not emphasized as such, in order to drive a wedge between "deserving" pensioners and "undeserving" unemployed people. So far as National Insurance really is insurance (admittedly not very far), it's just as much insurance against unemployment as it is against living beyond working age.

 

How do you propose pensioners support themselves when they are too old to work?

Maybe they should have saved more and put it into an insurance policy?

 

Well actually this is what they have been doing with National insurance. As Cyclone says, it is not a 'benefit' as such. They have paid tax all their working lives, partly to ensure an income (of sorts) in old age. They have spent the money they had left on raising and supporting their families. And it's not the elderly 'driving a wedge between pensioners and unemployed,' it's state sponsored propaganda.

 

The current crisis is not about 'pensioners living longer' etc. It's about the banking crash and lack of returns on investments and pension funds, it's about mismanagement of funds and poor political judgement.

 

I wonder what plans you have in place for your old age?

Edited May 3, 2017 by Anna B

[apelike]

Nothing to do with young people voting, but way back on page 2 someone claimed that only 2% of 65 year olds have an occupational pension.

 

Unfortunately that was from me and was wrong. I've had a look through my browser history and cannot find the link I got that from so apologies for giving the wrong info.

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2017 at 01:08 ----------

 

Ah, well that would be a generalisation and all generalisations are wrong.

 

True as I have pointed out that most of the grey brigade who have children and grand children do a great deal to help them out. They would not take any vote lightly if they thought it would harm them.

 

Just recently there was an article called "The Bank of Mum and Dad" about how much parents are helping out and lending money.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/bank-of-mum-and-dad-lend-65bn-property-market

[Cyclone]

How do you propose pensioners support themselves when they are too old to work?

Maybe they should have saved more and put it into an insurance policy?

 

Well actually this is what they have been doing with National insurance. As Cyclone says, it is not a 'benefit' as such. They have paid tax all their working lives, partly to ensure an income (of sorts) in old age. They have spent the money they had left on raising and supporting their families. And it's not the elderly 'driving a wedge between pensioners and unemployed,' it's state sponsored propaganda.

 

The current crisis is not about 'pensioners living longer' etc. It's about the banking crash and lack of returns on investments and pension funds, it's about mismanagement of funds and poor political judgement.

 

I wonder what plans you have in place for your old age?

 

Don't be mistaken, the state pension is continually getting more expensive, we have an age pyramid problem, people are living longer after retirement, considerably longer, and there are simply less younger people. It's unsustainable.