The "muddled, mindless mess" of the Liberals' electoral reform survey

Rex Murphy:

Enabling zombie voters

Another excellent piece by Graeme C. Gordon:
"Dress Up and Vote! (or The Canadian Rocky Voting Horror Show)"

And here's one by Lauren Southern:
"#SlutsAgainstHarper and the rise of "emotional voting" among youth"

Some people shouldn't vote

Lawrence Solomon:

“You owe your fellow citizens your counsel,” Andrew Coyne wrote last month, in arguing that voting should be mandatory, like jury duty or paying taxes.

On the other hand:

David Moscrop, another PhD candidate in political science in another rebuttal oped. “While you may lead a voter to the booth, you can’t make him think.”  ... “any increase in turnout that fails to generate better votes — votes that more accurately represent a good choice for the voter — is probably counter-productive.” 

... I prefer a corollary to his view, i.e., any decrease in votes that generates better votes is probably productive. Some people shouldn’t be able to cast their vote, even if they do bother to show up after being shamed or coerced.

... Let’s not continue to cheapen the vote by giving it away wholesale under the conceit that the judgment of the thoughtless is as valuable in selecting those who will guide our country as is that of the thoughtful.

Egypt's Morsi gets the boot

Morsi Is Out as President, Egyptian State Media Says

Egypt’s military moved forcefully to seize power from President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, deploying tanks and troops in Cairo and other cities ...

Ahramonline, the government’s official English-language Web site, said the military had informed Mr. Morsi that he was no longer head of state. There was no word on Mr. Morsi’s whereabouts ...

... Mr. Morsi’s senior foreign policy adviser [wrote]... "For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup." ...

Interesting.  Now what?

Saudi women allowed to vote

Daily Telegraph:

King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, conceded that a study of Muslim history had shown that women were capable of rational thinking and decision making. [Who'da thunk?] 

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When it was learned they would have to show their driver's licenses to vote, King Abdullah was asked if that meant women would now be permitted to drive. The King replied: "What? Are you nuts? In a burkha? Way too hazardous!" 

Sensible gun control ...

... in Switzerland (unlike Canuckistan):

... voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals that would have obliged some two million gun owners in the country to keep their weapons in public arsenals rather than at home.

.... 3,000 gun clubs, which function as key social centres in hundreds of villages.

... no national firearms register in Switzerland. ... unofficial estimates suggest there are between 2 million and 3 million guns kept in Swiss households.

[via]

Democracy

Throughout the Egyptian revolt against the Mubarak regime over the past two weeks there has been a lot of talk about the goal being "democracy".

Worth considering is Daniel Greenfield's article on "The Democracy Fallacy":

... [people] failed to understand that democracy is a tool. A means not an end. Used correctly democracy can create a republic of free men invested with rights and responsibilities. Used incorrectly democracy can lead to political bloodbaths, anarchy or a genocidal madman.

... The fundamental error ... in messianically embracing democracy as an ultimate good, is that we contrast it with tyranny as the ultimate evil. We falsely assume that tyranny is evil because it is undemocratic.

... Democracy and freedom are not the same thing.  ...