Under PROUT voting will not be an automatic right but a qualified responsibility. Is it democratic?
Everywhere in society one will find checks and balances. There is never a free-for-all wherever particular duties and responsibilities are involved.
In a job application only those with a relevant resumé will be accepted for the process. Voting is the biggest job in a society. If the right persons are employed (elected) it will benefit us all. If not, society may suffer a great deal. Therefore the first step of the election system is to make sure that voters really know what they are doing. If for instance voters only demonstrate sentiment for candidates by force of their particular party background, or vote by tradition or whim, it does not further the interests of society.
It therefore is up to society to educate the electorate (those invested with the responsibility to vote) so that elections produce the optimum socio-political result. The qualifications required of the electorate will vary with local conditions.
In general, voters will need to be knowledgeable about:
- Contents of candidates’ actual programs and their ramifications,
- Dynamics of various political structures,
- Their own socio-political rights and responsibilities during the long periods between elections, such as:
- The system and activities of people’s social boards who monitors the activities of legislators and the executive branches,
- Procedure for making complaints against elected officers who fail to deliver on promises,
- etc.
PROUT states that the right to vote should be accorded not on quantitative basis (age) but on qualitative base (political awareness). Driving licences may be used as an illustration. Permission to drive is never accorded on an age basis but on a skills basis. Likewise, those who will be responsible for giving someone the much more important and difficult job of guiding the entire society must themselves be qualified. Age is not a measurement of political maturity and awareness.
Copyright PROUT Globe 2011
