Democracy, or at least modern democracy is supposed to be about the majority of people having some form of say in government.  However, in recent times less and less people seem to be interested in having their say.  In fact voter turnout has only been in the 60-80%wise in most of Europe and the USA.  Aside in fact, from the countries in which voting is forced by law, voter turnout is slowly slipping. In less significant elections, like for the European parliament, turnout is even less!

One answer to this problem is to compel people to vote by law.  This is the method chosen by several European states.  However, could a case be made that its time to limit the number of people who vote?  Basically voting, the economy, parties and ideals are becoming ever more complex.  Perhaps there was a time when the average person could understand basic politics and make a choice.  There was a time when a working class man would vote socialist, and a middle class person would vote conservative.  This made sense, and had a logic of sorts.  But now, with the fall of socialism, and the rise of central parties and Europe, it is no longer clear who to vote for.  So perhaps it is time to limit the electorate, to those interested and educated enough to make a reasonable judgment,.

This isn’t supposed to be a negative judgment upon the uneducated and uninterested masses.  They do not want to be involved in politics.  They find it dull and irrelevant.  What relevance is there indeed to a shop worker, or a car mechanic  is the UK government changes interest rates, or regulates industry more or less?  Perhaps there is a minor change in tax rate here, and a small increase in public service there, but in reality things plod on much the same. 

Not only do a large mass of people really seem to have very little interest in politics, but I seriously question some of their ability to understand the modern world in all its complexity.  A friend of mine recently had to have it explained to her, by her bank, what cash-back was.  She was in debt, because she thought that, when she paid with credit car, the supermarket was giving her free money!!! The question that, if she bought £10 worth of goods, but got £20 cash back the supermarket could never make profit seemed never to dawn on her.  These are the electorate!!  These are the people making choices in our complex world!!!!

Thus, I suggest a test.  Not a complex test.  Just enough to prove that you have put the effort in to understand the system, and nation in which you live and the party that you plan to vote for.  This should not only separate those who are intelligent enough to vote.  But also those interested enough to be bothered to learn!

The days of the BNP and national parties should be over.  The days of ignorance running countries should be over.  What we need now, is the start of a meritocracy, based on understanding and intelligence.