As part of my MA program in Organizational Leadership at St. Catherine University, I recently took a strategic communications class. Over the course of the class, I applied different written and oral treatments to my chosen topic of compulsory voting. I explored the political and civic culture of Minnesota and potential channels for advocacy. This is the deck for my persuasive speech.
4. Minnesota is Exceptional
Low unemployment
Most theater seats per capita
Highly educated workforce
Teams in all major professional sports
Low rate of uninsured
Parks and lakes
Fortune 500 company headquarters
Minnesota Miracle
6. Minnesota is
Exceptional
Compulsory Engagement +
Voting Political Culture
7. Civic Engagement
Sense of community
Perceived ability to improve
community
Volunteerism
Voter turnout
Civic Engagement – Overview – Minnesota Compass
Retrieved from: http://www.mncompass.org/civicengagement/index.php
8. Moralistic Political Culture
Politics as…
…an effort to exercise power for
the betterment of the
commonwealth.
…a public activity centered on
some notion of the public good.
…a matter of duty and concern
for every citizen.
Daniel J. Elazar: “Minnesota: The epitome of the moralistic political culture”
Retrieved from: http://jcpa.org/dje/articles2/minn3.htm
9. Engagement = Culture
Civic Engagement Moralistic Political Culture
sense of exercise power
community for the betterment
of the
perceived ability to commonwealth
improve public activity
community centered on some
notion of the
volunteerism public good
duty and concern
voter turnout
for every citizen
10. Minnesota is
Exceptional
Compulsory Engagement +
Voting Political Culture
12. How CV Helps
Better Government
Representative
Legitimate
Responsive
Reflects and reinforces “one vote, one
value”
13. CV Won’t Hurt
Existing Civic Duties
Taxes
K-12 Education
Jury duty
Selective Service
Health insurance
Conscientious Objection, Right NOT to Vote
Revenue
14. Minnesota is
Exceptional
Compulsory Engagement +
Voting Political Culture
15. CV: Love It or Hate It?
Let’s put it in the constitution!
I still need to know more.
I shall not be compelled to vote.
Notes de l'éditeur
Baseline of awesomeness
How MN is exceptionalEngagement and political landscapeHow CV fits into that
Lake Wobegon definition
Top 10 listsCold keeps riff raff outPlay above our weightQUESTION – favorite fun fact about MN not on this list?
Charitable giving indicator of civic health
Wilder researchInfluenced by AND influencesExceptional things indicators of communityCompulsory voting part of cycle of reinforcement
Vocabulary wordAccording to textbookEPITOME – “perfect example”Themes: notion of obligation of all citizens to participate in public life for common good
Civic engagement embedded in cultureMinnesota ripe for an initiative that serves to further improve engagementCompulsory voting is an initiative that’s in alignment with this culture
How does CV fit into all this?
ENFRANCHISEMENT– strong correlation between turnout and SES, CV eliminates the gapENFRANCHISEMENT – disruptive but doesn’t fix social forces that cause disenfranchisementPRIORITIES – do the newly-enfranchised have different needs, cater to centrists/independentsFOCUS – no GOTV or suppression activitiesTALK – research showsTALK – how many researched? Judges? soil & water?
REPRESENTATIVE – chosen by allLEGITIMATE – fair, trusted, participatory processLEGITIMATE – “I didn’t vote for X” – can’t complainRESPONSIVE – give voice to those not represented, different issues get addressedRESPONSIVE – republicans + independents vote for democratic senatorOVOV – every vote counts, recounts
DUTIES – things we’ve collectively decided are okay to require from citizensOBJECTION – any attempt to implement in the u.s. has to include this componentREVENUE – 2012 election math example
Compulsory voting will make us more exceptional by increasing civic engagement in a way that is entirely consistent with how we govern ourselves and what we like best about ourselves.