Letters: Mandatory voting, red-light cameras

I agree with President Obama. All Americans should be required to vote.

There should be heavy government fines for not voting. In fact, government officials could come to everyone’s doors and force people to go to the polls. And, of course, there would need to be required government voter education classes, beginning at age 5 in kindergarten.

Such a simple, easy solution to not voting. Why was it never tried before? Oh, that’s right. It was. It would be similar to a system in the former USSR.

— Ray Campbell, Arlington

It’s apparent from “The daily STEW” that some think that mandatory voting isn’t a good idea because people are clueless.

Wasn’t that the argument when men tried to keep women from voting? And isn’t it clueless voting when people re-elect a do-nothing Congress such as we have now?

Mandating a vote is certainly better than keeping citizens from voting in our democracy.

President Obama suggested required voting because it would be one way to combat the outsized role of money in elections. What if another country, or even an organization like ISIS, put in enough money to shift the elections to the candidate of their choice?

The Supreme Court did us no favor by ruling that corporations are like individuals, and can donate any amount they want. And we don’t know who donates the money.

The bottom line is that we all need to do a better job of keeping up with the issues, note how our members of Congress are voting, and evaluate how our next vote will affect us. Don’t let your opportunities to vote slip by.

— Ailene Gibson, Fort Worth

Mandatory voting is a Democrat’s dream, a liberal step-by-step yellow brick road.

First, create a flood of immigrants into the U.S. and don’t try to stop the flow.

Second, don’t find and deport illegal aliens already here.

Third, give amnesty to millions already here illegally.

Fourth, make them all U.S. citizens with voting rights.

Fifth, give them tax refunds regardless of whether they’ve paid into the system other than sales taxes, qualify them for government health insurance and Social Security.

Sixth, require them to go the polls so that they can vote for people and issues that they’re clueless on, but certainly vote Democratic in thanks for their new life.

Seventh, dominate future elections and run the country into the ground with big government programs.

Mandatory voting? Sounds fascist. I thought the Democrats were supposed to be champions of individual rights.

— Roger Taylor, Southlake

Red-light cameras

For a view on red-light cameras, I recommend the March 16 edition of USA Today.

It describes how cities use the cameras as a source of revenue, how the time of the yellow caution light is being shortened and compares cities that use such cameras to small town speed traps.

Cameras make violators out of honest citizens, and I know of one city in the Metroplex that will not have cameras for this reason.

Judges usually assess speeding fines based on how much the speed was over the limit. Camera fines are the same regardless of how flagrantly a driver ran the red light.

At least Fort Worth does not issue citations to drivers turning right at less than 10 mph. Cameras can be good if properly operated and administered.

— Richard Gumtau, Arlington

There should be cameras at all red lights.

Maybe a fine for a rolling stop should be less than that for flat out running a red light, but we don’t get to make those decisions or where the money goes.

The argument that the cameras cause too many rear-end collisions is pretty weak.

The driver’s job is to watch the vehicle in front, not the yellow light.

Don’t you think the family of the young lady killed by a red-light runner in Arlington would be happy if the violation was enforced more strictly?

A red light lasts about two minutes. Eternity is much longer.

— Robert Childers, Fort Worth

This story was originally published March 27, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Letters: Mandatory voting, red-light cameras."