Citizens in Arizona, USA, are to be enticed to vote by linking it to participation in a million dollar lottery (NYT Editorial: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Voter?)

If people do not bother to vote, it is because they do not think it worth the trouble; while for many, playing the lottery with the chance of winning a million dollars is.

This demonstrates just how "precious" for many Americans their right to vote is, and says a great deal about the quality of American (and British) democracy.

I do not mean to be offensive or unappreciative of some of the more positive aspects of our democracies (particularly the freedoms they guarantee), but as far as electing representatives is concerned, both systems are crap.

It suits the political establishment just fine, of course, which is why they want to hang on to it and maintain the illusion that it is not crap, but now that we (the people) have the technology, it is time for us to use our freedom (which really is precious) to create a much higher quality, grass-roots democracy.