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camwynTuonela just cracked the top fifty - sort of - at NationStates. Yesterday's UN World Rankings were for the Most Politically Apathetic Citizens category, "results were determined by seeing how many citizens of each nation answered a recent UN survey on the local political situation by ticking the "Don't Give a Damn" box". Tuonela, my nation, was number 78,362; our neighbours in the region, the nation of MelRedcap, were 78,361.
MelRedcap found out last night that only 78,407 nations were ranked in that poll. Which means that, inverted, we had the 46th and 47th most politically interested/aware citizens in the ENTIRE WORLD. Considering that Tuonela has a population of 1.207 billion, I figure that's pretty impressive. I don't know about MelRedcap, but I suspect I know the source in Tuonela: the Election Enforcement Laws.
See, democracy is compulsory in Tuonela and always has been, regardless of whether we were a Left-Leaning College State (our initial categorization), a Socialist Democracy, a Capitalist Paradise (that lasted a day and a half), or an Inoffensive Centrist Democracy as we are now. The Tuonelan national constitution includes a provision stating that Tuonela is a nation whose government is of the people, by the people, for the people - not of the masses, by the few, for the entertainment of the interested. Election days are national holidays in Tuonela, save for the actual electoral workers and the Electoral Enforcement Squads. Each census region has a list of all Tuonelans over the voting age, and if they haven't voted by noon, the Electoral Enforcement Squad gets sent out. Men with tasers (well, people with tasers - the Electoral Enforcement Service is an equal opportunity employer, but 'men with tasers' sounds more impressive) show up at the doors of anyone who hasn't voted yet and frogmarch 'em down to the polling place. They back off once the citizens in question actually enter the voting booth. We don't care whether you vote for the people in power, the opposition, the Very Silly Party, or Donald bloody Duck; the important thing is that you VOTE, dammit.
As it stands, though, the Squads don't really have to be deployed all that often. Our people are quite used to national obligation; every Tuonelan adult is required by law to serve a year or two in the armed forces upon reaching the age of majority. Old enough to fight and die? Old enough to vote, and by Ukko, you will. Vote, that is. We actually haven't gone to war in ... well, pretty much ever, really.
Given that our people are among the happiest in the world (out of 78 thousand-plus nations we were something like 370th happiest) and the healthiest (1361ish, I seem to recall) despite having a crappy national health care system (waaaaaaaay down at the bottom), I'd say that our democratic policies have worked out pretty damn well, wouldn't you?
The Arctic Circle Region is currently in the process of creating a web page - the Commonwealth of Stockholm's leader has been kind enough to work up the initial prototype, but we'll be putting up proper data just as soon as the interested nations assemble it.
MelRedcap found out last night that only 78,407 nations were ranked in that poll. Which means that, inverted, we had the 46th and 47th most politically interested/aware citizens in the ENTIRE WORLD. Considering that Tuonela has a population of 1.207 billion, I figure that's pretty impressive. I don't know about MelRedcap, but I suspect I know the source in Tuonela: the Election Enforcement Laws.
See, democracy is compulsory in Tuonela and always has been, regardless of whether we were a Left-Leaning College State (our initial categorization), a Socialist Democracy, a Capitalist Paradise (that lasted a day and a half), or an Inoffensive Centrist Democracy as we are now. The Tuonelan national constitution includes a provision stating that Tuonela is a nation whose government is of the people, by the people, for the people - not of the masses, by the few, for the entertainment of the interested. Election days are national holidays in Tuonela, save for the actual electoral workers and the Electoral Enforcement Squads. Each census region has a list of all Tuonelans over the voting age, and if they haven't voted by noon, the Electoral Enforcement Squad gets sent out. Men with tasers (well, people with tasers - the Electoral Enforcement Service is an equal opportunity employer, but 'men with tasers' sounds more impressive) show up at the doors of anyone who hasn't voted yet and frogmarch 'em down to the polling place. They back off once the citizens in question actually enter the voting booth. We don't care whether you vote for the people in power, the opposition, the Very Silly Party, or Donald bloody Duck; the important thing is that you VOTE, dammit.
As it stands, though, the Squads don't really have to be deployed all that often. Our people are quite used to national obligation; every Tuonelan adult is required by law to serve a year or two in the armed forces upon reaching the age of majority. Old enough to fight and die? Old enough to vote, and by Ukko, you will. Vote, that is. We actually haven't gone to war in ... well, pretty much ever, really.
Given that our people are among the happiest in the world (out of 78 thousand-plus nations we were something like 370th happiest) and the healthiest (1361ish, I seem to recall) despite having a crappy national health care system (waaaaaaaay down at the bottom), I'd say that our democratic policies have worked out pretty damn well, wouldn't you?
The Arctic Circle Region is currently in the process of creating a web page - the Commonwealth of Stockholm's leader has been kind enough to work up the initial prototype, but we'll be putting up proper data just as soon as the interested nations assemble it.
