Responding to several pundits’ recent arguments in favor of mandatory voting, Jonah Goldberg‘s latest column offers a different perspective on the idea.

Let’s start with the repugnant part.

One of the chief benefits of coerced voting, according to [former Obama budget director Peter] Orszag, is that it increases participation. Well, yes, and kidnapping drunks in pubs increased the ranks of the British navy, but it didn’t turn the conscripted sailors into patriots.

I think everyone can agree that civic virtue depends on civic participation. Well, any reasonable understanding of civic participation has to include the idea of voluntarism. If I force you to do the right thing against your will, you don’t get credit for doing the right thing.

Let’s move on to the absurdity. [congressional scholars Norman] Ornstein and [Thomas] Mann suggest fining people, say $15, if they don’t vote and using the proceeds to set up a lottery to bribe reluctant voters. If the old line that lotteries are taxes on stupid people is correct, then the upshot of this proposal is that the cure to what ails democracy is an influx of large numbers of stupid voters.

Even if all the people who play the lottery aren’t stupid (I’ve bought my share of tickets), there’s still a problem. Do we really think democracy will be improved by enlisting the opinions of Americans who otherwise wouldn’t bother if there wasn’t a jackpot in the offing?

This brings us to the cynicism of it all. While many political scientists and economists hold that mandatory voting probably wouldn’t change electoral outcomes, many people still believe that compelling the poor, the uneducated, and the politically unengaged would be a boon to Democrats (what that says about Democrats is for others to judge). I wonder: Would the winner of the ballot lottery have to show a photo ID?