Political Will through Compulsory Voting

Throughout my life, whenever there have been elections of any kind, be it for national or state legislatures, provincial or for associations, I have never been able to make sense of the ridiculous turnout percentages. Science taught me the concept of efficiency of machines, and if one were to, for an instance, look at a country's democratic institutions as machines, their inefficiency is but obvious considering only 50 to 60 per cent of input energy effectively goes into their functioning! By this I imply that how can a democratic system that apathetically leaves out sometimes close to half of the electorate during polling can ever be an efficient system of governing a people? How can the individual feel ownership in his choice of leader and governing ideology, or even the will to take a different stand by standing up for elections himself, if he has never felt the will or compulsion to go and exercise such a vital choice? How can a people, if they stop to think of their real contribution to the process that elects their national leaders, feel, they genuinely deserved better from the state? Do they not sometimes think of how futile are their discourses and rants in their living rooms or bars and tea stalls on the issues plaguing their society and individual well being, when the one time their thoughts and complaints would have made a difference, they sat in their living rooms watching the outcome passively on televison sets? In a world that has throughout history shown repeatedly the predisposition to commit crimes that beggar the imagination against individuals, people, races and nations, will it really be a 'crime' and 'violation of rights in a democracy' if participation in elections is made compulsory for every citizen, from whom a few hours of standing in queues is the only sacrifice asked for, in return for which, each citizen gets to observe the outclome of his or her decision for the next several years? Freedom of choice comes hand in hand with the active participation in duties, as an individual, family member and as a citizen, and there is so less thought given to this, that in all honesty, the morass we often find ourselves in is because of our own apathy and indifference. This apathy would be but obvious when the choice of the elected representative goes wrong, which one can see, is such an ever present danger since the myriad tasks before the elected are so vast and complex that few really justify the positions they hold in the councils. But it is precisely when the entire citizenry gives thought to and puts into purposeful action the process of putting differently able and qualified people to their various positions, repeatedly year after year, will the system become efficient, and can the democratic potential of a people be realised and likely shown to be a more credible alternative to authoritarian rule.