>>For instance, the US already has constitutional guarantees of freedom of political speech. But you still find it necessary to have secret voting. Why is that?
>
>No, we do not find it necessary. It's a right, not a requirement.
A RIGHT! You say it is a RIGHT to cower behind a curtain like a rabbit, furtively casting your ballot in secret!!!! A RIGHT to hide your opinions from the prying eyes of employers and neighbours!!!
>Many people, including me, wear our political allegiences on our sleeve. The only place that I have ever been discriminated against for my left views was in academia. My judges didn't and my law firm doesn't care if I'm a red as long as I did a good job.
I'm not easily flabbergasted Justin, but you've taken my breath away. You may not find it necessary to hide your opinions, but the fact that many people do, is precisely the reason for the invention of the secret ballot.
The secret ballot is not a right, but an acknowledgement of the absence of a right, a shameful necessity. Americans had the vote before the invention of the secret ballot (or some of them did anyhow.) Study what occurred under that regime. I vaguely recall that Kentucky was one of the last places to replace the old voice voting system with the secret (Australian) ballot. Employees voted as their employers directed, else they suffered the consequences. The largest employers controlled the largest voting blocs.
The secret ballot wasn't considered to be the institution of a new right, but a matter of necessity, since most voters could no longer dare to openly declare their political position.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas