My thoughts on the mandatory voting part is in line with the countries that have instated it, political parties became more moderate and the population became more informed. The average charge for not voting was about 25 dollars American. Low enough to not be true enforcement, high enough that you would chose to do it. The polls also had an abstain function, but a vast majority decided well if they have to go anyway they might as well do it right. Political parties no longer have to engage the fringe/fanatical who are guaranteed to show up to secure votes, this leads to a more majority based political system. Id cards, I too would chafe at the thought, but in a fashion we already have them. Your social security card was never meant to fulfill the function it currently has, but it is commonly used now as a second form of id and is wholly unsecure containing no certificate encryption and no photo. There is no real tracking and thus citizens are constantly having their identity stolen, instating a universal id, with encrypted hash values, voting registration and mandatory employeer registration would have multiple benefits, lessening identity theft, health record tracking, voting registration, lower illegal hiring practices, etc. I don't personally like the idea of being tracked, but every citizen is already so far on grid there are far more benefits to having a universal id than not.