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LookieNoNookie -> RE: Who should vote? (5/24/2013 6:11:53 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Arturas
Should we restrict who votes to who has a stake in America, to those who own property or to those who pay taxes? Here is what the founding fathers thought...text excerpted from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/government-and-civics/essays/winning-vote-history-voting-rights
quote:
Colonial America, you don't own property or pay taxes, then you don't vote.
If you don't pay in then you don't have a say in where the money goes
The basic principle that governed voting in colonial America was that voters should have a “stake in society.” Leading colonists associated democracy with disorder and mob rule, and believed that the vote should be restricted to those who owned property (and paid property taxes) or paid (other) taxes. Only these people, in their view, were committed members of the community and were sufficiently independent to vote. Each of the thirteen colonies required voters either to own a certain amount of land or personal property, or to pay a specified amount in taxes.
After the Revolution you still had to have a stake in America to vote...
You still had to contribute money to America
The American Revolution was fought in part over the issue of voting. The Revolutionaries rejected the British argument that representation in Parliament could be virtual (that is, that English members of Parliament could adequately represent the interests of the colonists). Instead, the Revolutionaries argued that government derived its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
This made many restrictions on voting seem to be a violation of fundamental rights. During the period immediately following the Revolution, some states replaced property qualifications with taxpaying requirements. This reflected the principle that there should be “no taxation without representation.” Other states allowed anyone who served in the army or militia to vote. Vermont was the first state to eliminate all property and taxpaying qualifications for voting.
By 1790, all states had eliminated religious requirements for voting. As a result, approximately 60 to 70 percent of adult white men could vote. During this time, six states (Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) permitted free African Americans to vote.
Opening the Vote to those who do not own property
The most significant political innovation of the early nineteenth century was the abolition of property qualifications for voting and officeholding. Hard times resulting from the Panic of 1819 led many people to demand an end to property restrictions on voting and officeholding. In 1800, just three states (Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont) had universal white manhood suffrage. By 1830, ten states permitted white manhood suffrage without qualification. Eight states restricted the vote to taxpayers, and six imposed a property qualification for suffrage. In 1860, just five states limited suffrage to taxpayers and only two still imposed property qualifications. And after 1840, a number of states, mainly in the Midwest, allowed immigrants who intended to become citizens to vote.
Pressure for expansion of voting rights came from propertyless men; from territories eager to attract settlers; and from political parties seeking to broaden their base.
The "and from political parties seeking to broaden their base" is where we are in trouble here. This is the pay for vote scheme, pay by promising to give the voter more of the taxpayer's income for their vote. This is what, IMO, the founding fathers using their common sense avoided by not changing who could vote when drawing up the Constitution and after all, that is a no brainer IMO.
So, what do you think, are we OK the way it is and just as soon as the WalMartians get tired of handouts and finally go back to work and start paying taxes then they will vote to reduce the free lunch Democrats are promising for their vote, or are we going to have to either go the way of California where the taxpayers are leaving and cities go bankrupt now, as if that helps, or are we going down the path to a second revolution where we must again secure the blessings of liberty from those who would "redistribute" the wealth we created by going to school, working our way through college and working a career and paying taxes and saving for rainy days?
No.
We should restrict voting to those who have a stake.
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