Huckabee on fox

[slingshot]

The problem is that when you start restricting voting it becomes a question of what those restrictions are.  For example, you start restricting voting to 'productive' people.

Pretty simple actually.  You go back to the original constitution and limit voters to property owners exclusively.

[roo_ster]

You seriously think that a draftee scrubbing floors somewhere against his will is more useful to society than a college graduate?

First, that is a false dichotomy.  Not every loser who runs to Canada to avoid a draft is college material.

Second, even if we grant that a particular loser is / will be a college graduate, not all degrees are equal (1).  I would argue that some degrees are harmful to society in and of themselves (2) or in the numbers (3) currently vomited forth by universities.

So, yes, a draftee scrubbing floors is a far superior societal contributor than many of the products excreted by the universities.





(1): Generally worthless degrees that only tell an employer, "I spent four years in college and wasn't too drunk most of the time to attend class."  Examples such as mass communication, sociology, psychology, etc.  The modern equivalent of a high school diploma in the 1950s and 1960s.

(2): Any of the degrees that fit the "<ethnic_racial_group>-studies" formula.  Others include social work and the products of the anti-Western Civ Middle East Studies Association (MESA).

(3): Law comes to mind.  By nature, the practice of law is at best a support function, usually is more parasitic, and very destructive to both those who actually produce.

[Manedwolf]

Pretty simple actually.  You go back to the original constitution and limit voters to property owners exclusively.

S'cuse me?

So, someone who bought a McMansion they can't afford and is now defaulting and begging for help from Uncle Sugar is more qualified to vote than someone who responsibly decided to rent till the market became sane?

I don't think so.

[MicroBalrog]

I take it you've never been to Starbucks.....

Yes, people in McJobs sometimes wear uniforms, but BY AND LARGE we have a much-relaxed dress code in our society than we have in our militaries.

[Perd Hapley]

Pretty simple actually.  You go back to the original constitution and limit voters to property owners exclusively.

The U.S. Constitution (either as originally ratified, or with the Bill or Rights amended) nowhere specifies who may vote.  That issue was left to the states.  I could be wrong here, but I don't think all of the state constitutions (if any) limited the franchise to property holders.  And yes, I do understand that property requirements were in effect in many places in early America, at various times.  But the situation was not as simple as you describe.

And I think women and blacks were often barred from voting, even if they did own property.

[ArmedBear]

(1): Generally worthless degrees that only tell an employer, "I spent four years in college and wasn't too drunk most of the time to attend class."  Examples such as mass communication, sociology, psychology, etc.  The modern equivalent of a high school diploma in the 1950s and 1960s.

LOL

I wouldn't say that.

A lot of high school grads in the 1950s had marketable skills when they got out.

[Teknoid]

The U.S. Constitution (either as originally ratified, or with the Bill or Rights amended) nowhere specifies who may vote.  That issue was left to the states.  I could be wrong here, but I don't think all of the state constitutions (if any) limited the franchise to property holders.  And yes, I do understand that property requirements were in effect in many places in early America, at various times.  But the situation was not as simple as you describe.

And I think women and blacks were often barred from voting, even if they did own property.

You are correct. Nowhere in the constitution is there a guaranteed "right to vote". Look all you want. It ain't there. There was even a case decided by the USSC that ruled this was so. They ruled that all the 15th amendment says is that race, color, or previous status as a slave can not be used as a voting qualification.

The ruling stated in Bush VS. Gore (1998):

"The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States, unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the Electoral College."

Voting rights, even in a federal election, are a state matter.

[roo_ster]

LOL

I wouldn't say that.

A lot of high school grads in the 1950s had marketable skills when they got out.

True.  To clarify, my point is that the college degree has been devalued. 

FWIW, my great grandfather had an eighth grade education.  He owned his own businesses and was repeatedly elected to the local school board.

[MicroBalrog]

So you're arguing the sort of skills taught today in the first degree of humanitarian colleges should be moved to schools?

I'm all for it.

But I still don't want Sgt. Hartmann running society.

[ArfinGreebly]

. . . the sort of skills taught today in the first degree of humanitarian colleges . . .

And, just for clarity, what skills would those be, and from what foundation would they be derived?

[stevelyn]

NO! Really...

I want to know!

Why in the hell a scumbag on welfare who's never earned an honest dollar in their life has a vote that is worth as much as mine who has worked since I was 12, paid over quarter million in taxes in my life (and that's just income - doesn't include all the other BS ways the thieving government takes our money), served my country in the military for 13 years, raised 3 more law abiding tax payers to contribute to society and am now raising another.

Why?
It ain't right and it sure as heck isn't fair!
AND!
It's starting to PISS me OFF!

There is a good reason only land owners were allowed to vote at one time. It's because they are the one's who had something to lose if the wrong people were to get into public office.

Nowadays any fool can vote even if they're dead in some places and most don't have a pot to piss in or a boot to pour it out of.
They are parasites leeching of the productive.

[gunsmith]

I liked Cobra Commander better then Huck, YES WE SHALL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzrd6eVAsjA
Earthquakes!

[seeker_two]

I liked Cobra Commander better then Huck, YES WE SHALL!

Sad thing is.....I'd vote for Cobra Commander quicker than I'd vote for who's running now...

[MicroBalrog]

Nowadays any fool can vote even if they're dead in some places and most don't have a pot to piss in or a boot to pour it out of.

Yes, because wealthy corporate people will really oppose government handouts if given to them.

[lupinus]

Who said anything about only wealthy people being able to vote? No one that I recall, and it's never been that way in America either.

And no, I don't think they'd keep people in office who run the country into the ground cause they actually have something to loose in the process.  You average lowlife registering 80 times with Acorn to vote for a socialist has zip to loose but his welfare check.  And if the country goes down he's not much worse off anyway.

[Perd Hapley]

John Stossel attempts some voter suppression.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvl0lqhCVio

[MicroBalrog]

And no, I don't think they'd keep people in office who run the country into the ground cause they actually have something to loose in the process.

No, but property owners or business owners can, for example, support people that'll subsidize their business or introduce laws that shield tem from competition - welfare by any other name.