Prerequisites for universal suffrage

[Money2Burn]

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It wouldn't really take much mental capacity at all.


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Exactly, poor people wouldn't be hurt by it at all.

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Perhaps we just need large bold letters on top of voting forms: YOU CAN LEAVE BOXES BLANK

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I like this suggestion.

[DVaut1]

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Lets make this thread intresting, should people be allowed to sell their vote?

edit: If this is a hijack, I will just start another thread.

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Absolutely. Without question.

natedogg

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Not sure if this is a level or not, but I disagree with it.

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I started a thread about this very subject here.

I thought the idea would have been popular on this forum, but surprisingly most people voted no. Perhaps my thread sucked, or perhaps there is a general distaste for voting, along with the obvious sample size and selection caveats inherent in internet forum polling.

[Money2Burn]

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I don't see how knowledge is needed. Poor people know what they need in their lives. They need free healthcare, bought and paid for by the upper class. They need welfare, again, paid for by the upper class. A knowledge of US history won't change what they want. All a requirement like this would do is ensure that people who don't have time to study for these tests, (ie: the poor) would not have a say in our government anymore, and therefore would not be able to get what they want from their government. This tactic was tried before. Whites didn't want the recently freed blacks to have a say in their government, so they made a series of laws that resulted in it being almost impossible for any of the financially empty, educationaly empty blacks to vote to change laws in their governments.


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Poor people don't need "free" health care. *Some* poor people may want it, but not all of them, and they certainly don't need it.

Knowledge isn't necessarily needed, a monkey or a two year old could be trained to vote. The more knowledge a person has the better he or she can understand what he or she *needs* or rather wants.

How can you contend that knowledge won't change what they want? It almost certainly will to some extent. In the past 4 years, my views have changed significantly on what I want from government and in my private life, specifically because I've gained knowledge about a whole lot of things. It has definately had an effect on my own time preference. Perhaps, this experience is unique to me, but I would be suprised if it was.

[xorbie]

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Poor people don't need "free" health care. *Some* poor people may want it, but not all of them, and they certainly don't need it.

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What exactly do you define "need" as?

[Money2Burn]

I consider things people "need" to be the basics, food, water, and shelter. "Free" healthcare is not one of them. People many want it, to improve the length/quality of their lives, but I don't see this as a necessity.

[xorbie]

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I consider things people "need" to be the basics, food, water, and shelter. "Free" healthcare is not one of them. People many want it, to improve the length/quality of their lives, but I don't see this as a necessity.

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You do realize that the "basics" are only there to improve length/quality of life, right? If I have some disease, you can be damn sure I "need" health care just as much as I "need" food. This doesn't mean people deserve or ought to get these things, but to say they don't "need" healthcare is ridiculous (disclaimer: not talking about any and all healthcare, but some minimum amount).

[Money2Burn]

Good point, when I was thinking aobut health care, somehow I was only focusing on some of the more frivilous stuff.

[volkin]

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They attribute almost 50% of all the disenfranchised ex-felons in the entire country to being in Florida, yet on their own site they say that Florida doesn't prevent ex-felons from voting. Something doesn't jive.

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I'm pretty sure that Florida does not allow ex-felons to vote. The note that Florida doesn't prevent ex-felons from voting is wrong.

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Estimated Felon Disenfranchisement Totals

Florida:

13,094,945 Total Voting Population

1,179,687 Total Est. Disenfranchised (= 9.01% Total Est. % of Voting Pop. Disenfranchised)
=
84,210 Prisoners
+
4,694 Parolees
+
127,794 Probationers
+
5,565 Jail Inmates
+
957,423 Est. Ex-Felons

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yes, but the real shame is the disfranchisement of infants. I hear Ron Paul is polling 89% in the two month old demographic.

[volkin]

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Lets make this thread intresting, should people be allowed to sell their vote?

edit: If this is a hijack, I will just start another thread.

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I don't vote and inevitably someone tries to tell me I'm either a horrible person or a fool for not doing so when they find out about my view. I do receive a ballot and have the opportunity to vote absentee if I wanted so I always offer the person, who is criticizing me, the ability to fill out my ballot for a price. Still no takers and I have dropped my price down to $5. Apparently the right to vote isn't as valuable as most people make it out to be.

[tomdemaine]

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Lets make this thread intresting, should people be allowed to sell their vote?

edit: If this is a hijack, I will just start another thread.

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I don't vote and inevitably someone tries to tell me I'm either a horrible person or a fool for not doing so when they find out about my view. I do receive a ballot and have the opportunity to vote absentee if I wanted so I always offer the person, who is criticizing me, the ability to fill out my ballot for a price. Still no takers and I have dropped my price down to $5. Apparently the right to vote isn't as valuable as most people make it out to be.

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Your vote is like one of those coupons that is redeemable for 0.0001c