I don’t think anyone should be allowed to vote who is a net recipient of government aid. If you receive more in welfare, food stamps, SNAP, or whatever it is called, than you pay in taxes, you should not have a voice in government policy. It just seems like a bad way to run a system, and an invitation to instability. These people would just vote for themselves to receive more and more and more, until the system goes bankrupt. We are seeing the beginnings of it even now.
Note that I am not talking about Social Security, or Unemployment Benefits, or anything that you paid into to receive. Just government largess that you are getting without having earned it. I’m not opposed to having these safety valves, I’m just opposed to letting people vote while using them.
i haven’t met many people I think should be allowed to vote. But if we’re going to have this system then every US citizen of majority age should have the right to vote for any election in which they are a constituent, without exception. Everybody should be able to deliver a ballot to any government office for 30 days prior to election day and have that ballot counted. Penalties for interfering with anyone’s right to vote should be severe.
The system is not working if people are denied their right to vote.
This does mean that nearly anyone with kids in school is disenfranchised, is that one of the results you are looking for?
Though, the one thing I could see that is beneficial to this is that if you are on the board of directors or a major shareholder of a company that receives more in tax benefits than it pays in taxes, then you would not be able to vote.
The Kingdom of Hawai’i made it relatively easy for foreigners to acquire Hawai’ian citizenship.
The foreigners voted to allow the U.S.A. to colonize Hawai’i.
The Mexican government made a similar mistake in Texas.
I also know one small-town newspaper that should no longer enjoy “freedom of the press” because of excessive lying. Except…who watches the watchmen? Whom do we set up as “guardian of truth” with the power to shut down “fake news?” The sad, ugly – and glorious! – truth is that freedom is our ideal, and we accept lying newspapers.
Same, then, with incompetent voters. Too easy to imagine the “Bureau of Voter Inspection” reading stuff I might have written when in college and decreeing, “Insufficient regard for patriotic values, voter status revoked.”
Not only do I think they should all be allowed to vote, I think they should all be required to vote. And that’s including those currently incarcerated.
What most people don’t realize about those laws is how they benefit the local populace. The number of people living in the area determines the number of Representatives they get. But in the case of States that don’t let prisoners vote, the local populace gets to decide which Reps they will have. So every local vote is worth 2-3 times what an average Americans vote is worth. And the local populace will be made up of guards and people who work in the prison. So their concern is not for the well-being of the prisoners, it’s for the continuation of the institution that pays them. They need that prison to be full in order for their town to thrive.
It is a terrible conflict of interest and benefits, which has resulted in some of our most shameful realities.
Noooo, I specifically exempted things you pay into. You pay into the government schools with your property taxes, at least in most of the USA. Same with unemployment benefits, etc.
I agree about everything you said except it applies to people who pay less taxes than i do. I dare say you would fit in that category, you probably think you pay your own way but like the vast majority of the country you do not, you are a net recipient of government aid, you could not afford even one mile of the roads you use much less your fair portion of the cost of operating this country. Just because you aren’t receiving aid directly in cash or in payment of your personal bills doesn’t mean anything, you are still a welfare recipient.