Should we take away old people's voting rights like we do their driving rights?

Bingo. There's a reason why some states are actually repealing term limits. They paralyze governments. California is the perfect example of a state crippled by term limits (among other problems)

 

Funny, I almost posted a pic of that little $#@! Joffrey.

 

Of course, those who can't even read a ballot correctly, a la Florida voters in 2000, should definitely be allowed to vote. Right?

 

Voting is how those in charge let you think you have a say in the system.

Newsflash: You have no say in the system

 

The idea of democracy and the power of the polls is to give the poor who are typically the uneducated a chance at power to improve their station. Obviously in another system of government the serfs stay as serfs because the rich have all of the power and influence.

Ironically the problem is the poor majority keep supporting policies that keep them poor and keep the rich and powerful rich and powerful.

Check out this well written article about how the rich can easily afford to pay more in taxes and what a benefit it would be if the Bush tax cuts were never implemented.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Rich-Can-Afford-to-Pay-nytimes-2646797412.html?x=0

Now a selection of some of the readers comments:

So there you go, the ignorant have become so ignorant they are fighting against their best interests and vehemently so. Instead of being angry at the corporations who pay zero in income taxes and offshore jobs while sitting on trillions in cash reserves (looking at you GE and Exxon) let's instead talk about those freeloader welfare food stamp heathens. Which we are all one offshored job away from being.

Decades ago this would have been unthinkable, to take away voting power from the poor would be something akin to creating Tammany Halls all across the country. Now Boss Tweed has got the poor begging him to offshore their jobs and eliminate their minimum wage.

I full support a civics, current events, history, government, economics, spelling, whatever it takes to get the elderly/teabagger "keep your evil government hands off my Medicare" from voting.

 

Yeah, it definitely seems that way.

That's why we need Demarchy.

 

They're not so much concerned with sucking the penises of the rich and powerful as they are with making sure that people who are poorer than them continue being poorer than they are.

 

Please for the love of all that is holy. I will pay 10 times the amount for my DL if this can happen.

How many people are meeting their death in cars? All we do is blame the car makers and tell them to make cars safer. How about make people driving them safer?

Make a test that fails 10-20% of all holders now. Then push public transportation. Watch deaths fall watch medical costs fall, tell people who complain to learn how to *****ing drive!

 

Second.

Can we have Bill Clinton back?! It makes no sense to keep Michael Jordan out of the game while only having Mooch Norrises in Mark Madsens in the game.

 

Before taking away peoples' right to vote from the small fraction of American citizens (and dead) that vote, maybe we should first make Election Day a holiday to allow all the people who actually give a damn about things but have too busy with work and family to get to the polls. Now, yes I am aware of early voting and mail-in ballots, but many districts make those so insanely difficult to do or perform which is why so many people do not use them.

 

I for one have never cared about voting. I'm sure the experience is exciting for the whole 10 minutes, but I've always thought it was a waste.

 

I find this disturbing and scary. It's not about being exciting. Also, national elections have created this false belief that your vote doesn't matter. Sure in Texas your vote probably doesnt matter in a presidential election and if you're in a safe congressional seat it doesn't matter there either.

But state and local elections are absolutely decided on local turnout. Your vote makes a huge difference. The democrats got eviscerated in the Texas state house thanks to horrible turnout from democrats across the state and the result is a state house full of jokers (many of whom have never served in elected office until now) Several of the state house seats were less than 1000 votes from swinging the other way. And the makeup of our state house is as important if not more important than the federal elections.

The same goes for local city councils and statewide offices. These things not only matter but each vote plays an absolutely huge role in deciding the outcome.

 

Not to mention the majority of our educational elite, atheists, can't realistically run for office...

 

This is entirely due to political games of gerrymandering that have made congressional districts essentially worthless and allowing more hardliners to be elected. I honestly don't know who you can fix it though.

The issue with these elections though is if often feels like many of these positions are not very well explained nor their successes/failures transparent to voters. It is not that the information isn't there, so much that it takes so much effort to truly understand what is going on and who can do what, that most voters don't have the time or the energy to spend to figure it all out.

Most of those voters who do go to those polls end up voting a straight ticket or choosing people at random, neither of which are really effect ways of choosing state or local officials. In essence, the idea of increasing voting turnout specifically for smaller elections is noble, though probably not the impetus to improve things, especially when fundamental things like the Texas legislature meeting only once every 2 years have still not been changed due to idiocy.

 

I used to feel similarly. I was annoyed at the idea of term limits, because term limits are inherent to the system as constructed - if you think a politician is not serving you, vote him out!

The reality (as evidenced everywhere) is that a combination of crafty incumbent advantages (most of them frankly unfair), voter apathy/ignorance, and really lousy "choices" have made a mockery of the notion. Ergo, to compensate you force term limits.

 

Has the summer really gotten so incredibly boring that this is the kind of crap I can expect to see as a thread in D&D? Give me a ****ing break.

 

Everyone should have to pass an IQ test to vote....lol.

DD

 

Why not take it one step further and require a yearly IQ test, and anyone failing to score high enough would be ineligible to vote?

I can hear the screams of racism already.

 

Yer just sayin' that cause yer old