I found an honest liberal!

[pompey]

To me, crap like this makes me want to reintroduce poll exams. If you can't pass a simple test about the candidates, you have no right to vote for them.

Even if this passed Constitutional muster (it wouldn't), wouldn't it require the creation of a new federal bureaucracy (e.g., the Department of Voter Qualification Testing)? How much would it cost to administer written tests to millions of voters? Who would choose the questions? Wouldn't it be very easy to phrase questions in ways that influenced voting behavior (e.g., which candidate supports President Obama's "death panel" proposal?)....

[JC]

Mar 30, 2011 11:49:32 GMT -5 pompey said:

To me, crap like this makes me want to reintroduce poll exams. If you can't pass a simple test about the candidates, you have no right to vote for them.

Even if this passed Constitutional muster (it wouldn't), wouldn't it require the creation of a new federal bureaucracy (e.g., the Department of Voter Qualification Testing)? How much would it cost to administer written tests to millions of voters? Who would choose the questions? Wouldn't it be very easy to phrase questions in ways that influenced voting behavior (e.g., which candidate supports President Obama's "death panel" proposal?)....

Have you ever read the constitution? There is no "right to vote" written within it. The only mention to voting is in relation of denying votes based on sex and race.
It is so written to give states the power to regulate voters.

[pompey]

Mar 30, 2011 12:01:01 GMT -5 JC said:

Have you ever read the constitution? There is no "right to vote" written within it. The only mention to voting is in relation of denying votes based on sex and race.
It is so written to give states the power to regulate voters.

I read Amendment XIV ("No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States") as prohibiting such a civics test, and I think that the Courts would back this up.

And like I say, even if it did pass Constitutional muster, it's wholly impractical to implement.

[daworm]

Perhaps not. But it what happens now certainly isn't good either.

[JC]

Mar 30, 2011 12:21:35 GMT -5 pompey said:

Mar 30, 2011 12:01:01 GMT -5 JC said:

Have you ever read the constitution? There is no "right to vote" written within it. The only mention to voting is in relation of denying votes based on sex and race.
It is so written to give states the power to regulate voters.

I read Amendment XIV ("No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States") as prohibiting such a civics test, and I think that the Courts would back this up.

Umm... the section you quoted is about citizenship...
And it certainly doesn't guarantee one's "right to vote".

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

And like I say, even if it did pass Constitutional muster, it's wholly impractical to implement.

So is the federal TICS (gun background check), driver license tests, etc...

[el Gusano]

I found another hones one!

(When asked by Ted Koppel whether he voted:) Of course I voted! Are you kidding? I'm a democrat. - Joel Barr

[printemps]

Apr 8, 2011 14:03:21 GMT -5 el Gusano said:

I found another hones one!

(When asked by Ted Koppel whether he voted:) Of course I voted! Are you kidding? I'm a democrat. - Joel Barr

Epic.

Any other quotes from long-dead people who never held elective office who showed up on "Nightline" 20 years ago?

[el Gusano]

You mean any other Soviet spies who worked in sensitive government programs while selling our secrets to the Communists?

Yes.

Alger Hiss. Doesn't get much higher in the government than that, and he has plenty of quotes.

Oh, and Bill Clinton who sold our missile secrets to the Communists also has plenty of quotes.

But I was just appreciative of Barr's quote, due to its frank honesty.

[pompey]

Commies. Yawn.

[el Gusano]

They call themselves "progressives" again now.

But even then they admitted they were democrats.

[printemps]

Imagine that.