The funny thing is, if this plan existed, there would be one upside. The national debt would be paid for so quick. Corporations would gladly pay huge percentages of their profits just to out-vote other corporations. We'd be able to keep our bloated defense budget. We'd be able to throw all kinds of money at infrastructure, education, and science.
Of course that's assuming they wouldn't change the rules again once they got more power. Why wouldn't whoever paid for the most votes just change the rules again and declare themselves absolute rulers and abolish any voting?
..of course there would be that pesky cost of abandoning any semblance of democracy and any notion of equality. might as well just go back to a caste system. Born rich, stay rich, born poor, fuck you, stay poor.
It's right there in the declaration of independence. All men (people) are created equal. Do you agree with that..or not? Pretty simple question and more and more people seem to be saying no.
9 Comments
bareboards2I have heard that from my dad -- if you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't vote.
And what is up with that body language? Could he be any more closed?
TrancecoachAs crazy as this might sound to folks these days, his idea is probably closer to what the (over-idolized) founders of the country had in mind.
CrosswordsThe funny thing is, if this plan existed, there would be one upside. The national debt would be paid for so quick. Corporations would gladly pay huge percentages of their profits just to out-vote other corporations. We'd be able to keep our bloated defense budget. We'd be able to throw all kinds of money at infrastructure, education, and science.
They'd just use their paid for politicians to refund them all money they spent in one way or another. Kind of like they already do.
newtboyAbsolutely not. The founding fathers wanted everyone (that was considered a person at the time) to have a say in their government, not only the rich or educated. They did set it up so only the 'educated' (and rich?) would be elected, with the electoral college that does the actual electing. Never did they support paying to vote, that's a thing they wanted to insure against.
As crazy as this might sound to folks these days, his idea is probably closer to what the (over-idolized) founders of the country had in mind.
VoodooVI can see his point though. Founding fathers were far from perfect..and he's right, they are idolized. If we were to meet the founders right now, I'm sure they'd say some fucked up shit even the most conservative would now think of as barbaric. I think at the very least, they definitely favored landowners over non. They certainly didn't think women should vote. so they certainly weren't strangers to the idea that some people had more rights than others.
We make the same argument about weapons, that the founding fathers never could have foreseen how guns have advanced and proliferated in present day so we routinely argue that the 2nd amendment needs to be revisited. The left focuses on "well regulated" and the right focus on "shall not be infringed" No matter what side of the aisle you're on...it needs to be revised if only for clarity.
By that same token, I don't think the founders could have foreseen how powerful corporations have become or income inequality problem. Gov't used to have the power to revoke a company charter pretty much on whim...that ability is long gone
Absolutely not. The founding fathers wanted everyone (that was considered a person at the time) to have a say in their government, not only the rich or educated. They did set it up so only the 'educated' (and rich?) would be elected, with the electoral college that does the actual electing. Never did they support paying to vote, that's a thing they wanted to insure against.
TrancecoachIncorrect. The "founding fathers" wrote into the Constitution that only non-slaves, land owning males could vote. That's what they wanted. It was Andrew Jackson who had the idea to enfranchise all men (but still not blacks or women though).
In any case, I still think voting is misguided at best.
Absolutely not. The founding fathers wanted everyone (that was considered a person at the time) to have a say in their government, not only the rich or educated. They did set it up so only the 'educated' (and rich?) would be elected, with the electoral college that does the actual electing. Never did they support paying to vote, that's a thing they wanted to insure against.
newtboyLike I said, everyone they considered a 'person'.
Incorrect. The "founding fathers" wrote into the Constitution that only non-slaves, land owning males could vote. That's what they wanted. It was Andrew Jackson who had the idea to enfranchise all men (but still not blacks or women though).
In any case, I still think voting is misguided at best.
TrancecoachLike I said... The wealthy, land-owning males.
Like I said, everyone they considered a 'person'.
siftbotMoving this video to VoodooV's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.