On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 1:14 PM, LRS Scout <lrssc...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Now I certainly don't think that restricting people from voting on the > basis of race or gender makes sense, but I could see using other litmus > tests such as property ownership and military or civic service in order to > grant the franchise to vote.
I don't own a house and I've never served in the military. I think that these days, far too many people end up in the military because it is one of the few options open to them rather than out of a sense of duty and patriotism. I really don't think that the franchise is the problem. At the top, we have major structural impediments to change. It is a two party system and money ensures that it is the already entrenched interests that likely to be elected. At the bottom, we have an education system that has abandoned the teaching of civics and economics and that presents a glossy faux history of the founding of the country while completely avoiding recent history as "too controversial". If you want to make elections more rational and educated, change the stranglehold on power and convince the average person that their time and effort to engage will actually be worthwhile. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:350001 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
