It was a typical Monday. I had stopped to get my breakfast at my local breakfast getting spot. I had my food and sweet tea in hand and was headed for the door when I overheard the most curious thing. A gentleman, who I don’t know from Adam’s housecat, said “I don’t think people who don’t pay taxes should be allowed to vote.”
At first blush, I wanted to agree. After all, we pay for their salary so why not let just us decide. That feeling lasted about .013 seconds. I’m pretty ashamed that it lasted that long.
You see, while it may sound like a good idea, it’s about as un-American an idea as I’ve ever heard. For years, the right to vote was denied Americans for a variety of reasons. They weren’t allowed to vote because of their gender or skin color. Then, they tried to tie to to property ownership, all to keep out those same folks.
Any attempt to deny someone the right to vote is an attempt to remove their God-given rights. It’s no different than trying to remove their right to speak freely or to own a firearm. It is, in my not so humble opinion, the most dispicable thing one human being can do to another.
Not only that, but contrary to what some folks think, there are a lot of people who don’t pay taxes who I think few would argue should be barred from voting. Such as, you may ask?
Veterans, disabled due to wounds in the line of duty.
You see, they may not be paying taxes, but do they not deserve the right to vote? Would those who want to disenfranchise non-taxpayers from voting care to look a veteran in the eye and tell him that despite his/her sacrifice for this nation, he/she no longer has a right to vote? Would they actually have the nerve, or the guts, to tell these folks who sacrificed so much that it was for a nation that has lost it’s sense of freedom?
Make no mistake, the vast majority of voting aged people in this nation do pay taxes of some sort. Even when those who don’t pay vote, they’re outnumbered by those who do. So where’s the problem?
Personally, what I heard that frosty Monday morning was obviously the result of someone with a pale sense of freedom. It’s easy to love freedom when it’s for things you agree with. It takes a much paler sense of liberty to seek to eliminate the freedom of others because they’ll make decisions that you won’t necessarily agree with.
Tom,
I obviously don’t know what the gentleman you overheard had in mind but I do believe that:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not”.
Thomas Jefferson
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic”.
Benjamin Franklin
So maybe he was just saying what (I think) a lot of people are thinking; that is when the majority of the population is getting more from the government than they contribute the rest of us are in big trouble. We may already be there.
No where in that post did I remotely defend the welfare system, the existence of welfare, or anything of the sort. What I did say is that it’s wrong to disenfranchise people because you may not like the way they will vote.
As for us being in big trouble, we have been for about 70 years. There’s nothing new to that unfortunately, but a lot of that trouble has come from those who pretend that they’re about those who pay taxes instead of those who don’t.
I’m not talking about welfare either. Your “disabled veteran” example aside what do you expect from an electorate when the majority has zero or even a negative tax obligation? I expect the non payers to vote for me to pay more with total disregard to the impact on me or the country at large. In 2005 32.6% of all returns filed had no tax obligation. When that number reaches 50% plus or that number plus the idiots that think they are owed something from the rest of us reaches 50% plus the country will fail. Based on the current administration I reckon we’re already there and so I can understand the sentiment of the gent you overheard. If you ain’t paying you ain’t playing
So two wrongs make a right?
My country failing is one wrong what’s the other?
You can’t actually see taking away someone’s right to vote as a wrong?
Like you, I can understand the guy’s sentiment and what it’s most likely based on, but nothing overrides the fact that he was suggesting taking away someone’s rights, and while welfare and government sanctioned theft are wrongs, so is robbing another of their rights.
Sure it’s wrong but allowing a bunch of do nothing non-contributing freeloaders to destroy the greatest nation on earth is more wrong. How important is the vote of someone with nothing in the game? What do they care about how our government wastes a nearly 3 trillion dollar budget as long as they get theirs? I don’t believe a person getting a so called “earned income tax credit” is likely to vote against raising taxes. Kind of like giving felons the right to vote then expecting them to support the tough on crime candidate. Do you see a different future? I guess when the US is finally in ruin we can all take pride that we were once “free”.
“I guess when the US is finally in ruin we can all take pride that we were once ‘free’.”
So you would give up freedom for one and all so easily?
Like I asked above; “Do you see a different future”? There isn’t anything easy about what’s happening to our country and just like we limit free speach and gun ownership in certain cases why should voting rights be unquestionable.
Yeah, I do. I see a future where eventually we convince enough people that we’re right. See the tea parties, something we wouldn’t have imagined a couple of years ago. There is a movement towards fiscal responsiblity after all.
And as for limiting rights, I’ve argued against those limits left and right. And thank you for illustrating why I argue against them. They are invariably used later by someone else as a reason why it’s OK to limit yet another right. If that’s what you want to read about, then you may want to find another blog to read, because so long as I have a say, that mode of thinking will NOT be endorsed by me or most anyone else who writes for this blog.
BS, the tea party folks aren’t the zero tax burden people who may soon be in the majority. My point was and is; when the majority is supported by the minority the country will fail because the majority will continue to vote themselves more and more from the minority. And I’m afraid you missed my point on limiting certain rights. You can’t yell FIRE in a crowded hall and felons can’t own guns. You may argue against these “limits” on freedom of speech and gun ownership but I find them reasonable likewise it seems reasonable to me that there be at least some qualification required before exercising ones right to vote.
Wilson,there are qualifications to be able to vote in this country. You have to be an American citizen! That means the American college student who may not pay taxes until his or her 20′s. It means the American soldier in Iraq fighting to protect us while not paying taxes do to deductions he claims for his dependents. It means the parttime working American mother who doesn’t earn enough to have to pay taxes. And most importantly, it means the millions of retirees who built this country and now live tax free on their social security checks. And what about some one who pays twice what you pay in taxes, should they get to vote twice? I think somebodies been listening to Neal Boortz and drinking the kool-aid. People who need their right to vote taken away are idiots such as yourself!!
Ron,
Aside from the name calling and totally inaccurate conclusion on what forms my opinion you make some excellent points. If you read carefully my previous posts you’ll see I’m not comfortable with taking away anyone’s right to vote but I am very concerned that we are fast approaching a time when the majority of the voters vote only with their personal stake in mind. You reference a number of examples and they all have one thing in common; they’re contributing or have contributed (queue the outrage over who decides who’s contributing). I don’t propose to have an answer. I merely stated my concern over the direction of the nation and what I think is inevitable. When the majority can vote themselves a raise from the pockets of the minority the nation is in great peril.