By Curt_Anderson December 30, 2023 2:54 pm Category: Politics (0.0 from 0 votes) Rules of the Post Write A New Article How To Post Here Rate this article (5=best, 0=poor)

Please don't expect Republicans to be consistent



Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents overwhelmingly say voting is a fundamental right that should not be restricted in any way – 78% hold this view, while fewer than a quarter (21%) say it is a privilege. Two-thirds of Republicans and Republican leaners say voting is a privilege that can be limited if requirements are not met, compared with about half as many (32%) who say it is a fundamental right. (Pew Research)

I don't speak for all Democrats, but in my opinion voting is a right and running for office is a privilege.

There’s a difference between a right and a privilege
Rights are not conferred by anyone, and they cannot be taken away or altered by anyone. They are inherent. Call them natural or God-given, depending on your metaphysical inclination, they belong to all of us equally, simply by virtue of the fact that we are human. Properly understood, the Constitution does not exist to give us our rights, but to protect the rights we are born with.

Privileges, on the other hand, do not belong to all. They are given to some and withheld from others. They are always conditional, subject to change or outright removal by those in authority controlling them. They are unequal by nature, some people always having more and some less. And often, a privilege involves actually taking something from one group and giving it to another. (The Republic)

Cited and related links:

1. pewresearch.org
2. therepublic.com

Comments Start Below

by HatetheSwamp on December 30, 2023 3:02 pm Yeah. Exactly. You can vote... for a Dem... using as many purloined absentee ballots as you can get your hands on. It's how the Doddering Old Fool became Prez. Baha. by Curt_Anderson on December 30, 2023 3:26 pm HtS, it must be a bitter pill for you to swallow that the candidate who is under indictment for election interference is Donald Trump. "I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have." by HatetheSwamp on December 30, 2023 3:31 pm Politicized DOJ. by Curt_Anderson on December 30, 2023 3:44 pm HtS, So the DOJ tricked Donald Trump into saying, "I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have"? Or do you mean "finding" 11,780 Trump votes shouldn't be considered purloined votes? You have to give Joe Biden credit. If he really did the win the election with stolen votes, he is a criminal mastermind. Because nobody has uncovered any vote cheating that could account for his electoral victory. by HatetheSwamp on December 30, 2023 4:06 pm Well, the string-pullers are... but, there's a couple centuries of experience. by Ponderer on December 31, 2023 7:17 am You're totally bang-on, Curt. Trump was never interested in finding actual legitimate votes with those calls that may have somehow not been counted before the elections were certified. There were none. It was a simple and demonstrable fact He was trying, by use of lies, bullshit, and mob boss threats, to encourage others to commit election fraud for him and make up illegal fake votes that didn't exist. Or to just declare that they existed. It's quite literally the only thing he could have possibly been asking them to do. He's never even claimed in his own defense that he was trying to do anything else. He just declares that there was nothing wrong with what he did. It was nothing illegal. And besides, he's got total and complete presidential immunity from criminal prosecution anyways! The very idea that there are Americans who want to see this man become president again actually makes me nauseous to contemplate. There is simply no way to interpret those calls he and his minions made to those state election officials as anything but attempts to overthrow the results of a free and fare election that he legally and officially lost fare and square. Which means that he blatantly engaged in insurrectionist actions. And no degree of deranged ramblings from his rabid defenders here will ever manifest the utterly and entirely baseless reality that they so desperately wish for where the election was "stolen" from their divine messiah. by Indy! on December 31, 2023 10:01 am Bottom line... wingdings believe "some animals are more equal than others". That carries down thru law as well - you can't restrict "gun rights" (which really are not even a right without the responsibilities enumerated in the Second Amendment) - but voting rights can require tests, poll taxes, making poor folks stand in line for entire days while the rich can vote from the comfort of their own homes or throwing out entire states' vote results if they don't like the winner. by meagain on December 31, 2023 10:33 am There seems to be little confusion here. There are two classes of rights. Inalienable and legal. Natural rights are inalienable. They cannot be restricted or transferred Legal rights are those granted by society, by government. They can be restricted or altered. However, both apply to all. To 100% of the population. Even the legal rights if restricted are restricted for all. There can be no discrimination. There is, of course, the restriction possible in the case of crime. But that must be restored when the sentence is served. In many countries that, too, is almost inalienable and prisoners are entitled to vote. America lags in that. by Curt_Anderson on December 31, 2023 10:55 am Meagain, In two American states, Maine and Vermont prisoners can vote. Actually, the United States is in pretty good company in generally not allowing prisoners to vote. Prisoners in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and other countries don’t allow prisoners to vote. Many other countries permit only some prisoners to vote. Incidentally, it is questionable if prisoners are able to vote freely without coercion. I am perfectly OK with prisoners losing citizenship rights, including the right to vote. However, once they serve their sentence I believe most citizenship rights, including the right to vote should be returned. Depending on the crime, it is reasonable to deny permanently gun ownership rights of felons. felonvoting.procon.org Go To Top

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