chess online
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 Obama supporters have their sayTalk about well informed vote... They know just what they're taught to know. realclearpolitics.com |
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They get to vote. Think they went to public school? Makes you want to impose test standards, or something, for voting. |
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Softy ... |
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chaz The class would be funded by the government and every voter would be mandated to attend and pass some simple, elementary test in order to get the "graduation" certificate that allows them to vote. No certificate... no voting. In 8 hours you could cover a lot of basics about government operations, parties, candidates and local as well as national issues. By the time they leave, they would at least know who the Presidential candidates were. What do you see as wrong with that idea? |
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By Professor Thomas Jewett "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89) ". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 88) The above quotes were the cornerstones of Jefferson's interest in education and the franchise. He placed education as the foundation of democracy and a prerequisite to vote. Ignorance and sound self-government could not exist together: the one destroyed the other. A despotic government could restrain its citizens and deprive the people of their liberties only while they were ignorant. Jefferson could never completely separate education from government. With the fullest faith in the ability of man to govern himself, Jefferson nonetheless realized the responsibility of self-government could be assumed successfully only by an enlightened people. The habit of thinking of public education in essentially political terms, as an auxiliary of free government, naturally suggests a common father for both. In associating manhood suffrage with education, Jefferson was in the forefront. It was his belief in universal suffrage that made necessary the accompanying idea of universal education. Only popular government can safeguard democracy. . . . Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. And to render them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree. . . ." (as cited in Koch and Peden, 1972, p. 265) The preparation of the voter so that he might express his opinion by means of the ballot, thus insuring political liberty, was one of the main goals of Jefferson's plan for education which asserted four basic principles: "that democracy cannot long exist without enlightenment. that it cannot function without wise and honest officials. that talent and virtue, needed in a free society, should be educated regardless of wealth, birth or other accidental condition. that the children of the poor must be thus educated at common expense." (as cited in Padover, 1952, p. 43) Jefferson felt so strongly about education that he, as a strict constitutional constructionist, submitted to congress an amendment to the constitution to legalize federal support for education in his State of the Union Address, December 2, 1806. "Education is here placed among the articles of public care. . . " (Honeywell, 1964, p. 63). Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree. . . . An amendment to our constitution must here come in aid of the public education. The influence over government must be shared among all people. (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 87) The amendment was never considered, so, Jefferson turned his efforts to his beloved state of Virginia. He developed a comprehensive plan for education which encompassed elementary, secondary, and university levels. I think by far the most important bill in our whole code, is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness. (as cited in Padover, 1952, p. 87) Jefferson believed the elementary school was more important than the university in the plan because, as he said, it was "safer to have the whole people respectfully enlightened than a few in a high state of science and many in ignorance as in Europe" (as cited in Peterson, 1960, p. 241). He had six objectives for primary education to bring about this enlightenment and which highlighted what he hoped would make every person into a productive and informed voter: "To give every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts, and accounts, in writing; To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercize with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor, and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed." (as cited in Peterson, 1960, p. 239) Omitted from the Bill for Virginia's school system, for political reasons, was the provision requiring literacy for citizenship. Jefferson felt strongly that society could rightfully disfranchise those who failed to avail themselves to free education (Malone, 1981, p. 270). Jefferson expressed this view in a letter to his friend du Pont in 1816: . . . in the constitution of Spain as proposed by the late Cortes. . . that any person born after that day should ever acquire the rights of citizenship until he could read and write. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the wisdom of this provision. Of all those which have been thought of for securing fidelity in the administration of the government, constant ralliance to the principles of the constitution, and progressive amendments with the progressive advances of the human mind, or changes in human affairs, it is the most effectual. Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. . . . the diffusion of knowledge among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected. (as cited in Mapp, 1991, p. 266) The omission of the provision tying literacy and the rights of citizenship did the bill little good. All that the Virginia Assembly basically passed was Jefferson's plan for a university, which became the University of Virginia. But, the issue of education and the franchise brought forth a dichotomy in Jefferson's own thinking. He knew that a democracy could only exist with an educated and informed electorate. Yet, he, who abhorred any restrictions or shackles of the mind or body, was proposing such a stricture by melding education with franchise. Find out more about Thomas Jefferson in The Thomas Jefferson Primer www.earlyamerica.com |
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Softy ... |
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You are completely at odds with one of the greatest Americans. I think there ARE certain voters that should be disenfranchised. If you don't know the names of the people who are running for the office of President, if you don't know the race of the candidates, if you can't name an issue that is important for the country... then I do believe you have NOT earned the right to vote. If you are not interested enough to learn even a little bit about the country, government, issues, and candidates... you don't deserve the right to vote (imho). Right now, the law says I am wrong. You say I am wrong. But, I say it is your attitude that is allowing the country to decay into the immoral morass that it is. You would take taxpayer monies and fund these people because they haven't the sense of responsibility to learn anything themselves. How do you justify giving something so precious as the right to vote to people who could not care less about it and have no sense of responsibility toward it? |
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aussiespud 25-Sep-12, 14:30 |
Deleted by aussiespud on 25-Sep-12, 14:50.
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Softy ... Something so precious as voting must never be taken away because the government (or anyone else) says you're just not quite smart enough to pass a certain test. Such tests would inevitably become political footballs themselves. |
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dmaestro 25-Sep-12, 16:52 |
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www.youtube.com |
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Since I now owe the federal government about $75K for my share of the debt, I could wipe that out, right? Shouldn't everyone think about filing for bankruptcy, quit their jobs, stop paying their mortgage and car payments, and taxes?. |
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We on the other hand get to wake up at 4:00AM and work until 6:00PM to ensure their lifestyles aren't interrupted. We can then 'relax' and do some stuff around the house for ourselves like mow the yard and tend the garden. Pretty good setup huh? |
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dmaestro 28-Sep-12, 20:33 |
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