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Kraichgauer
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20 Jul 2016, 12:58 pm

ZenDen wrote:
Sure enough I identified the connection behind people wanting to make it harder for the "under educated" to vote...I knew the source of such discriminatory ideas would be easily found:

In yet another shot in the war on voting rights, Fox News and Ann Coulter suggested bringing back literacy tests to make voting more difficult in 2016.

Ann Coulter joined Fox and Friends on another trip down the vote suppression rabbit hole. This time Fox and Friends joined Coulter in her long crusade to bring back literacy tests to disenfranchise voters.

The idea came up for discussion after a Fox reporter interviewed several New Yorkers who couldn’t identify, Marco Rubio.

Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox and Friends, opened up the discussion by observing, “studies show that Americas are poorly informed on government and politics.” Of course, this claim opened things up for Kilmeade to ask ever so innocently, “So, is it time to revisit a test for people to be able to vote?”

Ironically while making the case for literacy tests Coulter proved she was is the sort of person that Kilmeade was talking about when she said, ”I think it should be, well for one thing, a little more difficult to vote. There’s nothing unconstitutional about literacy tests.”

While that claim corresponds with the Republican Party’s fantasy of an America where only Republican votes would count, it also shows us that Ann Coulter “doesn’t know what’s going on.”

In fact, there is something unconstitutional about literacy tests as a device to disenfranchise voters. Literacy tests were outlawed in the Voting Rights Act. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that using literacy tests to disenfranchise eligible voters is unconstitutional.

Coulter may wish to familiarize herself with Guinn v. United States – a case decided in 1915.

In that case, Oklahoma tried to apply the Coulter philosophy on voting rights by amending its constitution to disenfranchise people who couldn’t pass that state’s version of a literacy test.

The Supreme Court ruled that amendment along with similar ones in the constitutions of Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia were “repugnant to the 15th Amendment.”

WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW THAT FOX NEWS AND JIM CROW WOULD BE TRAVELING HAND IN HAND WITH THEIR DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE LEADING THE CHARGE?

I believe it's easy for most people to see the complainers in Britain, who complain about "uneducated voters," are really on track to disenfranchise those they don't agree with.....using the excuse of less education.

And we all know, from history, how this discrimination failed here (after being successful for some time) and it was shown to be as un-American as slavery. Perhaps in Britain they didn't have the same history and Supreme Court decisions to fall back on??? That's no excuse for people in this country who would disenfranchise citizens here.


I wonder if Fox realizes just how many of their fanbase would be disenfranchised with literacy tests.


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20 Jul 2016, 1:17 pm

The Fox News Literacy Test:

If you're white: Spell "dog"

If you're not: Spell "antidisestablishmentarianism"



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20 Jul 2016, 1:26 pm

Lukeda420 wrote:
The Fox News Literacy Test:

If you're white: Spell "dog"

If you're not: Spell "antidisestablishmentarianism"


Absolutely!


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20 Jul 2016, 1:41 pm

This is why history is so important. How does the old quote go(?): "Those who do not remember the costly lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them." (or words to that effect)

So the idea of discrimination through "intelligence" testing or similar was found to be un-American, and those who practiced this foul trick were dismissed.

But thanks to world agitation this creature has raised it's foul head once more. People who don't understand history's effect on yesterday's world, and the mistakes that were made, make uninformed statements that make them sound racist, whether intended or not.



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20 Jul 2016, 2:24 pm

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So the idea of discrimination through "intelligence" testing or similar was found to be un-American


Let that be America's epitaph.


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20 Jul 2016, 2:36 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Unfortunately, with the rise of far right political stars like Palin, Bachmann, and a certain current Presidential candidate, ignorance is seen as just being one of the people and something to be proud of, whereas education is denigrated as elitist. With the rise of politicians who parrot the anti-scientific, homophobic, racist ignorance of their core followers from the fringes of society, they are demonstrating how we - or at least a segment of our population - are not fit for democracy.

It's even worse than that. Thanks to the internet even 'informed' people get their information from their own custom echo chamber. They are NEVER confronted by a piece of information that clashes with their preconcieved world view... or if they are, that information is instantly rejected as false.

This happens on the right and the left.

How can we share a country when we don't even share a reality anymore?


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20 Jul 2016, 3:00 pm

GoonSquad wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Unfortunately, with the rise of far right political stars like Palin, Bachmann, and a certain current Presidential candidate, ignorance is seen as just being one of the people and something to be proud of, whereas education is denigrated as elitist. With the rise of politicians who parrot the anti-scientific, homophobic, racist ignorance of their core followers from the fringes of society, they are demonstrating how we - or at least a segment of our population - are not fit for democracy.

It's even worse than that. Thanks to the internet even 'informed' people get their information from their own custom echo chamber. They are NEVER confronted by a piece of information that clashes with their preconcieved world view... or if they are, that information is instantly rejected as false.

This happens on the right and the left.

How can we share a country when we don't even share a reality anymore?


It happens FAR more on the right. Even Republican members of congress are stuck in an echo chamber. Remember Romney falling on his face during a debate when he claimed Obama didn't mention the word terrorism after Benghazi.



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20 Jul 2016, 3:06 pm

ZenDen wrote:
Sure enough I identified the connection behind people wanting to make it harder for the "under educated" to vote...I knew the source of such discriminatory ideas would be easily found:

In yet another shot in the war on voting rights, Fox News and Ann Coulter suggested bringing back literacy tests to make voting more difficult in 2016.

Ann Coulter joined Fox and Friends on another trip down the vote suppression rabbit hole. This time Fox and Friends joined Coulter in her long crusade to bring back literacy tests to disenfranchise voters.

The idea came up for discussion after a Fox reporter interviewed several New Yorkers who couldn’t identify, Marco Rubio.

Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox and Friends, opened up the discussion by observing, “studies show that Americas are poorly informed on government and politics.” Of course, this claim opened things up for Kilmeade to ask ever so innocently, “So, is it time to revisit a test for people to be able to vote?”

Ironically while making the case for literacy tests Coulter proved she was is the sort of person that Kilmeade was talking about when she said, ”I think it should be, well for one thing, a little more difficult to vote. There’s nothing unconstitutional about literacy tests.”

While that claim corresponds with the Republican Party’s fantasy of an America where only Republican votes would count, it also shows us that Ann Coulter “doesn’t know what’s going on.”

In fact, there is something unconstitutional about literacy tests as a device to disenfranchise voters. Literacy tests were outlawed in the Voting Rights Act. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that using literacy tests to disenfranchise eligible voters is unconstitutional.

Coulter may wish to familiarize herself with Guinn v. United States – a case decided in 1915.

In that case, Oklahoma tried to apply the Coulter philosophy on voting rights by amending its constitution to disenfranchise people who couldn’t pass that state’s version of a literacy test.

The Supreme Court ruled that amendment along with similar ones in the constitutions of Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia were “repugnant to the 15th Amendment.”

WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW THAT FOX NEWS AND JIM CROW WOULD BE TRAVELING HAND IN HAND WITH THEIR DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE LEADING THE CHARGE?

I believe it's easy for most people to see the complainers in Britain, who complain about "uneducated voters," are really on track to disenfranchise those they don't agree with.....using the excuse of less education.

And we all know, from history, how this discrimination failed here (after being successful for some time) and it was shown to be as un-American as slavery. Perhaps in Britain they didn't have the same history and Supreme Court decisions to fall back on??? That's no excuse for people in this country who would disenfranchise citizens here.

Yeeesh, you're trying to put me in the same boat as Anne Coulter? I'm a flaming lib, mate. I believe in no tests, poll taxes, etc. TRY ASKING ME what my solutions to ignorance are. ANNE FREAKING COULTER?!? Are you kidding me? That nutjob has no place in a rational discussion of the effect of ignorance. Anne Coulter is ignorance personified.



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20 Jul 2016, 3:10 pm

Mikah wrote:
Quote:
So the idea of discrimination through "intelligence" testing or similar was found to be un-American


Let that be America's epitaph.


"Let that be America's epitaph" (Makes no sense...perhaps expand?)

Actually our epitaph might be: We fought for freedom and we won. We have many sayings here in the U.S.A.; what sayings do they have in Britain to show their patriotism.....or do they? (Maybe: God save the Queen?)

Actually we've gone through this scenario a couple of times. The first was immediately post our Civil War when the slave owning states wanted to continue as much slavery as possible, and SCOTUS stepped in. The second was in the 1960s when SCOTUS had to act again....I guess discrimination doesn't actually die, so you need to be vigilant when it pops up under another name or in a different situation.

I hope Britain doesn't do anything so foolish (doubt they will). But foolish acts are in every country's history and with what appears to be a group of angry children crying that they didn't get the toy they wanted...who knows?



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20 Jul 2016, 3:19 pm

ZenDen wrote:
EbenCooke wrote:
ZenDen wrote:
EbenCooke wrote:
ZenDen wrote:
EbenCooke wrote:
BirdInFlight wrote:
EbenCooke, by making gross, sweeping generalizations about 17 million "leave" voters, about whom you yourself are ignorant in the truest sense, because you only believe what you want to believe based on equally biased "articles" on the internet, you're the one showing your ignorance of the true situation.

I also find it constantly amusing how Americans weigh in on this with vehemence and a pretended awareness of the reality of this complicated situation, as if they have a dog in this race.

Also of extreme amusement to me is that AMERICANS, if another country had started handing out directives and basically saying "Your our b***h now", there would be a revolt. What happened to the UK's self governance via the backdoor -- when the "EU" started out strictly as a trade agreement and nothing more -- would be aggressively resisted if it had taken place in YOUR country.

Yet you vilify another country for simply waking up and smelling the coffee regarding their governance. You are a hypocrite of the most bizarre kind.

Beware simplistic thinking and wholesale belief in the hysterical BS out there -- and yes, it's you who are the simplistic thinker here.

A meaningless, subjective diatribe. The leave vote was disproportionately cast by older, less educated voters. Dispute this, or you have no basis for your diatribe. Less educated people do less research. Again, dispute this with objective, FACT based research or you have nothing to say but SUBJECTIVE, useless trolling. I do not say stupid people, I say ignorant people. Ignorance can be cured, as yours can be cured. Come to fact side, Luke.

My basic fact remained undisputed. The leave vote was disproportionately cast by older, less educated voters.

While you're at it, get this thread back on track, which is about American democracy. Dispute the Annenberg study I cited in my OP, which PROVES the ignorance of the American voter.


A quick question?

I just wondered Eben; in your contention above you assert: "My basic fact remained undisputed. The leave vote was disproportionately cast by older, less educated voters." I'm not sure what you mean by "less educated? Is it these older voters did not educate themselves in the details of Brexit and just voted their hearts? Or are you saying simply the older people (that built your country) are just a bunch of uneducated louts not fit to vote properly? Please elucidate.

Thank you.

First of all, you say "that built my country". If by that you believe I am a citizen of Great Britain, I am not. I am an American, from Noo Yawk City.

Second, I am not defining "less educated". This is the term used by those who evaluate/break down the vote. It refers to the highest grade level completed by the voter. In the US we say grade-school/Middle School/High School/College/Post Graduate. I don't know how it breaks down in GB, but the same principle applies. Less formal education. The "leave" voters have been equated to the Donald Trump voters in the so-called "rust belt" states which have lost so many manufacturing votes. Frankly, I agree with people who think we should have protected these people and protected our manufacturing base. Donald Trump is exploiting their perfectly understandable anger. They have been abandoned. Unfortunately, less educated people are less educated. They can recognize that they've been screwed, but they can't quite figure out how or why. Mention Gerrymandering to these people, and they'd go "whua?". They are more easily susceptible to demagoguery, to people who exploit their anger and xenophobia.

"Voted their heart?" Seriously? Do you really think that is a rational thing to say, cause I can't recall ever hearing a less rational term applied to the voting process. Please refer to the Fran Lebowitz quote in the OP. I'm not suggesting that the subjective has no place in voting, but it's only one of many evaluating factors which must be included in the thinking behind the voting process, if voting is to be more than merely throwing darts at a board.


So you like to use someone else's terms as though they have meaning for you. :D
And you never think to check what this means to Britons, yet you base an argument
on it, and it's meaning......What kind of rational thinking is this?
:(

You say:
"The "leave" voters have been equated to the Donald Trump voters in the so-called "rust belt" states which have lost so many manufacturing votes." Yes, and we've lost jobs in the U.S. to many 3rd world countries through trade agreements as well....just the kind of thing "Leave" voters were trying to avoid. And this drives up unemployment. Do you dispute this?

You mention "Leave" voters have less formal education. But you can't equate this with intelligence. Would you suggest voting rights based on intelligence? How crude.

AND then you say: "Frankly, I agree with people who think we should have protected these people and protected our manufacturing base."
How would you do this with another group of countries/legislators, in charge, thinking differently?

AND go on to say: "Unfortunately, less educated people are less educated. They can recognize that they've been screwed, but they can't quite figure out how or why. Mention Gerrymandering to these people, and they'd go "whua?". They are more easily susceptible to demagoguery, to people who exploit their anger and xenophobia."

Ahhhh..so the more fortunate (perhaps more wealthy?) who have a fine education, will protect these other poor people (kind of like sheep when you think about it..right?) from themselves by partially nullifying part of their vote..is that what you suggest? :(

You say: ""Voted their heart?" Seriously? Do you really think that is a rational thing to say, cause I can't recall ever hearing a less rational term applied to the voting process. Please refer to the above.

And you say: "I'm not suggesting that the subjective has no place in voting, but it's only one of many evaluating factors which must be included in the thinking behind the voting process, if voting is to be more than merely throwing darts at a board."
And so you would have us erroneously assume (as you do) that less formal education means these people will not think about or discuss a topic before making up their minds????? :D

How absurd....can you show your research that show this true? Or do you just like to make this kind of statement?

You ask: ""Voted their heart?" Seriously?" Yes ""Voted their heart Seriously." You see, in The United States of America we consider things slightly differently (if we're lucid at the time) because nowhere in the Constitution does it say people with less education should be treated less than equals (except the shame of the slavery issue which we are still trying to correct)...you see that's pretty much the whole point, whether you're from "Noo Yawk City" or elsewhere you are allowed to vote any way you wish and none shall take away this right (that's the theory)....don't they teach these things where you live?

You know, this is about the silliest discussion I've ever had. Read the OP again. You are defending ignorance. Why? You are contradicting the statements of Jefferson and FDR. Why? I'm done with you. Show you understand what they wrote. Dispute what they wrote. Dispute THEIR words, not your absurd misunderstanding of mine. That's what this thread is about. Their understanding of the needs of democracy. I'm done arguing with champions of ignorance and anti-intellectualism. Enemies of education. That's too disgusting for me. I stand with Jefferson and Franklin. Who do you stand with? Cartoon characters? Fascists?


"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." Franklin D. Roosevelt
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/autho ... evelt.html

Now please note there was nothing said about education at all; I wonder why? Maybe he wasn't a racist....??

You obviously like to put words in other's mouths. This great man, who you can not comprehend, thought more about peoples rights and how to preserve them, unlike you who only wish to take Constitutional Rights away from people for insane reasons.

Your style is to cherry pick quotes, then mis-interpret them, and then hide behind your mis-interpretation. It really is the lowest of argumentative techniques.

NOT that it hasn't happened in the past (maybe where you got your inspiration???):

From an online source...there are many):Other Jim Crow laws did not specifically mention race, but were written and applied in ways that discriminated against blacks. Literacy tests and poll taxes, administered with informal loopholes and trick questions, barred nearly all blacks from voting. For example, though more than 130,000 blacks were registered to vote in Louisiana in 1896, only 1,342 were on the rolls in 1904.

So it's easy to see which camp you fall into. You would have us discriminate against blacks and other people of color because they have less education:....."Well they just didn't do well enough in school to be allowed a full vote."
Those pits they call separate but equal schooling.

Isn't this exactly what you are saying? Nice work "discriminator"; you'd like to set our country back about 50-100 years to wallow in segregation again???? Please think before you put your foot in your mouth next time.

Don't they teach you about this where you live(?)...apparently not.

Sorry , i missed your post. You're wrong, but you are also bringing up a really important point, albeit in a very insulting manner.

Here we are, between Jeffersonian and Jacksonian principles. I have expressed no opinion on this divide, though you insultingly assume I have. Find a quote where I support intelligence tests or poll taxes. You cannot, for I have never supported such racist polices. If you've read my posts carefully (which you have not you would have read this posting.php?mode=quote&f=20&p=7222823 which is the only solution I have thus far suggested.



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20 Jul 2016, 3:32 pm

EbenCooke wrote:
ZenDen wrote:
Sure enough I identified the connection behind people wanting to make it harder for the "under educated" to vote...I knew the source of such discriminatory ideas would be easily found:

In yet another shot in the war on voting rights, Fox News and Ann Coulter suggested bringing back literacy tests to make voting more difficult in 2016.

Ann Coulter joined Fox and Friends on another trip down the vote suppression rabbit hole. This time Fox and Friends joined Coulter in her long crusade to bring back literacy tests to disenfranchise voters.

The idea came up for discussion after a Fox reporter interviewed several New Yorkers who couldn’t identify, Marco Rubio.

Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox and Friends, opened up the discussion by observing, “studies show that Americas are poorly informed on government and politics.” Of course, this claim opened things up for Kilmeade to ask ever so innocently, “So, is it time to revisit a test for people to be able to vote?”

Ironically while making the case for literacy tests Coulter proved she was is the sort of person that Kilmeade was talking about when she said, ”I think it should be, well for one thing, a little more difficult to vote. There’s nothing unconstitutional about literacy tests.”

While that claim corresponds with the Republican Party’s fantasy of an America where only Republican votes would count, it also shows us that Ann Coulter “doesn’t know what’s going on.”

In fact, there is something unconstitutional about literacy tests as a device to disenfranchise voters. Literacy tests were outlawed in the Voting Rights Act. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that using literacy tests to disenfranchise eligible voters is unconstitutional.

Coulter may wish to familiarize herself with Guinn v. United States – a case decided in 1915.

In that case, Oklahoma tried to apply the Coulter philosophy on voting rights by amending its constitution to disenfranchise people who couldn’t pass that state’s version of a literacy test.

The Supreme Court ruled that amendment along with similar ones in the constitutions of Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia were “repugnant to the 15th Amendment.”

WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW THAT FOX NEWS AND JIM CROW WOULD BE TRAVELING HAND IN HAND WITH THEIR DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE LEADING THE CHARGE?

I believe it's easy for most people to see the complainers in Britain, who complain about "uneducated voters," are really on track to disenfranchise those they don't agree with.....using the excuse of less education.

And we all know, from history, how this discrimination failed here (after being successful for some time) and it was shown to be as un-American as slavery. Perhaps in Britain they didn't have the same history and Supreme Court decisions to fall back on??? That's no excuse for people in this country who would disenfranchise citizens here.

Yeeesh, you're trying to put me in the same boat as Anne Coulter? I'm a flaming lib, mate. I believe in no tests, poll taxes, etc. TRY ASKING ME what my solutions to ignorance are. ANNE FREAKING COULTER?!? Are you kidding me? That nutjob has no place in a rational discussion of the effect of ignorance. Anne Coulter is ignorance personified.


Anyone suggesting Ann Coulter's advise might be considered as favoring her views. If you think you might be in the same boat with Ann you would argue against her having a voice??????? Ann is an American citizen and can say whatever she pleases...unfortunately there are many who might agree with her...but being despicable is not grounds for taking away a person's right to vote (except felon's rights in some states) or to speak their mind.

The solution should be better government efforts to reach people with the information they need. EXAMPLE: Here the government (state and local) supply informational booklets to every registered voter that describes: The issues...arguments pro and con (by the respective parties supporting or opposed)....fiscal considerations by local or state auditors...short range effects...long range effects.....ETC.

I imagine they must have something similar in N.Y.C. ...no? But in Great Britain????? It doesn't sound like it.



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20 Jul 2016, 3:35 pm

Proclaim me God-Emperor for life.

Problem solved.



GoonSquad
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20 Jul 2016, 3:36 pm

ZenDen wrote:
Mikah wrote:
Quote:
So the idea of discrimination through "intelligence" testing or similar was found to be un-American


Let that be America's epitaph.


"Let that be America's epitaph" (Makes no sense...perhaps expand?)

Actually our epitaph might be: We fought for freedom and we won. We have many sayings here in the U.S.A.; what sayings do they have in Britain to show their patriotism.....or do they? (Maybe: God save the Queen?)

Actually we've gone through this scenario a couple of times. The first was immediately post our Civil War when the slave owning states wanted to continue as much slavery as possible, and SCOTUS stepped in. The second was in the 1960s when SCOTUS had to act again....I guess discrimination doesn't actually die, so you need to be vigilant when it pops up under another name or in a different situation.

I hope Britain doesn't do anything so foolish (doubt they will). But foolish acts are in every country's history and with what appears to be a group of angry children crying that they didn't get the toy they wanted...who knows?


Brits have contributed a lot to the political/social theory--see Burke, Locke, Hobbes.

I cannot resist quoting Burke again.... dammit, I tried to resist.
From "A Letter From Mr. Burke To A Member Of The National Assembly In Answer To Some Objections To His Book On French Affairs (1791)" Where he predicts the failure of the French revolution:
Quote:
the utmost caution ought to have been used in the reduction of the royal power, which alone was capable of holding together the comparatively heterogeneous mass of your states. But, at this day, all these considerations are unseasonable. To what end should we discuss the limitations of royal power? Your king is in prison. Why speculate on the measure and standard of liberty?

I doubt much, very much, indeed, whether France is at all ripe for liberty on any standard. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity —in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboa ... /tonatass/

This is the social contract and free societies thrive and fail by it. Always have, always will.

Just in case the point is not clear, while I do not support any qualifying tests to vote, to ignore that there should be qualifications is stupid.

Currently, we are producing a society of rapacious, vain, fools. That will have consequences on election day, but I don't know what to do about it.


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20 Jul 2016, 4:00 pm

GoonSquad wrote:
ZenDen wrote:
Mikah wrote:
Quote:
So the idea of discrimination through "intelligence" testing or similar was found to be un-American


Let that be America's epitaph.


"Let that be America's epitaph" (Makes no sense...perhaps expand?)

Actually our epitaph might be: We fought for freedom and we won. We have many sayings here in the U.S.A.; what sayings do they have in Britain to show their patriotism.....or do they? (Maybe: God save the Queen?)

Actually we've gone through this scenario a couple of times. The first was immediately post our Civil War when the slave owning states wanted to continue as much slavery as possible, and SCOTUS stepped in. The second was in the 1960s when SCOTUS had to act again....I guess discrimination doesn't actually die, so you need to be vigilant when it pops up under another name or in a different situation.

I hope Britain doesn't do anything so foolish (doubt they will). But foolish acts are in every country's history and with what appears to be a group of angry children crying that they didn't get the toy they wanted...who knows?


Brits have contributed a lot to the political/social theory--see Burke, Locke, Hobbes.

I cannot resist quoting Burke again.... dammit, I tried to resist.
From "A Letter From Mr. Burke To A Member Of The National Assembly In Answer To Some Objections To His Book On French Affairs (1791)" Where he predicts the failure of the French revolution:
Quote:
the utmost caution ought to have been used in the reduction of the royal power, which alone was capable of holding together the comparatively heterogeneous mass of your states. But, at this day, all these considerations are unseasonable. To what end should we discuss the limitations of royal power? Your king is in prison. Why speculate on the measure and standard of liberty?

I doubt much, very much, indeed, whether France is at all ripe for liberty on any standard. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity —in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboa ... /tonatass/

This is the social contract and free societies thrive and fail by it. Always have, always will.


Yep...this certainly sounds like an aristocratic point of view all right. A right to "controlling power" is always what lies behind every tyrannical and brutal plan. May all such thinkers, past and present, suffer the "slings and arrows" they would control others with.

And you say: "This is the social contract and free societies thrive and fail by it. Always have, always will."

Your social contract (without the consent of all) sounds like the reason we fought for our independence. There will always be someone who wants to take away Constitutional rights for any made up reason that will lead to their presumed profit.

However I dispute your use of the word "free".... Perhaps you could give examples where true freedom has caused "free societies" to fail? This might help clarify what you mean by "free."



EbenCooke
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20 Jul 2016, 4:01 pm

ZenDen wrote:
EbenCooke wrote:
ZenDen wrote:
Sure enough I identified the connection behind people wanting to make it harder for the "under educated" to vote...I knew the source of such discriminatory ideas would be easily found:

In yet another shot in the war on voting rights, Fox News and Ann Coulter suggested bringing back literacy tests to make voting more difficult in 2016.

Ann Coulter joined Fox and Friends on another trip down the vote suppression rabbit hole. This time Fox and Friends joined Coulter in her long crusade to bring back literacy tests to disenfranchise voters.

The idea came up for discussion after a Fox reporter interviewed several New Yorkers who couldn’t identify, Marco Rubio.

Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox and Friends, opened up the discussion by observing, “studies show that Americas are poorly informed on government and politics.” Of course, this claim opened things up for Kilmeade to ask ever so innocently, “So, is it time to revisit a test for people to be able to vote?”

Ironically while making the case for literacy tests Coulter proved she was is the sort of person that Kilmeade was talking about when she said, ”I think it should be, well for one thing, a little more difficult to vote. There’s nothing unconstitutional about literacy tests.”

While that claim corresponds with the Republican Party’s fantasy of an America where only Republican votes would count, it also shows us that Ann Coulter “doesn’t know what’s going on.”

In fact, there is something unconstitutional about literacy tests as a device to disenfranchise voters. Literacy tests were outlawed in the Voting Rights Act. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that using literacy tests to disenfranchise eligible voters is unconstitutional.

Coulter may wish to familiarize herself with Guinn v. United States – a case decided in 1915.

In that case, Oklahoma tried to apply the Coulter philosophy on voting rights by amending its constitution to disenfranchise people who couldn’t pass that state’s version of a literacy test.

The Supreme Court ruled that amendment along with similar ones in the constitutions of Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia were “repugnant to the 15th Amendment.”

WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW THAT FOX NEWS AND JIM CROW WOULD BE TRAVELING HAND IN HAND WITH THEIR DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE LEADING THE CHARGE?

I believe it's easy for most people to see the complainers in Britain, who complain about "uneducated voters," are really on track to disenfranchise those they don't agree with.....using the excuse of less education.

And we all know, from history, how this discrimination failed here (after being successful for some time) and it was shown to be as un-American as slavery. Perhaps in Britain they didn't have the same history and Supreme Court decisions to fall back on??? That's no excuse for people in this country who would disenfranchise citizens here.

Yeeesh, you're trying to put me in the same boat as Anne Coulter? I'm a flaming lib, mate. I believe in no tests, poll taxes, etc. TRY ASKING ME what my solutions to ignorance are. ANNE FREAKING COULTER?!? Are you kidding me? That nutjob has no place in a rational discussion of the effect of ignorance. Anne Coulter is ignorance personified.


Anyone suggesting Ann Coulter's advise might be considered as favoring her views. If you think you might be in the same boat with Ann you would argue against her having a voice??????? Ann is an American citizen and can say whatever she pleases...unfortunately there are many who might agree with her...but being despicable is not grounds for taking away a person's right to vote (except felon's rights in some states) or to speak their mind.

The solution should be better government efforts to reach people with the information they need. EXAMPLE: Here the government (state and local) supply informational booklets to every registered voter that describes: The issues...arguments pro and con (by the respective parties supporting or opposed)....fiscal considerations by local or state auditors...short range effects...long range effects.....ETC.

I imagine they must have something similar in N.Y.C. ...no? But in Great Britain????? It doesn't sound like it.

Quote:
Anyone suggesting Ann Coulter's advise might be considered as favoring her views.
That's true. Where did I suggest supporting her views? Suggesting ignorance is dangerous is supporting Coulter? Coulter is ignorance personified. I have not supported her 1%.

I quoted the post where I suggested a solution and you ignored it. Why?



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20 Jul 2016, 4:37 pm

ZenDen wrote:

Yep...this certainly sounds like an aristocratic point of view all right. A right to "controlling power" is always what lies behind every tyrannical and brutal plan. May all such thinkers, past and present, suffer the "slings and arrows" they would control others with.

And you say: "This is the social contract and free societies thrive and fail by it. Always have, always will."

Your social contract (without the consent of all) sounds like the reason we fought for our independence. There will always be someone who wants to take away Constitutional rights for any made up reason that will lead to their presumed profit.

However I dispute your use of the word "free".... Perhaps you could give examples where true freedom has caused "free societies" to fail? This might help clarify what you mean by "free."


Edmund Burke was a staunch supporter of the American revolution. Burke's social contract is EXACTLY what we fought our revolution for.

Burke's controlling power in a free society is MORALITY and SELF CONTROL.

Burke's theory is that the ideal citizen in a free society will prefer justice over greed, will be thoughtful rather than impulsive, will respond to wisdom instead of flattery. That's all.

He also supposes that a free society with citizens that do the opposite will fail on their own. In the link/quote I posted, he is specifically talking about France.

The French revolution was propelled by the same ideas as the American revolution, but the french revolution degenerated into political terror followed by military dictatorship.
Burke predicted this failure based upon his estimation of the French citizenry.

I'd also point to the Roman Republic as another "free society" that failed, not because of too much freedom, but because of lack of self restraint.

That's what too many Americans fail to grasp... The founders did not conceive of freedom as the ability to do anything you wanted, but rather the RIGHT TO CONTROL YOURSELF.

That's what Burke means by that last bit "It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."

If you are a society of greedly, foolish, jerks, you cannot maintain a free society it will fail everytime.

The social contract is more simply put: society gives freedom to people who promise to control themselves.

When people start abusing their freedoms, free societies will fail EVERYTIME.


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No man is free who is not master of himself.~Epictetus