It Is Time To Consider Restrictions For Voting Rights

I know the title alone will get people already reacting saying, you can't take that away. It is "Un-American."
I say the founding fathers didn't think so. When the country was founded, the only people who were allowed to vote were white landowning males. All other groups were considered too ignorant to vote.

Before you get on your high horse and start saying that was racist, sexist, and whatever other -ist you can think of, understand the time. In those days only white males were allowed to go to school. If you owned land, you obviously knew a little more than someone less successful. Therefore, you had a better idea of who to vote for. It was also motivation for those who were less successful to work harder so they could vote. So based on that, it was appropriate at the time.

I am not saying there weren't imperfections in the mentality. Women and minorities were discriminated against and I do commend all who fought for those changes that were needed. Because the Founding Fathers set it up that way, there have been four amendments that have dealt with voting rights. They were all justified amendments.

The 15th amendment gave voting rights to all races and prohibited the restriction based on previous condition of servitude. Then came the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote. Next was the 24th amendment which did away with poll taxes which was a dirty tactic. Finally the 26th amendment prohibited states from making the voting age higher than 18.

What all that means is that we can't take away the right to vote based on gender, race, or age. That is great because it should never be taken away because of those reasons. However, none of those amendments say that we can't restrict voting rights due to other factors.

Should a high school drop out be allowed to vote? I don't think so. He or she couldn't even finish high school which is not that hard in this day and age. How can we honestly trust that person to make an intelligent and informed vote?

Should a person on Welfare, Food Stamps, or any other kind of assistance be allowed to vote. I don't think so. He or she cannot make it on his or her own abilities and ambitions without being a burden to the taxpayers. How can we honestly expect that person to make a vote that is objective and not self-serving?

What about a person with a criminal record a mile long? Some states do restrict for this reason, but how can we expect such a person to make a vote based on any kind of morality? I am not saying people don't change , but still the risk is too big.

I know democrats will never go for this. They live off the uninformed vote and Obama never would have got elected twice without it.