re: I am going to look like a terrible person for saying this (regarding suffrage)

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What the hell is your deal?

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Let me take this one.

Your threads border on the insane most of the time.

You have lost touch with reality...people should have to own property to vote...it doesn't make you look like a terrible person...just an elite dickwad.

If you are against democracy...and clearly you are...North Korea has visas for Americans like you.

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There is a very common belief that the more suffrage and voting there is, the better everything is. I tend to disagree. Let me defend myself by saying that if law and government, in present times, were actually kept in their traditional confines of protecting natural rights to life, liberty, and property, then I would be fine with mass voting. The problem though, is that the primary function of government these days is monetary transfer from one group to another in the form of benefits (pork, programs, etc). Because this is the current, unfortunate primary function of the state, it means that the more people that vote, the more interests there are in the picture, trying to claw and fight for the scarce resources that the government transfers from peter to Paul.

Someone in a recent thread said that he thinks a balanced budget is impossible. And I agree, for the reason I listed above.

You can call me a terrible person all you want, but mass suffrage and voting, combined with a government whose primary function is not protection of rights, but transferring of wealth, gets you to Bastiat's spot on definition of government:

Government is that great fiction, where everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else

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I've felt this way for quite some time. Maybe everyone should have a vote and you would get and additional vote for every $20k in federal taxes you pay.

Only property owners should have the right to vote on tax increases as well.

This is why I support a litmus test for all voters to be allowed to vote. You have to answer a 20 question test 70 percent correct to vote that year...do it on a computer screen in poll booth. 10 basic questions on how our Govt operates and 5 questions about the main stances of each candidate.

If you can't take the time to be informed of the basics then you don't deserve to vote because you don't really care

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I agree. I also think its pretty important.

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I don't think it is important or unimportant. I just find it interesting.

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I've felt this way for quite some time. Maybe everyone should have a vote and you would get and additional vote for every $20k in federal taxes you pay.

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Nothing could go wrong with this plan...

I'll give you this Michigan...you know how to get all the loons out with your threads.

Yea, I don't believe in using money or wealth to determine value in voting.

Really?
I think it will be examined by future civilizations as one of the reasons that the U.S. fell.

Pay taxes = get to vote
don't pay taxes = don't get to vote

pretty simple really

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How would anyone ever get elected in the state of Mississippi?

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Perhaps there shouldn't be