Thread: The time has come for national voting standards By Bradley Blakeman, opinion contribu

Judy, there is no reason to be insulting. I know my rights. Our forefathers in their wisdom was very distinct in giving us the universal "natural rights" as human beings and giving us "rights as US citizens". They knew that someday our rights would be challenged by non-U.S. citizens. Everyday we are being challenged by immigrants trying to use their universal "natural rights" to travel freely into our country. To not confuse our rights they chose to refer to our "rights as U.S. citizens" as privilege. It was the job of the government, to protect our rights.

I do wonder, if the right to vote is guaranteed and is not a privilege, then why do felons lose their right to vote?

Judy, I respect you and have learned a lot from you, I just wish you could return the same to me. To me, it is never about being right, it is about sharing and learning from each other.

Over and Out.

I do wonder, if the right to vote is guaranteed and is not a privilege, then why do felons lose their right to vote?

There is an exception in the voting rights clause of the US Constitution that allows states to exclude those in jail if the states choose. Somehow they've used that I think illegally to extend to post-incarceration. At the time it was a convenience issue of how do you get the prisoners to the voting place. Impractical to release prisoners from jail and haul them to a voting place. And at the time, there would be very few of these people since criminals were a very tiny part of the population. But as soon as they're free, they can take themselves to the voting place so they could vote. In my home state, prisoners voted in elections. They used absentee ballots. No problems. But some states didn't do that.

But to deny felons who have served their time the right to vote, it's completely unconstitutional in every respect on every level. How could it be otherwise? But it stems from that clause exception concerning prisoners and the fact that no one cares about them. No one wants to hire them, they're basically black-listed from work, they don't have any money, so it's easy to pick on them, and the ways the laws are enforced in the racist failed War on Drugs, most of them are black because blacks are targeted in the War on Drugs even though blacks and whites use drugs at the same rates.

All the civil rights organizations that might have fought to fix this are more interested in illegal alien and immigrant issues. So it's just a wrong that goes on and a lot of Americans who might want to fight for them have convinced themselves or been convinced somehow that voting is a "privilege" instead of a right and if they broke the law, they deserve to lose their "privilege".

The problem with that is, voting isn't a privilege, it's a right guaranteed by the US Constitution that no state can "deny or abridge" to any man or woman citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age or older.

A Republican, Governor Bob McDonnell ended the policy of felon voter disenfranchisement in Virginia and began restoring these rights. But then some phony baloney investigation against him which he was eventually cleared of, but which forced him to resign in the meantime due to trial and conviction (overturned on appeal), and gummed it up until the next election. In his shoes, Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, the next Governor, restored these voting rights to thousands of felons in Virginia in 2016. Virginia had actually modified their state Constitution to prohibit felon voting but gave the Governor the power to restore the rights but no Governor would until McDonnell, then McAuliffe followed suit. So maybe as time goes along, more states will end this type of discrimination and unconstitutional behavior. I hope so, because it's very unfair and very wrong to deny felons their voting rights post-incarceration. Even to deny prisoners today with all the voting options available is wrong.

Back to the right to drive, look at what states have done with car registrations, vehicle inspections and mandatory liability insurance. For millions of Americans, that priced them right out of the right to drive even if they have a drivers license because they can't afford to keep a car that complies with all the government requirements. Without a car, they can't look for work, they can't get to work, they can't get to the store, they're trapped, hopeless and helpless. And now what do people say to them? You're lazy, you're no good, you're worthless. With no car, they can't earn, so they eventually lose their home, now they're homeless.

Back in the old days they hung horse thieves. And they did that because if you stole a person's horse, they could die without it, the horse was everything in those days, the only mode of travel. Today, the car and your right to drive it, is your horse. For those who have enough to meet all the governments requirements, they convince themselves that it is for the common good, public safety after all, well, public safety doesn't supersede your own, your own rights always come first and if the public wants something from you for public safety, which isn't really all about public safety most of the time, it's also about bureaucracy, revenue, control, industry donors, etc., etc., etc., then you have to stand up and say NO.

You have to say: driving is my right, driving is my horse, driving is my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because it is. For most Americans, the right to drive is one of our most important and vital rights of all to survive. That is not a "privilege", that is not a "peculiar benefit", that is not a "favor" from the government. It is a right by all counts and measures.

Originally Posted by Judy

...

Back to the right to drive, look at what states have done with car registrations, vehicle inspections and mandatory liability insurance. For millions of Americans, that priced them right out of the right to drive even if they have a drivers license because they can't afford to keep a car that complies with all the government requirements. Without a car, they can't look for work, they can't get to work, they can't get to the store, they're trapped, hopeless and helpless. And now what do people say to them? You're lazy, you're no good, you're worthless. With no car, they can't earn, so they eventually lose their home, now they're homeless.

....

You have to say: driving is my right, driving is my horse, driving is my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because it is. For most Americans, the right to drive is one of our most important and vital rights of all to survive. That is not a "privilege", that is not a "peculiar benefit", that is not a "favor" from the government. It is a right by all counts and measures.

Driving is not a privilege, but neither is it a right. You do not need a license to vote, you do not need to pass some sort of test to become a citizen if you are born to citizen parents. Driving on public roads is a license, not a right, not a privilege. Consider that in the civil rights struggle for the vote among African Americans, many argued for literacy tests for citizens. This never happened.

Privileges are granted to people for personal reasons. For example in the US there is nobody privileged in the eyes of the law. This removes the possibility of a monarch or a peerage as we see in Europe where there is still royalty. Royalty is privileged under the legal systems of these countries. Sometimes they collect taxes. Privileges are something you grant your teenager for good behavior.

We fought a revolution in the foundation of the US that overthrew the old order of English authority as part of revolution going on in Europe in the cause of citizenship. This, a new order based on national universal equality under the law.

DMV actions that lead to the loss of driving privileges:


http://www.dmv.org/articles/actions-...ng-privileges/

Is voting a right? A privilege? Or a responsibility?

http://www.fairvote.org/voting-a-rig...responsibility

It's a right and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Same with driving.

Know your rights and fight for them. They won't be coming your way again once you let them go.

Originally Posted by Beezer

DMV actions that lead to the loss of driving privileges:


http://www.dmv.org/articles/actions-...ng-privileges/

Don't let a state government tell you your rights are "privileges".

Wake Up People. For heavens sake. You're sheep herded to the slaughter if you don't wake up.

Originally Posted by pkskyali

Driving is not a privilege, but neither is it a right. You do not need a license to vote, you do not need to pass some sort of test to become a citizen if you are born to citizen parents. Driving on public roads is a license, not a right, not a privilege. Consider that in the civil rights struggle for the vote among African Americans, many argued for literacy tests for citizens. This never happened.

Privileges are granted to people for personal reasons. For example in the US there is nobody privileged in the eyes of the law. This removes the possibility of a monarch or a peerage as we see in Europe where there is still royalty. Royalty is privileged under the legal systems of these countries. Sometimes they collect taxes. Privileges are something you grant your teenager for good behavior.

We fought a revolution in the foundation of the US that overthrew the old order of English authority as part of revolution going on in Europe in the cause of citizenship. This, a new order based on national universal equality under the law.

Driving is a right. If I'm the government and I want to hurt you, how could I do that? Well, lets see, oh I know, I'll mess with their driving "privileges". We have major "congestion" on Mondays through Fridays, so we'll revoke half of all drivers licenses to reduce traffic and end the congestion problem and reduce air pollution, traffic jams and rush-hour accidents, the half with revoked licenses in the name of the other half, can take the bus or train to work and call Uber to drive to the store and shopping center. Uber will love this and will donate to my upcoming election.

But they won't like that some will cry out and then they'll vote you out of office!! Oh that's no problem, we'll just make sure the buses and trains are closed on election day. They'll vote on line or with absentee ballots! Oh that's no problem, we'll end all that, voting is a "privilege' after all, just like their driving "privilege". We're the government and we tell these stupid people what they can and can not do, because we're the government and created to tell the people what is their right and what is their "privilege", so we can change it all around any time we want.

All we have to do is say it on the internet through the DMV and Election Commission websites that voting and driving are not rights, they're "privileges". And they believe it!! LOL!!! And of course, to make sure no one cheats on our new rules, we'll issue them a Voting License IF they have a Driver's License. They loves their licenses, makes them feel important, special, above others, it's their way of being part of the Elite, that they have to present on election day to make sure they're a "legal" voter.

We're the government and we decide, not the people sheep. We'll move on food next month. They're eating all the wrong things and way too much of it. We cut their food intake we cut their grocery bills and we can help our donors cut their wages.

An American citizen male that fathers a child and does NOT pay child support will have his dl suspended & monies taken out of his paycheck also - apparently that does not pertain to all the anchor baby fathers in the country illegally - another privilege for them, not responsible financially for their byproducts, let American citizens pay for them instead. They probably collected on the child credit tax too...

The drivers license is a tool of tyranny. It's not right what they do to men with this child support mess. More tyranny from the states. And the mess they put employers through deducting the child support from the wages. Employers have to mess with this crap. It's unbelievable, all because the states wnat reimbursed for their Medicaid costs for the deliveries of the babies the men in most cases didn't even know they had because most of the time they didn't even remember the woman they had sex with.

It's disgusting. If a single woman has a baby, then she needs to pay for it. Her choice, her expense.