oldairman2000
3 hours ago edited
'Skin in the game.'

This argument regarding self-government has been part Western Civilization since Athens developed the first democracy and Rome established their republic. The fundamental requirement to participate in steering the ship of state from a self-government perspective has always been property ownership. Without property ownership, the voter has literally no stake in the very ground of the homeland he resides upon and may have to defend with his or her life. In the early days of Western Civilization, and by that I mean Greco-Roman civilization, one had to own property to even serve in the military/militia let alone vote in a citizen's assembly about important matters. Leaders in those cultures did not send slaves or vagabonds wandering the streets of their societies to fight wars to protect their societies. And they certainly did not want those types having a say in the affairs of state. They wanted people who cared about the society.

I have come to the Robert Heinlein conclusion regarding self-government, as impractical as it may be in this day and age. If you want a say in the affairs of state, you have to serve it. And there are ways to do that. Otherwise, you are not a "citizen" but simply a "civilian." There is a difference between those to concepts.

Addendum: Perhaps the best identification required to be allowed to vote in any election should be one's local, state and federal taxes paid receipts paperwork. No receipts, no ballot. //

NickSJ
3 hours ago edited
From Lee's Summit Conservative Blog:

"In 1787, while our first 13 states adopted their new constitution, Alexander Tyler who was a Scottish History Professor at the University of Edinburgh, said this about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years earlier:

"“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”"

We're in the last stage of that process. America was nice while it lasted. //

davenj1 NickSJ
3 hours ago
I believe that was the Left's long game all along. //

Baldred
4 hours ago edited
Welcome to Reality. LOL

44% of eligible voters in the USA (and even higher in many Western European Countries - are already receiving 100% of their income from Government funding in the form of welfare and housing benefits and this proportion of the Electorate, dependent upon the Politicians, continues to grow exponentially.

They are ready-made slaves and drones.

Why would these Government Dependents NOT vote Democrat? They would be biting the hand that - literally - feeds them if they voted other than for Democrat candidates. LOL

Today's Democrats WANT more of the Electorate to need dependency on the Government even though, economically, it is nothing less than Communism/Marxism/Socialism and typifies life under a regime similar to the U.S.S.R and The Soviet Bloc Countries in their heyday.

Those glorious (Hahahahaha and LOL) days when many People of the Soviet Bloc were desperate enough to risk being shot-to-death climbing The Iron Curtain to escape to Capitalist Western Europe and onwards to the United States of America!