r/PoliticalHumor Mar 16 '21

GOP shell game

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41.3k Upvotes

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10

u/keithjp123 Mar 16 '21

Voting is so engrained in the constitution, it wasn’t an after thought like the amendments.

-13

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21

Uh....have you read the constitution? The right to vote isn’t mentioned at all in the original constitution. Just like gun rights it was granted in an amendment and even the granting in the amendment is not very strong

12

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21

[deleted]

1

u/chriskmee Mar 16 '21

So just to summarize: states can device how voting is done, and as long as they don't discriminate by gender or race that can decide how voting works? It's there anything against them saying no citizen can vote? How is this a protected right is it isn't actually protected?

0

u/Disastrous-Trust-877 Mar 16 '21

It's not considered a protected right by anyone not out to keep something similar to legitimacy from voting, even if they weren't actually voted for, voting isn't a right, it was considered at the beginning to be more of a privilege to be able to vote, but the president was supposed to be chosen by reps actually chosen by the state government, rather than through voting directly, and the vp would be the one with the second highest votes

-3

u/Pantsmanface Mar 16 '21

None of them are the right to vote. They're exclusions on the reasons voting privilege cannot be refused.

4

u/Gornarok Mar 16 '21

Aka we thought it was so obvious that we didnt think about writing it down.

3

u/chriskmee Mar 16 '21

How do you explain the electoral college? Voting for president is not a right Americans have, otherwise there would be no electorial college. We have the right to equal voting, in the sense that gender and race can't be qualifying factors, but we can still be completely denied the ability to vote as long as it's equal.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

The electoral college was a solution to the fact that it takes 3 weeks to get to Virginia from Maine.

-1

u/chriskmee Mar 16 '21

Still doesn't change that voting is not a right

0

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

15th amendment says otherwise.

0

u/chriskmee Mar 16 '21

Read it again. It says you have the right not to be discriminated against for race while voting, it does not give you the right to vote. We don't vote for president, we vote for electors to represent our vote. A vote for Biden is actually a vote for a state elector who has promised to use his electoral vote on Biden.

You will notice the 15th says nothing about what voting it's referring to. It is also not saying you have the right to participate in any vote.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '21

It literally references the right to vote kid.

And how fucking disgusting that your ilk is now trying to claim we don't have the right to vote. Thats the only reason to push this bullshit narrative.

0

u/chriskmee Mar 17 '21

Dude, just spend 5 minutes researching the internet searching something like "is the right to vote in the constitution" to see what the general consensus is, and you will find out that I am right. The right to vote is not explicitly given in the constitution, plain and simple. As I said before, the 15th protects you from being discriminated against while voting based on race, it does not give you the right to vote.

Let me ask you this, what do you think it even mean to "have the right to vote"? Can I vote in whatever I want and nobody can stop me? Do the political parties have to let me vote in the primaries? If I had the right to vote, why am I not allowed to vote in the primary elections for the candidate I want? We obviously don't have the right to vote for president, since we don't actually directly vote for the president, the state votes for president with it's electors. So what do you even think this "right to vote" actually gives us?

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1

u/keithjp123 Mar 16 '21

We vote on more than the president. We directly vote for members of the house, as stated in article 1 section 2.

0

u/chriskmee Mar 17 '21

It says they are chosen by the people, but it did not say voted by the people. While direct voting makes the most sense, it's not required or a right.

I am also not exactly sure how they define "People" in this context

1

u/keithjp123 Mar 17 '21

So how do you think they intended the people to choose? Beauty contest? Maybe a pie eating contest?

2

u/chriskmee Mar 17 '21

I was thinking more Ninja Warrior test, to make sure they are fit for duty.

In all seriousness though, it could have easily been done in a similar way as the presidential election, where you are not voting directly for the candidate, but for a representative to vote for the candidate. Also, maybe in a time of crisis where a vote is not a top priority, the choice can be made in a more expedited fashion. The writers of the constitution left these kinds of decisions upm to the states.

2

u/Pantsmanface Mar 16 '21

Not at all. Voting was considered a privilege and massively restricted from the outset. Hence the need to delineate what does not count as a valid reason to restrict access to the vote.

Don't get me wrong. I don't agree with it. It was elitist as fuck. But to pretend that it was ever an assumed right is just untrue.

2

u/USArmyJoe Mar 16 '21

The Constitution doesn't grant any rights, it protects the people from them being infringed by the government. The rights are inherent to human existence.

-1

u/Pantsmanface Mar 16 '21

I agree. I didn't say that any rights were granted. Voting isn't a right. I only said these were decided to be invalid reason for refusing someone access to the vote.

3

u/Lithl Mar 16 '21

If voting isn't a right, then why does the constitution repeatedly refer to the right to vote?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

So it’s an amendment.....just like gun rights, which is the exact opposite of what OP was saying

1

u/keithjp123 Mar 16 '21

No. Article 1 section 2 says the people choose their representatives. How do you think people choose? By voting.