• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

But Would My Doublewide Count?

Unabogie

Philosopher
Joined
Aug 5, 2005
Messages
9,692
Location
Portland, OR
Teabagger whacktard says only property owners should be allowed to vote.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/30/tea-party-voting-property/

PHILLIPS: The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn’t you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners.

And of course, we have mAnn Coulter saying adults under 26 shouldn't vote, and perennial cries of "voter fraud", and goshdarnit these guys are starting to make me wonder if they just don't support democracy like I do?
 
How exactly does a property owner have more of a stake in the community?
 
Question: what percentage of soldiers, teacher, firemen, and police officers rent?
No idea, but I don't know anyone in those professions who's rented since they were in their 20s. Those are steady jobs mortgage lenders love.
 
No idea, but I don't know anyone in those professions who's rented since they were in their 20s. Those are steady jobs mortgage lenders love.

Soldiers? Aren't they usually in their early twenties? If so, Coulter says no until they're 26.
 
Soldiers? Aren't they usually in their early twenties? If so, Coulter says no until they're 26.
Sorry, not soldiers. They have government housing. And it's not a career for 90% of them.
 
No idea, but I don't know anyone in those professions who's rented since they were in their 20s. Those are steady jobs mortgage lenders love.

By the way, in NYC, I don't think too many people own, right? So those NYFD heroes? Dude, you have no vote!
 
How exactly does a property owner have more of a stake in the community?

The land can't run away; by extension, neither really can the land owner. At least, that's the theory as I've heard it.

Originally, it was simple out-and-out snobbery (as I suspect it really is now); "that type" couldn't be trusted because they weren't steady enough and didn't have good enough judgement. You see the same thing come up in lots of other situations -- for example, traditionally candidates for the rabbinate had to be married. Although this is no longer the case, there are still a lot of congregations that prefer their rabbi to have "settled down" and will be reluctant to hire an unmarried rabbi. The American Amish have something similar; to be a full-fledged (voting) member of the congregation, one must typically be married and a homesteader in one's own right; if you work for someone else as a farm hand, your opinion is not usually sought on church-related matters.

But there is something to be said for the idea that only people with genuine ties to a community should be able to make decisions for that community. This is often a problem in college towns; college students are often a substantial voting block, but take a very short-term view of things like town finances, precisely because (aside from being college students), they aren't going to have to clean up the mess they vote into existence, because they're going to go out and seek their fortunes elsewhere after they graduate.
 
No idea, but I don't know anyone in those professions who's rented since they were in their 20s. Those are steady jobs mortgage lenders love.

You make a good point. Bankers have the greatest vested interest. They should get to make the most votes.
 
By the way, in NYC, I don't think too many people own, right? So those NYFD heroes? Dude, you have no vote!
Why don't you think they own? Maybe not in mid-town Manhattan, but Queens has lots of city employees. Here in Chicago certain neighborhoods like Edison Park and Mt. Greenwood are loaded with city employees... and there's not a whole lot of rentals in those neighborhoods relative to other areas.

You think big-city teachers are making $15K a year or something?
 
Maybe just limit voting to people who can pick out their state on an unmarked map...
 
Why don't you think they own? Maybe not in mid-town Manhattan, but Queens has lots of city employees. Here in Chicago certain neighborhoods like Edison Park and Mt. Greenwood are loaded with city employees... and there's not a whole lot of rentals in those neighborhoods relative to other areas.

You think big-city teachers are making $15K a year or something?

It's not that they don't make enough money, it's that most people in New York rent. My cousin had a high paying job in NYC but it seemed like he and everyone else had an apartment. People with money just had nicer ones. I could be wrong.

ETA: Quick google says around a third of New Yorkers own, the rest rent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/nyregion/27owners.html
 
Last edited:
It's not that they don't make enough money, it's that most people in New York rent. My cousin had a high paying job in NYC but it seemed like he and everyone else had an apartment. People with money just had nicer ones. I could be wrong.
Younger people rent because they want to live in an area where there's bars and restaurants and theaters, and these places tend to be where the high-value real estate is. But then you get older, don't need to go out drinking every night and move a bit further away but residency requirements (which Chicago has, not sure about NYC) keep you from moving to the suburbs.

BTW, in NYC everyone calls a condo an "apartment" for some reason. Living in an apartment doesn't necessarily mean you rent.
 
Younger people rent because they want to live in an area where there's bars and restaurants and theaters, and these places tend to be where the high-value real estate is. But then you get older, don't need to go out drinking every night and move a bit further away but residency requirements (which Chicago has, not sure about NYC) keep you from moving to the suburbs.

BTW, in NYC everyone calls a condo an "apartment" for some reason. Living in an apartment doesn't necessarily mean you rent.

See my link above. Only a third of New Yorkers own, the rest rent.
 
Random crazy person is crazy. Stuff like this is why the Tea Party movement won't last that long.
 
You think big-city teachers are making $15K a year or something?
They don't make much more in Las Vegas. In fact, it's very common for teachers to get a part-time job bartending in Las Vegas.
 
Last edited:
Fools who try to deprive citizens of voting rights on trivial pretexts, risk the wrath of the cheif denizen of The Town Of Toon, not to mention the God Of Artillery:

Tooneronomy 03:11 Woe unto those owners of land and houses who say unto the renters, "Thou shalt not vote; for thou art but unworthy vagabonds." For in that hour of treachery the renters shall justly rise up, and come up against the unjust and perfidious property owners, and shall beat them as it were almost unto the death; and shall go forth unto the voting booth, and vote. And yet it is a kindness unto the treacherous property owners; for they may still drag themselves unto the booths to vote. But had they prevailed against the renters, fire would have come down out of heaven and would have consumed them; for strong and just is the God of Artillery, having power over fire, and justly scorches the unrighteous.

Tooneronomy 03:12 And woe unto those who are unable to pass the Standard Voter Competence Test; for they shall not vote. For niether the self-righteous property owners nor the stern but just renters will suffer them to vote. For verily has it been written that they are like unto ignorant demons who screweth up the wet dream, knoweth not enough to pour piss out of a boot, and defecate upon that which they do not put asunder. And the God of Artillery holdeth His fire and sayeth, "It is just. For they have not permanently been deprived of the right to vote. It is like unto the prohibition against the voting of ignorant and callow youth, who know not the ways of the world, and seeth not through the deceit of the demogogues, and yet believeth not the righeous either. And they must must not enter into the voting booth until they have gained a modicum of wisdom. And so it is also with those who passeth not the Standard Voter Competence Test. Only through diligent study shall they cometh unto the voting booth.

Tooneronomy 03:13 And all those aliens who have come into the Promised Land uninvited, shall not vote; for they have not the Standard Citizen's Identification Card, which cannot be forged. And their names are not written in the Citizens Database. Nor have they the knowledge and understanding of the Way of the land. And we needeth not the ladies crying because the story is sad. For the Way Of Legal Immigration is better than the old way of illegal alien infiltration and forgery of false documents which brought only grievous burdens and confusions upon the land.

Tooneronomy 03:14 And the God Of Artillery looked upon the laws of the Toon, and sayeth, "True and just are the laws of the Toon; for they bringeth not confusion and ruin upon the land, but righteousness and prosperity. And they make the evil to shudder, and the righteous to rejoice. And the demagogues say, "Surely we cannot prevail against an enlightened and informed populace." And the demagogues weep and wail, and gnash their teeth. And they rip their garments, and throw dust upon their heads. For their seats of power are lost, and they are desolate. And the righteous cometh and taketh their seats, and sayeth unto the demagogues, "Go ye out of here, ye unjust whores of perfidy." And the righteous replaceth the Democrat and Republican alike, who followeth not the straight and narrow path of righteousness. And even the President feareth the day of judgement, which cometh every four years, and spareth not the incompetent. And this is as it was envisioned in the beginning, before the Great Dumbing Down. For in those days they kneweth of which they spake; and spake not frivolously and falsely.
 
Last edited:
Considering the role of crap mortgages in the economic decline, I'd say there's much to be said for denying property owners the vote, at least until they pay off their mortgages.
 
See my link above. Only a third of New Yorkers own, the rest rent.
We weren't talking about New Yorkers in general, but police, teachers, and firefighters.

Does NYC have residency requirements for these jobs?
 

Back
Top Bottom