Hello Richard,
Obligatory "new to FidoNet" statement.
What I want to know from everybody is what one or few principle(s) you >>derive your politics from. What principles lie behind your support for >>policy X or behind your opposition to policy Y? What is the point of >>politics? On what criteria do you measure or judge a society?
I mainly guide myself by the Non Agression Principle. In
essence, it means I don't care what you do as long as you are
not causing trouble to other people.
IOW, you are declaring yourself to be a chicken. Not just chicken,
but *a* chicken. One that goes cluck, cluck.
I believe in democracy, where the rule of law is king, as decided
by "we the people". That means people have rights. Not just a few
privileges handed out to them by the very wealthy elite.
The act of voting is a violent act. The most violent act one can
do in a democracy. The wealthy elite do not like that, which is why
they clamor for voting purges and voting suppression and other ways
in which the act of voting can be curbed or denied.
The state of California allows individuals to register to vote as
young as age 16, although the act of voting is still restricted to
being a minimum of age 18. Why not lower the age of voting to the
same age as one is able to register? Certainly that makes more
sense.
One does not have to be able to read and write to qualify to vote.
So even the excuse of not being old enough is horse manure.
It used to be one had to be rich, white, educated, owner of property,
and way past their teenage years to vote. Women could not vote.
Black folks could not vote. Native Americans could not vote. Poor
folks could not vote. The uneducated could not vote. This country
was ruled by snobs. And it is snobs who want to return us to the
days of old, where only snobs could vote.
I choose to aggressively exercize my *right* to vote, and also to
encourage all others to exercize their own *right* to vote. And also
to expand that right to vote so that same right can be enjoyed by
all - including infants (okay, their parents might have to vote by
proxy so their voices can be heard).
As long as an individual is alive, he/she should have the right
to vote. From the time he/she comes into the world, until the time
he/she leaves this world.
In practice, I don't mind if you are gay or trans or whatever
as long as you don't cause trouble to others. I also don't mind
if you have a doomsday bunker full of weapons just in case WWIII
happens, as long as you mess with nobody.
And yet such people are banned from serving in the military,
due to the president having a hissy. If he had his own way, none
of them would have the right to vote, as he does not consider them
as being people.
I believe that organizations are composed of people, and that
you don't have magical rights to do bad things just because you
are in an organization. For example, if people does not have the
right to confiscate your yard and build a fracking extraction
rig without your permission in your garden, a corporation, which
is composed of people, doesn't have it either. If I don't have
the right to force you to buy insurance from my cousin's
insurance firm, the government, which is an organization made
of people, does not have the right to force you to buy insurance
from a friend of some minister.
The courts have ruled a corporation is a person. At least the
courts have not granted them the right to vote. However, those
corporations have other means of voting.
I also think democrazy needs hard limits to prevent it from
becoming too evil. This is why you have armored constitutions
and the like, so people cannot vote basic civil rights off the
law. Otherwise it would be too easy for big groups to abuse
small groups.
Democracy needs limits like people need a hole in their head.
The right to vote is a violent act, the most violent act one can
do in a democracy. The right to vote should be expanded, as it
is this violent act that keeps democracy strong and flourishing.
--Lee
--
Pork. The One You Love.
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