I think all voting should be at the polls, on paper ballots, counted in front of anyone who wants to watch.

I think voters registration should be done in advance, and absentee ballots limited to those serving over seas or with a note from the doctor that they are too old ill to come to the polls, but still of sound mind. They should also be notarized.
And counted with the ballots cast on election day.

Election fraud is a much bigger problem than stupid people voting.

Most of the idiots don't bother with the hassle of actually going to the polls.

A few procedural hurdles is enough to stop most of them, which is why the democrats hate them.

In all fairness, internal decapitation is a thing, and often happens to babies in car accidents. (Mainly young babies who are forward facing in car seats rather than rear facing.)

so, it is possible to survive decapitation.

That said, I wish fewer people would vote. If you're not up on the issues, just stay home.

Actually a really good way to check if people are actually listing or comprehending English.

...I got better...

Suzanne, I'm with you. I'd rather the uninformed and stupid stay out of the polls.

I've become cynical enough that I kind of wish more people were actually decapitated...
OK, not really, but it's at least a fun dream.

Jerry says hi.

Jerry says hi. ~ Crid at September 29, 2016 6:49 AM

So, California wants people who have deliberately separated themselves from societal standards to be eligible to vote for society's standard bearers.

Oh yeah, this will end well. Now, we'll have politicians pandering for the felon vote. What will that consist of? "Vote for me and I'll shorten prison terms?" "Pardons for sale?"

Michael Graham
The Dumbest Generation

Excerpts:

"We are the sons and daughters of the American revolution. We are the descendants of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and, later, of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr. We are the promise keepers of the greatest, most ambitious experiment in individual liberty ever conceived, an experiment nurtured in blood, upheld by laws, and envied around the world."

"We are the American people. And we are as dumb as a box of rocks."

=========================

"The fundamental strength of democracy is its insistence that we’re all in the same boat and everyone should have a seat near an oar. The fundamental weakness, as demonstrated beyond contradiction by the 2000 [presidential] election, is that at any given moment, more than half the people in the boat have no idea which way to row."

P. T. Barnum knew all about this. His American Museum in New York had a sign on one door that said "This Way to the Egress." It helped keep the crowds moving through the building. By the time they figured out what egress meant, the door had closed behind them.

Alkon: "I'd rather the uninformed and stupid stay out of the polls."

The more uninformed and stupid they are the less likely they are to know they are.

I'd rather the uninformed and stupid stay out of the polls.

Well, America is at a point in its intellectual decadence where it finds amusement in a game show called "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?" and Jay Leno could build an entire recurring segment of just asking people on the street if they knew the name of the vice-president or the three branches of government.

I'm fine with these people going to Transformers XVIII on Election Day.

Aren't "informed" people the ones responsible for bringing back all those diseases that vaccines eradicated?

Well, Ppen, the problem with those people is that they know a lot of stuff that just isn't true.

here should be a two question poll test.

1. What form of government does the USA have?
Anyone who fails to answer properly is bared from voting for life.

2. Did you paid more in taxes last year than you received from the government?
If the answer is no you dont get to vote this year.

I'd further suggest randomly selecting a single voter from every district and checking their tax returns.

And executing the liars for treason

Reminds me of when, in 2006, columnist Betsy Hart (divorced, religious, conservative mother of four) wrote this:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/650198513/Do-you-idolize-your-kids-Dont-inflict-them-on-me.html?pg=all

Excerpt (guess which word was not understood by her fans):

"...But as I've spoken and written about the plague of idolized kids, I've never quite had a succinct definition for one.

"Now I do: Parents who idolize their progeny allow their very young children to leave the message on the family phone-answering machine.

"These parents really believe that the entire world wants to hear a barely 2- or 3-year-old curtain-climber they typically don't even know speak virtually unintelligible babble for a full minute, if not more, before the caller is allowed to leave the nature of his business.

"Often, the parents have to provide translation services for the adorable unintelligible child..."

So what happened after she wrote that?

Several fans of hers angrily wrote to say that she should not be insulting children by calling them "unintelligible."

BTW, the last paragraph is:

"...I don't know. I would like to think that the seemingly increasing practice of hearing tiny voices on answering machines is really just sophisticated revenge on telemarketing companies. But I think I have to accept that it's a symptom of a larger problem in our culture because, well, even telemarketers don't deserve such treatment."

"...I don't know. I would like to think that the seemingly increasing practice of hearing tiny voices on answering machines is really just sophisticated revenge on telemarketing companies. But I think I have to accept that it's a symptom of a larger problem in our culture because, well, even telemarketers don't deserve such treatment."

lenona at September 29, 2016 2:12 PM

Who still uses an answering machine?

Fewer, definitely. As it is understood now, the brain is not fully mature until Age 25. Furthermore, half of all people 85 years old are experiencing some form of dementia. So perhaps limiting voting to people who are between 25 and 80 would be a good idea.

"As it is understood now, the brain is not fully mature until Age 25"

Afraid that is a pile of bull Mpetrie98. Being a moron is more of a life choice than an age we move out of and then back into.

I'd rather the uninformed and stupid stay out of the polls. ~ Amy Alkon at September 29, 2016 6:27 AM

Then you'll be left with about twelve voters.

So, luj, if I collect Social Security, I'm disenfranchised?

My military service is far behind me, but no worries, they delayed my absentee ballot anyway.

I've certainly paid more in taxes than most, but that was then, and this is now, right?

No taxation without representation. If expats are to be denied the vote they should not have to file taxes.

Yes Mark.

How exactly is that any less fair than the SS collecting crowd using their numbers to steal from those still working?

How exactly is that any less fair than the SS collecting crowd using their numbers to steal from those still working? ~ lujlp at September 30, 2016 1:16 PM

The "SS collecting crowd" is collecting money they were promised and to which they contributed for years. The fact that the government stole the money contributed instead of investing it is not the fault of the contributors and in no way changes the government's obligation to pay them the promised funds.

Using logic like yours, I would not be surprised if the government simply declares the smaller generational cohort ineligible (fewer voters) - i.e., Baby Boom gets Social Security, Gen X does not. And we'll start again with Millennials. We have to save the government program that government malfeasance and mismanagement broke.

1. They've collected far more than they put in

2. When first instituted the average person was expected to die before reaching the age of eligibility

3. The numbers contributing far out numbered those drawing

4. The money was never put in a separate account

5. The "theft" was the government take out a loan from itself against projected future earnings

6. The SS crowd was warned time and again that it was happening yet still continued to vote in the politicians engaging in that theft as it was being used to finance other benefits for them meaning they are complicit

7. They use their numbers in the voting booth to prevent any changes to the program that would bring it in line with the demographic benchmarks under which it was enacted

How sorry am I supposed to feel for people who deliberately ignored the problem they helped create?

Luj, you've made it perfectly clear in past posts that you're okay with giving the government 6.5% of your lifetime income as a gift over and above your income tax, sales tax, property tax, cap gains tax, estate tax, etc. I'm not. I was promised that money would be returned to me. I want my money. If it had been left to me I'd have invested it and made more than the government is gonna give me, and paid taxes on it.

I'm sorry, I dont recall that.

As I recall I've advocated for no more than a 5% property tax, zero corporate taxes, a total of 25% tax on all earnings regardless of of how you got it (income, capital gains, expense accounts, ects), to be distributed in 5% increments to your city/county, the state, the fed, and 10% to an investment account under your control for your retirement. And absolutely ZERO deductions or tax breaks for anyone or any business ever under any circumstanses

Anything the government is unable to fund on that amount of money just doesnt get funded

I agree with you, luj, on the flat tax and zeroing out the deductions.

Good luck with that as activists will argue that taking 25% of a poor person's income does not have the same impact as taking 25% of a rich person's income.

The 6.5% figure mentioned earlier is actually higher since it's pre-tax income and the employer matches. So 13-20% of take home pay.

Nancy, Hillary, Babs, et al have legislated against allowing people to control their own government-confiscated retirement funds. George Bush's personal retirement savings plan was DOA with Speaker Nancy and Senators Hillary and Babs.

You've argued in the past the SS tax is merely another tax (cost of being here) and the payer should consider it a sunk cost and is not entitled to get it back. You've advocated needs-based payouts for Social Security with those who saved what the government says is "enough" for retirement not receiving a payout. At least I think it was you who made that argument. It's been a while.

Actually I've agrued that those claiming needs based payout need to prove they have no family to put them up and have to move into government provided high rise housing and eat in communal kitchens and offer to babysit the kids of the parents in the sme building on welfare so they can go to job training or work

Maybe you are thinking of me Conan. OASDI IS just a tax. You have no property rights. SS is a welfare program and was from the very beginning. No one stole anything from you. They lied to you. For that matter you lied to yourself too. It wasn't exactly a cunning or subtle lie. But no, you were never stolen from.

SS as originally enacted and implemented along with all of the changes they've made over the years is just a standard welfare program. It just has a simpler eligibility criteria than most, age.

Mind, it isn't just me saying this. It is also the supreme court.