Posted on 12/01/2010 1:48:10 PM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips recently hosted a radio program where he declared that Americans who do not own property have less of a stake in the community and suggested, in the past, it made sense to deprive such citizens of the right to vote. The tone-deaf statement is not significant because it represents the view of the Tea Party at large (it doesn’t), but is important because it evidences a serious problem for the movement: without a formal hierarchy, various “leaders” associated with the Tea Party can quickly damage the larger brand with their absurd comments.
The Tea Party Nation is one of the most prominent organizations in the Tea Party movement, having sponsored the National Tea Party Convention last February that was criticized for its $550 attendance fee and where Sarah Palin was paid $100,000 to speak. Thus the influence Phillips has is legitimate, yet like other prominent Tea Party members before him who ended up in hot water for indefensible statements, Phillips offensively opines on an issue with which no rational person is concerned.
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
Oh great.
A crazy statement that the Regime Media will focus on totally.
LLS
Didn’t the Founding Fathers have a problem with that policy?
The other problem with allowing only property owners to vote is it gives more of a voice to those rich liberals who want everyone to pay more in taxes because it tends to screw everyone else but themselves.
Many active military people rent/do not own property.
People realy need to think this stuff through before they speak...
The Founding Fathers also never imagined that they would beget a country in which 1/3 of the adult population does no work and nearly 1/2 of the population pays no tax, but people who match said description are allowed to vote.
Only property owners should be allowed to vote in elections that raise property taxes...for sure!
This statement isn’t as bad as it sounds. He is inarticulately expressing a desire that people who vote have to have a stake in the game to prevent people from voting themselves free stuff on the backs of the “rich.” That is the curse of democracy and why democracies ultimately fall. We are on course for that.
Voting on anything affecting tax rates that you don't pay is wrong. It is, in effect, theft.
Only tax payers should have the right to vote on anything that affects tax rates or budgets. Thats not absurd, its absurd to allow non-taxpayers decide budget questions.
The definition of "property" might have to be expanded to include other assets beyond the traditional land holdings that were used in the early days of this country to determine eligibility, but I have no problem with the general idea that only people with $X (whatever that number may be) in personal assets should be allowed to vote.
Probably not a good thing to sayon TV.
I don’t think the TEA Party Nation reflects the needs of most partiers.
What’s the definition of property owner? Does having a time-share count? So, many young military men and women, who serve their country for many years so they don’t have property (unless inherited from their parents) cannot vote?
The fact that property taxes even exist negate the entire notion that property rights actually exist to begin with.
Actually the states had their own policies on the matter. In some states they sold land extremely cheap to increase the number of land owners, in others you had to show that you had a certain ammount of money in your pocket when you voted.
I know a lot of good conservatives who don’t own their homes and only an idiot would want to cut them out of voting.
That's a very interesting point. This was apparently never much of an issue back in the days before the U.S. had a massive standing military instead of relying primarily on state militias for its armed forces.
You would be excluding much of the younger active duty military....
I would rather that only TAXPAYERS vote...those who don’t pay taxes should have NO INPUT into what is done with OTHERS’ MONEY!
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