Posted on 10/01/2014 6:25:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
Many recent surveys indicate that the vast majority of Americans feel our country is moving in the wrong direction.
This country was intentionally designed to be different from others in which a monarch or strong central government controlled almost every aspect of the lives of its citizens. In most other nations, the lives of the populace conform to the will of the government. In America, the government is supposed to conform to the will of the people. Also in most other countries, it was declared that the rights of the people were conferred by the government; whereas, our founding documents indicate a belief that our rights derive from our Creator, a.k.a. God.
It is critical that the people of our country understand that we the people are at the pinnacle of power in a nation created of, by and for the people. In order to exercise that power in a responsible manner, the people must be informed voters. To cast votes for people or issues about which one knows little or nothing is akin to taking unlabeled medicine from an unknown source simply because someone told you to do so.
It is also unfortunate that many schools no longer offer civics courses and that students are not taught the fundamentals of how our government works. This partly explains the incredibly uninformed answers to basic questions on some televised "man on the street" interviews. The founders of our nation were huge advocates of education and felt that our freedoms and system of government would be jeopardized by an uninformed populace that could be easily manipulated by dishonest politicians or a biased press.
I hate to complain without offering solutions. Thus, my wife and I have just released a new e-book (soon to be a paperback) titled, "One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard." Thousands of free copies are being distributed, and the purchase price is less than that of a simple sandwich. It is completely nonpartisan and was written for people who, for whatever reason, missed out on important information with respect to becoming an informed voter. There are electronic links to websites that not only identify your representatives, but also tell you how they voted, as opposed to how they said they voted, on a variety of issues. It provides access to links that help you clearly identify your own beliefs and compare them with those of political figures and parties. This kind of information will make it easier for people to think for themselves, rather than being herded and manipulated by those in various political organizations who hunger for power, not liberty and fairness.
In 2012, 93 million Americans who could have voted failed to do so. That's more votes than either presidential candidate received. We must all realize that we have no right to complain about the direction of our nation if we are unwilling to grasp the importance of our civic duty to vote intelligently.
There are those who are much more interested in having blind followers than informed voters. They will not embrace this publication. I also fully realize that detractors will say Ben Carson is just engaging in self-promotion and trying to make more money. Some people ascribe to others what their motives would be and are incapable of thinking otherwise. In the meantime, we the people must, through our collective wisdom and power, alter the course of our beloved nation through the wise use of our votes.
I like that opening statement. I can hear the nattering nabob choir screaming "But what about principles?" now. Incrementalism by leftists has taken us from the republic we were to where we are now and incrementalism by conservatives voting republican can get us back.
PS. I'm behind the same enemy lines that you are. Sigh....
Thanks. I was Poli Sci major in college, so I can categorically state it isn’t rocket science. Unfortunately the major seems to attract the dumbest and among the faculty the most radical left wingers imaginable.
Who does Beyoncé say I should vote for?
The dangers Washington warned of are intrinsic to human nature. I'm skeptical of any assertion that something has changed in the last 200 years that renders those observations no longer operative.
I find the idea that human nature can be changed by political forces to be not only wrong, but downright dangerous.
Virtually all of the voters will vote for a Republocrat ... or a Demoblican ...
Good luck! That has never been the case throughout history. The only really intelligent vote for President was for the first, George Washington.
The founders were right in wanting only educated owners of property to vote.
You’re right. Human nature does not change very much.
The politics of gimme gimme gimme has been around since at least the time of ancient Rome when politicians, generals, and emperors were compelled to keep peace among urban masses by doling out grain and free entertainment.
It’s also what I was referring to in my long time tagline.
Americans Have a Civic Duty To Vote Intelligently
There is one catch so, one of the precursors for voting intelligently is missing, as at least halve the voter are missing the intelligence to do so.
LOL. Ha ha ha.
Considering maybe 30% of the population has an IQ under 90, and 80% of the rest are thoroughly indoctrinated by media and public schools, that leaves most of the population unable to vote intelligently.
There is a reason the founding fathers originally only had white male property owners with the right to vote. At the time, that was the best way to ensure that most of the people voting were voting intelligently and knew their civic duty.
remember “As early as 1680, the literacy rate in Massachusetts was 98 percent and in seaports was as high as 99 percent. Among women the percentage was 62 percent for the same general period, according to historian Samuel Eliot Morison.”
ebonic response - whut u be talkin bout u racist crakaz
Alexis de Tocqueville visited the American wilderness of the 1830's, and he described the backwoods citizens of that day in the following manner:
"It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic republic; and such must always be the case, I believe, where the instruction which enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education ...." The American citizen, he said, "..will inform you what his rights are and by what means he exercises them .. In the United States, politics are the end and aim of education ... every citizen receives the elementary notions of human knowledge; he is taught, moreover, the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution .... it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon .... It is difficult to imagine the incredible rapidity with which thought circulates in the midst of these deserts [wilderness]. I do not think that so much intellectual activity exists in the most enlightened and populous districts of France." - Tocqueville
Careful what ya wish for.
cheers,
tk
that’s asking a lot out of the general voting population
I definitely sense that Dr Carson is wrong.
The title should be “All Americans should not have the right to vote.”
We disqualify children, we disqualify convicts, and we disqualify those not yet citizens.
Just one idea on the subject: Excepting actual retirement social security and those drawing paychecks or retirement from jobs in the government, we should not give a vote to those whose checks from the government exceed their income taxes paid. (At a local level, those who do not pay property tax, for example, shouldn’t be eligible to vote on those items for which property tax pays. And claiming ‘property tax’ is included in rent is not a valid argument.)
No, do not do that.
I have a good friend since hs who is of the other persuasion. We talk about all things but politics. He is a smart guy and a plant manager. I just do not understand and accept. A lot of the music people I associate with are libs, but we don't ever talk politics. When we are in a discussion and my associates press the political buttons, I have to say something in defense of rationality.
You are not going to solve the worlds problems by arguing with you spouse, or your friends.
Hard to argue with that!
Agreed. I know plenty of Libs around here who fit that bill. And yet, they blithely trip along in their lives, while no real DAMAGE seems to have come to them, due to their foolish choices.
In my state, they’re all consumed now with unseating Governor Scott Walker:
“Back To the Abyss with Burke!”
*blank stare*
Why do something so obviously correct when you can continue shooting your allies four years later, and right before another key election?
To whom are you referring? I see the RINO elitist ptb as the problem. If they (including Romney)tried as hard to defeat dems as they did to defeat conservatives, they'd win. It would involve giving constitutional conservatives a seat at the table.
The bile directed by some at conservatives over the 2008 election amazes me to this day. Especially considering that the GOPe has spent much of the interim insulting and joining the other party in abusing them.
Besides, claiming those who vote their conscious are stupid immediately before a key election when their enthusiastic support is essential is itself idiocy defined.
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