"woud not thirty five votes.... be more in keeping with the significance of the numerical sequencification.. of the 3 and the 5?".... L Farraklown 2015
Posted on 08/23/2015 4:42:56 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
A writer over at The Washington Post has a bold new proposal he believes can heal the American racial divide: empower blacks by making their votes count more than those of other races.
“Racial reconciliation is impossible without some kind of broad-based, systemic reparations,” writes Theodore R. Johnson, a former White House fellow and current Ph.D candidate in law and policy at Northeastern University. “But if a pecuniary answer can’t fix the structural disadvantage — and it can’t — what can?”
The answer, Johnson argues, is simple: weighted voting, where black votes count for more than white ones. Specifically, Johnson suggests giving each black person five-thirds of a vote, to reverse the old three-fifths compromise written into the U.S. Constitution.
As Johnson gleefully notes, counting black votes more than others would significantly alter many elections in the U.S. In the 2012 election, several Southern states with high black populations, such as Mississippi and Georgia, would have swung over to Barack Obama’s column, and their recent Senate races would have been decided in Democrats’ favor as well.
Johnson justifies his argument by saying it’s the only way to solve the “structural disadvantages” faced by blacks.
“A five-thirds compromise would imbue African Americans with a larger political voice that could be used to fight the structural discrimination expressed in housing, education, criminal justice and employment,” he says. “Allowing black votes to count for 167 percent of everyone else’s would mean that 30 million African American votes would count as 50 million, substituting super-votes for the implausible idea of cash payments.” With black voters so massively empowered, politicians will have no choice to but to put black priorities first if they hope to remain in office.
Johnson pays lip service to the important democratic principle of “one man, one vote,” but then dismisses it on grounds that the term is “unclear,” by pointing to a Supreme Court case that has nothing to do with the topic of explicitly giving one racial group super-votes.
Having taken care of his justification of the policy itself, Johnson goes into detail about how it should be constructed. He says it only needs to last for a set period of time (he proposes 24 years), and he also proposes taking inspiration from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for handling the thorny topic of who counts as black and who doesn’t.
To conclude, Johnson forthrightly says that only reverse racism will be sufficient to achieve the goal of racial justice.
“Of course, weighted-vote reparations are only slightly more politically feasible than a multi-trillion-dollar payout,” he says. “But we have to consider novel approaches to racial reconciliation … if we are serious about ridding the nation of barriers to opportunity and overcoming the racial discrimination woven into America’s fabric. If racism is the culprit, then dismantling it requires the same tools that constructed it.”
Is the final condition they are aiming for clear yet?
Affirmative action gone wild I guess.
Good luck.
Keep your powder dry, folks.
This is how massive voter fraud is rationalized and threatens democracy.
Current Ph.D. candidate? This should disqualify him.
We should get right on not doing that.
To paraphrase FDR, a white woman in every basement, and a white guy in every pot.
They don't want equality. They see the world as serve or be served.
and the Washington Pissed for not knowing better
Looks like Teddy Johnson wants to turn our nation into a third world country faster than it’s already happening.
If this guy hates himself so much, he should just shut up and kill himself.
Kinda flies in the face of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, doesn’t it?
Obviously this PhD candidate does not understand that the 3/5s ‘rule’ in the constitution was to limit the size of the slave holding states congressional seats, since the slaves could NOT vote or hold office. How much more power would the slave states have had in congress if the slaves were counted as ‘whole persons’ who did not have the vote and thus their number would have been used to perpetuate slavery longer than it actually was.
For those, like Mr Johnson, who clearly didn't LEARN anything in history class, other than the modern propaganda...
The Constitution's Three-Fifths compromise was to HELP blacks, not insinuate that they were less than human... and they knew it back then. Slaves were chattel and as such could not even bring cases to court (see the Dred Scott decision for verification). In Congress, representation is decided based on the 10-year census. Northern states wanted to prevent Southern states from importing so many slaves that they would get more members in Congress, and vote for slavery for ALL of the nation. This was an issue that almost prevented us form forming a nation of states back in the 1780s. To limit the growth of the number of Southern Congressmen, the Three-Fifths Compromise was written... again, to STOP the spread of slavery.
(Ionically, Democrats today continue to do the same thing that they did 160+ years ago, import more and more dependent people to increase their base of power in Congress. The more things change, the more they stay the same!)
For all of his career pedigree, the author is a complete dumba**.
He claims this is for equity and recompense, but in his examples he makes it perfectly clear it’s just about electing more Democrats.
Bring it.
Expect disapointment.
And a whole lotta lead.
Obamahole.
The premise is already true. The quotient, just needs full recognition. Thus, the Windswept House.
Beat my long-winded response by 39 seconds! :)
If Republican presidential candidates were asked about this proposal at the next debate, which ones would equivocate in their answer and would any just say, “hell no”? I’d love to hear Jeb’s answer and then watch the question posed to Trump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.