There Is No Right To Vote

Again, I take my inspiration from liberal bloggers. But this time, I'm also trying to educate anyone who has failed so far to read the Constitution.

It all began with the Supreme Court's decision on voter ID, which begat another shootout on Dee's Blog. And while I have not read the whole case, I think I have the answer why this doesn't infringe on people's rights: THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE!

One of the reasons for the chaos in the 2000 election was that the presidency is decided by electoral votes, and the swing votes in Florida were held up because Florida had a problem removing its electoral head from its ass. This is because it is the responsibility of the individual states to set the rules for election.

The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

This is where the right to vote lies, with the states, not with the people. This is backed up with the Tenth Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

And since there is no stated right to vote anywhere in the constitution, the states have the ultimate power in setting their voting regulations, with a few exceptions:

The 15th Amendments forbids denying voting rights due to race. The 19th amendment forbids denying voting rights due to sex. The 24th Amendments forbids denying voting rights due to the failure to pay poll taxes. And the 26th Amendments forbids denying voting rights to anyone due to age, as long as they are over 18.

In law, language is everything. The specific phrase used in each of these amendments, in some form is "shall not be denied or abridged." This does not mean you have a right. It means that you can't be denied any right or privilege for the reason stated.

There is no right to vote, unless it is conferred by the states. And therefore, any rules that the state sets are law, except if they are prohibited by an amendment. A state could, if they chose, ban voting by people with no teeth. This would most likely never pass, but you get the idea.

We do have a right, privilege, and a responsibility to vote, though. It is a right conferred by our state, a privilege to choose those who represent us, and a responsibility to know who we are voting for and why.

For this reason, there are far too many people that don't live up to the responsibility of voting. Whether it's a senile citizen that's shoved into the polls and told to vote, an illegal alien who still has yet to dry from his border crossing, or even the dead (especially in Chicago), there is a class of people that should stay home. And I include the woefully ignorant in that group.

Here's a simple test. Take the candidate you intend to vote for and write down their positions on Iraq, terrorism, health care, global warming, taxes, gas and food prices, and federal spending. If you can come up with an answer for these, then you may vote with my blessing. If you're staring at the screen and thinking hard and all you hear is packaged sound bites with no substance, then do us all a favor. Go find a shitty doctor, get lobotomized, then play hopscotch in the middle of and Interstate highway at night. Wearing all black.

I admit I believed at one point everybody should vote. But now, I say if you are an idiot, stay home and let the people who have invested a thought on voting for presidential candidates, rather than just figuring out who to boot off American Idol, take care of you. Here's your nipple.