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A near impossible literacy test Louisiana used to suppress the black vote

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243 points rcarmo | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 21:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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valval ◴[22 Oct 24 07:16 UTC] No.41911957[source]▶
I think the weight of your vote should come from the amount of taxes you pay, up to some cap. Can someone explain to me like I’m 12 why this is a bad idea?
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1. SilverBirch ◴[22 Oct 24 10:41 UTC] No.41912991[source]▶
There's points of principle and points of practicality. First - all men are created equal. Fundamentally, our political system should be designed around equality of all - otherwise why would the people who are less equal feel the need to support the system? If I only get 1/10th of the vote you get, why don't I take up arms and put my people in charge and count my vote 10x your vote?

In terms of practicality, your taxes this year? Your lifetime taxes? College students? No vote. What happens if I paid a million in taxes last year because I sold my company but nothing this year because I took a year out? Do state taxes count? What about state contracts, do we discount Elon Musks' vote because he receives so many state contracts for his companies like SpaceX? Or do we worry that Elon Musk gets tonnes of political power which he then uses to pressure the government into.. awarded him more SpaceX contracts? Those paying the most taxes are by definition those who have benefitted most from a well run country, surely they be penalized not given more power?