←back to thread

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

(www.openculture.com)
255 points rcarmo | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 21:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.199s | source
Show context
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?
replies(9): >>41911991 #>>41912077 #>>41912136 #>>41912140 #>>41912423 #>>41912991 #>>41913155 #>>41914591 #>>41918150 #
slg ◴[22 Oct 24 07:39 UTC] No.41912077[source]▶
Beyond anything else, intentionally designing a political system around disenfranchising a class of people seems like a bad idea from a human rights standpoint. You're creating a system in which the wealthier citizens can systematically take the rights away from the poor. I think you know how that can go wrong considering you're asking this question specifically on this post out of all posts.
replies(1): >>41912853 #
potato3732842 ◴[22 Oct 24 10:14 UTC] No.41912853[source]▶
All extant and historical systems explicitly disenfranchise some people, children, criminals, foreigners, etc.
replies(1): >>41913036 #
krapp ◴[22 Oct 24 10:50 UTC] No.41913036[source]▶
And we should work to remove such disenfranchisements from the system rather than simply accept them as a law of nature.
replies(1): >>41915373 #
e44858 ◴[22 Oct 24 15:37 UTC] No.41915373[source]▶
Why? Most people find it beneficial to disenfranchise criminals, don't want murderers walking free and hurting you. Why should people support policies that hurt them?
replies(2): >>41916990 #>>41917888 #
1. ImPostingOnHN ◴[22 Oct 24 18:08 UTC] No.41916990[source]▶
Citizens convicted of crimes are citizens just like you (I assume) and I. I don't think most people find it beneficial to disenfranchise them.

One obvious use case for not disenfranchising citizens convicted of crimes, is a politician who criminalizes opposition, thus making it impossible to vote them out.

As for policies which hurt people: policies favoring old folks often hurt the majority of people, but there isn't a big push to disenfranchise old people.