Voting is a Privilege

"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Cooper, 1802

By Douglas V. Gibbs

We have no right to vote.  Voting is a privilege.

During the early years of the United States the only people allowed to vote were property owners.

Property owners had skin in the game, so to speak.  They were concerned with the issues, since they were the ones paying property taxes, and they were often entrepreneurs.  Folks who were not property owners were poorly informed about the issues, and were not directly affected by the decisions made by their representatives.

Like success in a free market, the privilege to vote needed to be earned by reaching a level in life where you were a property owner.  Someone who was not a property owner would only give their vote, if they could vote, to whoever was willing to give them gifts from the treasury.  Gifts from the treasury would be offered under the pretense of taking care of them, and "entitlement" votes are bought votes; hence, the reason those people did not vote.

Voting was not a right, it was a privilege.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary