I really find it amusing.. all the people suggesting who should vote, and under what circumstances.

"no voting if your on public aid"
"no voting unless you take an IQ quiz"
"no voting if you can't get yourself to the voting place on your own power"

What a bunch of Rubbish. Such suggestions are not better then what the OP's guy said in his comment.

Testing is not going to show anything unless it's a COMPREHENSION and UNDERSTANDINGS test.

Why do i say this? Because most people do not comprehend what they are doing. Most people don't dig into the people they are voting for.. they simply go off of MSM postings on the different Candidates.

Book smarts, or being a major academic student of anything, does NOT change your KNOWLEDGE of WHO you are VOTING for.

I know people with Doctorates who voted for Obama. The typical answer from them when I asked them WHY they voted for Obama was "He seemed like a good choice".. When asking them further, I get such answers as "Well, his PR was good during the race" or "He seems like a stand-up sorta guy".

POTUS, Congress, Mayor, Governor, they are ALL PR.. The Culinary business has a good saying "You can sell crap on a plate, as long as you make it look wonderful". That is what the whole deal comes down too.

Ads, PR, MSM. Those are what most people base their vote for any particular candidate off of.

In order to honestly make an informed decision on ANY candidate for ANY position, one must dig beyond the PR.

Does not matter WHAT preventive measures you put out to collect the "smart" people for voting, they will still vote for the one that was touted about the most.

The failure in the system is the Career politicians.. get them out of office. and then things might have a chance.

The whole system needs new blood, new groups. Might as well wash it all away, and start over completely. Because it is such a mess, fixing it will be no fast or easy deal.. will take decades to correct.

Ok i was curious looked at his speech and he is attacking multiculturalism.His goal is to make sure only english speaking americans can vote.He doent want ballots in spanish or any other language then english.He has a fear that the American identity will be lost. I dont think hes being a rasists but id have to say its a stupid idea because people would simply help them pass a test come on.

Though i do agree with his remarks on John Mccain because i think he was an idiot too! And he uses that as the other reason Obamma is in the white house and hes right.Since that was the reason i voted for Obama though now i wish i hadnt.

[edit on 2/6/10 by dragonridr]

Tancredo never said blacks shouldn’t vote. Are all of you liberal lefties pretending to be TEA partiers the only ones awake at this hour. He said there should be an intelligence test. Stupid people shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Unfortunately stupid people breed faster then intelligent people. Eventually there will be more stupid people in the world then intelligent. Look around you, it’s already happening.

His comments had nothing to do with race, or at the very least were not intended that way. His calls for a literacy test were not meant to prevent blacks from voting, but rather to prevent uninformed morons from voting. The fact that a similar policy was used back in the day to prevent blacks from voting is a moot point here.

For anyone to suggest that a literacy test in this day and age would prevent blacks from voting is akin to calling them stupid and uneducated. A literacy test, or any other test, would not keep blacks from voting... it would keep idiots from voting. Idiots of all races, creeds and colors. The kind of idiots who voted for Obama in droves and genuinely believed that he was going to pay their mortgages and give them money and make their lives perfect (we've all seen the videos of Obama supporters actually making such claims).

So, to try and inject racism into a situation where it does not exist and certainly was not intended by the speaker, is just political b.s. It is exactly what is wrong with this country and it is certainly something we don't need on ATS. Accusing someone of being racist without merit and without even knowing the person is one of the most ignorant and offensive things imaginable.

This post should not be taken as an endorsement of a literacy test requirement for voters. There are plenty of hard-working, intelligent Americans out there who for one reason or another were not able to complete school and instead had to focus on supporting their families by working. This is especially the case amongst our older citizens. Those folks are just as entitled, if not more so, than all of us. My problem is with the uninformed idiots who make no effort to understand the issues and cast a vote based on complete nonsense (ie: "Obama is gonna pay my bills!"). I wish there were some type of test that would weed these people out until such a time as they make an effort to take their right to vote seriously. Unfortunately, no such test exists and I don't think one could be created. But I certainly understand the frustrations being expressed by this individual, and I deplore the accusations of racism being made here.

OK, I saw the actual video clip of his remarks on the Jimmy Kimmel show last night.

He said, "A civics literacy test."

Not a "Civics, Literacy" or "Civics and Literacy" but "Civics Literacy"

Evidently a lot of our press (including Kimmel) need a regular literacy test, because the two meanings are entirely different.

Literacy = reading, writing, etc.

Civics Literacy = education and understanding of how our political system works, the difference between Democracy and Republic, the finer points of the electoral system, a little history, a little background on fundamental beliefs of each party, etc., etc.

We ALL need more Civics Literacy!!

Originally posted by jtma508
I'm talking about people who are clueless and almost criminally mis-informed (if such a thing existed).

Where's the test to weed-out THOSE people?

BINGO! That is a very huge problem according to me! Is there a solution to this? I'm looking for it.

The reason for anyone suggesting people be literate is due to the fact that most people who are not tend to vote for liberal democrats. These people don't bother to find out what a persons record is, or what he stands for, and they just go with the crowd of others like themselves. They believe everything they're told. They listen and are moved by "catch words" or phrases, or vote on the basis of "pretty good looking, or just feelings". This is how Obama got elected. He had no experience. He spent about 150 days in the Senate. He never owned a business, was never an executive in any capacity. But he knew how to say "yes we can" and "fired up and ready to go". He could dance. He looked handsome enough. he said all the right things to all the people. He "looked" informed". But he was just an empty suit.

But people got on the bus for him. The unions obeyed their masters and voted likewise. Blacks voted for the "black guy" and even some whites joined in and wanted to vote for the "black guy" because he was a young handsome black man. All these people migrated to Obama because they were illiterate, or simply chose to negate their civic duty and find out what the man stood for, or what his record was. They believed the catch phrases like "republicans are evil" and "it was all Bush's fault". It was so much easier to get informed off NBC and CBS than to listen to all the news and make proper judgments. That is what Tom T. was talking about. If the people read the Constitution and looked at people's records and what they believed, Obama and most progressive democrats would have never gotten elected.

As for the Tea Party Movement. It is not a person. It has never been about a person, or "Party" for that matter, even though it is call the "Tea Party". It is an independence movement to restore good government and get rid of all politicians no matter the party who violate the Constitution and disobey the law, and screw the American people for power or gain. These are people who will look at the person's record and know what they stand for and vote accordingly. This fall will not be about catch phrases but eyes open sunlight shining careful scrutiny voting.

Why did Coakley lose to Scott Brown ? Because Coakley decided to go will the code words and catch phrases. "Did you know that he's a REPUBLICAN ! " and " He's in lock step with Bush..." That isn't going to work this time around. This time the people aren't getting on the bus. This time the people will look through all the code words and find out what they are. This movement called the Tea Party Movement is a true peoples movement, and it contains people of every walk of like and every political party as well, and all who love America, the US Constitution, and good government are welcome to stand with us.

[edit on 6-2-2010 by Fromabove]

Originally posted by whaaa

Originally posted by The_Zomar
That would be a great idea. A literacy test. You know theres millions of people that voted for Obama because he is black. Those people are obviously below average in intelligence.

I hope you were being sarcastic! Otherwise that's the worst kind of trolling!



[edit on 5-2-2010 by whaaa]

Completely serious. I know people who voted for Obama simply because he was black.
If only intelligent people could vote, then they would be less likely to fall for silly lies.

Sorry, I guess I'm a bit of an elitist but I think this would help.

So what happens when all of you who are beating your chests and screaming about how we need this can't pass the test? I'm really interested to know this.

Considering you're giving the government this power to devise a test and to take away freedoms. How do you know you'll be able to pass it?

When the free loaders out number the workers it's all over, this is where we are now. After the next census we will be doomed to one party rule anyway. The great American experiment is over.

If you get one penny more in governmnet handouts, than you pay in taxes you should not get to vote. If you cant read a ballot printed in english, you dont get to vote. If you dont have a H.S. education or GED> you dont get to vote. No where in the constitution, or the bill of rights do you have the right to vote. The government has in the past and can in the future limit the right to vote to only specific classes or by special requirements. One of the major problems we have in the U.S. right now is the ability of people who are paying no taxes, and living off the largess of working, tax paying Americans, to decide how our tax money should be spent.