Absurd thought meets Reality

"Make a Hole, Make it Wide"

It was intriguing to hear the 112Th Congress read parts of our Constitution on the first day of session. Hearing Republicans and Democrats being reminded of what the Constitution is all about, our growing history. However, skipping parts and the entire 18Th Amendment, that whole Prohibition thing, is like fast forwarding to the end of movie. Prohibition was a major ordeal in this country's history and it should not be forgotten, even though it was a failure and later repealed in the 21st Amendment.

Started by The Order of Good Templar's and later groups like the Anti Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the idea of Prohibition gained steam and became a national phenom movement. And soon..... Oh wait this all sounds rather familiar in today's world, a group of people getting together for what they see as a good cause and soon it snowballs and others join in and ..

So speaking of snowballing groups, this reminds me of a story I read before the November elections, but I'm sure many never heard it on both sides of the aisle.

Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips had proposed that only property owners should be allowed to vote. Not only an absurd notion but very Unconstitutional as well (guess he should have read the Constitution before speaking out loud).

Just think how many people would be left out of national voting if Mr. Phillips proposal had any legs.

Some 80% of college students rent off campus apartments and houses. Not to mention those that live in dorms or at home with mom and dad and the number jumps to 95%. One needs to remember that many property owning adults return to school at one point or another, but still 95% of the college population wouldn't be allowed to vote under Mr. Phillips proposal.

OK, you can't swallow that number, how about the 60% of adults in the United States do not own a home and rent an apartment or a home. And there's another 10% of adults that live in mobile homes in this nation. Many of those do not own the property the mobile home sits on, that land is rented or leased.

Mr. Phillips notion wasn't well thought out, but let me ridicule him some more to prove how absurd it is.

There are 6 million Americans working abroad, yet still vote by absentee ballot. So they could not vote by the Phillips proposal. And how many of our brave men and women that protect us live in either barracks or some sort of military housing, neither of which property they own? Does he really want to take away the right to vote from a large percentage of our military? Well if you go by his words of "property owners" then yes he does.

And one more final group of person, that would be the Senior citizens that reside in Nursing Homes or Senior Care homes across the nation. That's a large majority of Americans that rent or lease apartments that would not be able to vote.

By Mr Philips notion, that would leave roughly 23% of the United States of America eligible to vote. Now on Election Day 2010, only 37% of eligible Americans turned out to vote. So of that 37%, how many would be able to vote under Mr. Phillips proposal? 5%? 7% Can you really trust 7% of America to vote for the good of this Nation?

See there's also this thing could the U.S. Constitution. Within the Constitution there is the 15Th Amendment. The 15Th Amendment came in February 1869 and states "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

So Mr. Phillips, do you really want to change the Constitution? Because if people like to say "well the 2ND Amendment gives me the right to bear arms (regardless that there is no militia any longer)" then the 15Th Amendment blanket guarantees all civilians legally able to vote in the United States.

I think Mr. Phillips' snowball just melted into a messy yellow puddle.

Fill the peanut bowl and tap the keg 'cuz Big Poppa (and all his other nicknames) is ready for some madness