So one of the Progressive Freshmen of Congress said something today that was neither antisemitic our outright communist, but it was equally stupid, so I thought I’d mention it.
US Rep. Pressley: Lower federal voting age from 18 to 16
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley is pushing to lower the federal voting age from 18 to 16.
The Massachusetts Democrat made the proposal as her first amendment since winning election last year.
Pressley said young people across the country are taking the lead on key issues from gun violence to climate change. She said that under her amendment people as young as 16 could vote to elect members of Congress and the president.
Pressley offered the proposal as an amendment to a Democratic-backed bill aimed in part at expanding voting rights.
So the Democrats want to amend the Constitution to allow 16 year olds to vote.
They can’t buy guns, serve in the military, sign a legal contract, but sure, let them vote.
Fine.
Let the Democrats put this out there.
Here is the text I want Republicans to submit. Hell, I’ll run on this text.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are sixteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2: The right of citizens to vote shall be limited to only those citizens age sixteen or older who have paid a net positive income tax in the two years prior to an election. Any citizen who receives a total tax return, reimbursement, cash benefit, or remittance greater than the total amount of taxes paid, or has paid no taxes in the previous two years forfeits the right to vote in a Federal election. This does not include monies received from Social Security, military retirement, or military disability payments.
Section 3: Citizens who are married and filing jointly each have the right to vote if the joint Federal income tax payment is a net positive value as per Section 2 of this Amendment.
Section 4: Citizens and the spouses filing jointly of citizens currently on active duty with any branch of the United States military, the United States Coast Guard, or United States Merchant Marine, are not subject to the restrictions in Sections 2 or 3 of this Amendment.
Section 3. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
I’d rather a 16 year old with a job who payed income tax vote than some 22 year old layabout who demands the socialists pay for his gender studies degree.
I like it.
Another simpler response: anyone who these politicians treat as a child should not have the vote. Since Democrats believe people are a child through age 25 (look at the insurance rules) it follows that the voting age should be 26, not 16.
Okay by me.
I have been advocating for something just like that for years. No positive contribution to the Federal revenue stream (proven via your tax return filings), no say in how the Government uses the tax revenue collected.
And, while we are at it, let’s outlaw employers from withholding taxes throughout the year. Require everyone to write a check to the IRS every month or every quarter directly. I bet people will start paying a lot more attention to what Congress does when they realize exactly how much of their hard work goes to Uncle Sam.
Just need a space where those of us who make all our income from our VA disability can send in a ceremonial dollar to be “net positive” on our taxes.
Can we also have an amendment that reduces your tax “return” to a maximum of what was taken from your check?
What about the original constitutional requirement: only property owners can vote? That removes all the people living in apartments in big, blue cities; living in government housing and millions more.
That wasn’t a Constitutional requirement.
Come to think of it, you still don’t need an Amendment to do what J proposed. The Constitution says that members of Congress are to be elected by the same body of electors in each state that elects its most numerous state legislature. And various amendments say that limitations by age cannot go higher than 18 years. It does not, however, say anything about limitations by other criteria than age or sex. So (if the state constitution permits) a state could by law create a qualification like J describes for the state legislature, and then carry that over to the US Congress elections from that state.
As for the presidential elections, things are even looser there. The Constitution simply says that each state “shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct” the electors. You don’t even need to have elections, much less elections open to all warm bodies.
(Then again, by the same argument, if CA decided to open elections to any resident whether citizen or not, legal or not, I don’t see anything that could be done to block that.)
So because I am retired and have structured my investments to pay zero net income tax I lose my right to vote? No thanks.