citizenmerchant.net

Teacher (economics, politics, history), writer, advocate, @commonsensenyny, @citizenmerchantnyny

 

Orig. Pub. November 16, 2020

Our representatives keep throwing around the words โ€œdemocracyโ€ and โ€œright to vote,โ€ saying they are intimate to our nationโ€™s founding. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Thereโ€™s an exercise I do with my students when I teach the concepts of the vote and democracy. I ask them all to stand up and then I begin โ€œif you are black or of color sit down.โ€ โ€œIf you are a female sit down.โ€ โ€œIf you rent your home or apartment sit down.โ€ Invariably there would be either 1 white student standing or no students standing. The point being, when our nation was formed only white men who owned property had the right to vote. This is why the founders of our nation are referred to as the โ€œfathersโ€.

To take this fact several steps further let’s look at the Electoral College. Originally, the Electoral College was created as a compromise on the slavery issue. The individual state legislatures and their governor would decide who the member Electors would be. The compromise was to insure that no radical abolitionist would become a President. That is, until the political parties hijacked the Electoral College. (see my post Why Is This A Partisan Fight?)

Likewise, with regard to the Senate, before the 17th Amendment (1913), Senators were picked by the individual state legislatures not the people. Likewise, again, with the House of Representative. Representatives were originally chosen by whatever method the individual state legislatures agreed to. Likewise, still again, with the Supreme Court, Justices were to be selected by the Executive (the President) and the Senate half of the Congress.

The problem is neither our politicians nor the complicit media are telling us the truth, so we continue to have this back and forth about equal rights, the right to vote, and what the U.S.A. is instead of knowing and understanding the USA has never been a democracy. On the contrary. The Constitution was, is, and always will be about subverting the popular will. Unless we change it. Moreover, with our leaders being more partisan than ever, our society is more divided than ever. We have an opportunity to put the truth on the public agenda. To essentially come clean with ourselves. To more accurately see who we are, and thereby resolve some of the polarization. If we don’t the Constitution will continue to be a con job.

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