Voter Testing Now for Smarter Governing

I have a rational fear of masses of dumb people electing horrible candidates who destroy what I love of the United States of America.




After Bush, Trump, and Brexit, it's a good time to discuss an idea that's time may have come: 

Please, take it seriously, and never as inherited by location and taken-for-granted?

In the current political environment, if voter testing must be an uncomfortable concept, please try to get used to the idea?

Because it's imperative and it's a dictate in our beginning, for the survival of this republic as a self governed and free nation that we always do what we can to become better, as more fair and free and as steady as a well built ship at sea.

Without chaotic sways from waves of the malcontent and misinformed, this craft can be guided by the wisdom of the masses and not the emotional whims of low information voters and those taking for granted they've got a fantasy of a universal right to decide the fate of all.

It may be true that for every curious and self-motivated US voter, at least two others are either of low mental ability or infrequently read current events and find politics tedious.

Is it fair to everyone that the latter group determines our nation's progress?

How is that working-out?

Requiring a test to indicate essential knowledge is not discriminatory of race or sex or ethnicity and can only improve this republic toward fairness and better representation.

Access to the polls is so essential to successful self-governing that I want people to have the ability to vote with telepathy on the toilet, if they choose. Their smartphone or any internet terminal would be fine, after reasonable vetting.

After society has an idea, the voter has an idea of the truth of reality, history, civics.

It is consistent with democracy and improving its trustworthiness. It will be another tier of representation, like Congress itself it will be local representation, by your neighbors, your family or your friends.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." 

            - Thomas Jefferson

~~~~~

How Old Are You?

How little the freedom to vote dumb or not, crowd considers things when making paralell to my advocacy for statewide voter registration testing of basic knowledge to a community standard and outright democracy destroying voter suppression, intended to suppress. 

I would love it if 100% of mature citizens passed the Voter Registration Test and became change makers. Maybe then we could see a utopian government? In fact, I’ve proposed that if a State uses only VRT eligibility, that that should be online, and instant voting on passing should be a part (during early voting). 

There has been voter suppression from the start of this experiment in self government.

A truth we can not deny is that the age restriction for voting was and remains a voter suppression strategy that is all about the level of the voter's intellect. It is logical discrimination that is based in community standards (of consensus). 

When first agreed, it was a mutual fear, and it must have been a civic nightmare, that an immature brain, of an actual child or an adult that can not fully grow up (we all know one), would be deciding the fate of the community on matters of life and death. For those pioneers of modern democracy, the idea of it was likely, literally a REM sleep nightmare.

Citizens voting on collective issues and representatives to argue for us is an invention of modern humanity that is essential to self-governing, and fundamental to most ideas of democracy, but discriminating toward a minimum intellect of the voter is necessary if a nation is to benefit. 

It was too rare, but if only everyone could read in the late 18th-century, they could have written simple tests to ensure trust from all in the decisions of the electorate.

Because of the widespread illiteracy and with few options, before the Bill of Rights was even considered, leaders at the State level had already restricted voting to white males and or landowners and merchants. Unfortunately to their judgment, those were the reasonable among us. 

Emotion related differences from children to adults. 
A childlike brain will likely favor those emotional biases at the polls. 

~~~~~

He’s a real no care man

Sitting in no care land

Making all his no care plans for nobody

Doesn’t have a reasoned point of view

That’s why he will vote for you

So long as it’s always easy enough to

In no care land

~~~~~

On January 6th, 2021 a mob of DUMBASSES in a frenzy of STUPID invaded the Capitol building to conduct a coup for ANOTHER DUMBASS.

It's stupid they were allowed to vote w/o testing.

SAVE DEMOCRACY!

From NBC's Saturday Night Live, the ridiculousness of what we do.

The message I AM CONVEYING HERE: 

My special thanks to NBC and the SNL crew of 2022.  

~~~~~

Voting "Rights":

If you are a political pundit or a politician (viewed or read and or respected by many) and go about stating that Americans have a "right to vote," then poorly informed people will use it. Rights get taken for granted and abused. It's a privilege to vote; the Framers knew it and wanted it to remain so.

Voting should be slightly less difficult as it is to acquire a license to drive.

Both driving and voting for a person that could destroy the world are dangerous privileges, and we want the right people using them.

We want an indication they know wtf they're doing.

Constantly saying a thing does not make it true.

We live by a constitution.

Liars like Trump do that, and ignorant followers believe it.

The so-called "Right to Vote" is used similarly; repeating it does NOT make it so.

The Framers did NOT WANT a universal right.

Voting is dangerous. Leaders can kill people with their mistakes or purposefully. 

You are receiving FALSE voter information when listening to a commentator, a politician, or an activist etc., telling you anything like .....

"Every American citizen has a right to vote."

“Amazingly enough we do not have in our Constitution the right to vote as a Constitutional right, we leave it up to the states … That’s where I get passionately upset.” 

   - Bernie Sanders, 2016

An important lesson of the recent MAGA tragedy in American democracy is that voting is a dangerous privilege and must remain so.

Few of these "voters" would pass the civics, history

 or current events questions on their local Voter Registration Test. 

~~~

A Right to Vote is fiction and must remain a privilege, NOW MORE THAN EVER.

Here's a NPO that wants to create a RIGHT to VOTE, bc THEY KNOW the framers did NOT WANT Schmucks like the MAGAs using the DANGEROUS ability.

They STILL think it's about NUMBERS.

https://www.fairvote.org/right_to_vote_amendment 

~~~~~

The Confusion, 

Here is longtime Washington DC politico Chris Matthews skewing the 15th Amendment and conflating its purpose of equality to a never written Right to Vote: "It basically says everybody, because of our history of slavery, regardless of color or ethnicity gets to vote …." 

He's so right and wrong; it indicates pretty specifically that the minority can't be discriminated against in access to the polls; it's not giving all people a right to vote.

He's right about this, the US Justice Department has failed to enforce the 15th, and if it had been, we wouldn't be debating voting access or confusing a generation by calling a civic process a right.  

At 3:30 or so: 

Come on, Chris, it's an important distinction. 

This essay is an example of why that is. 

(The show ....)

If a State legislative body is writing a voter restriction law, or a new manner of making voters eligible, they are exercising a clear Constitutional right of the States to regulate and restrict the process.

The Framers had A LOT of opportunity to write a universal right.

There is no “right to vote” in the USA, as a guarantee in the Constitution, as a promise that any adult with a pulse must be allowed to decide the future of a complex nation.

 

The Framers thought that would be ridiculous.

After Trump, so do I. 

Bill of Rights: 

Where is it?

I fully agree, effectively it has been and remains racist to allow the States to regulate and restrict voting.

Amend the Constitution; let's take that right away from the States. 

Let's adapt the Federal Elections Commission to make it an army of voting equality and fairness, with standardization throughout the land. 

Because it's an invitation to any legislature to act on their racist fear or just fear of dumb people. A body can be biased for its party or skin color.

~~~~ 

A literacy test?

In 1780, at most, 95% of the public could not read more than their first and last name.

In the two centuries following, those figures improved dramatically.

Today, less than 5% of the public will reach adulthood and need to be literate.

We know what Jim Crow laws were, and we fully expect voter registration testing to be created for equality, as all government services should.

As the Fifteenth Amendment dictates of the Federal government, equal access to the polls is a right, not voting itself. There is no federally protected or documented universal right to vote in the United States. There is a law that defends equality to access.

Voting is fundamental to self-government, but no federal law guarantees a citizen a right to vote. There is a law (Amendment 15) that protects equality of access to the polls, and in that manner, it can be called a "right to equality of voting." It's a privilege to vote.

A well-informed voter is foundational if the self-government is to work, be trusted, and be fairer to all.

Consistent with the premise of this post, voter testing is a wise and timely idea.

It can turn the tables on voter suppression where voters' masses have become a competitive goal on partisan sides, and the race becomes a cause of election paranoia, used by a recent candidate to stoke the anger of his cult followers.

Imagine a pool of reliable voters, each passionate and curious, and passing the voter registration test before every general election.

I can imagine being one of the framers of the US Constitution and imagining that the voters can read and read news only printed by reliable sources.

Like tested and licensed drivers, they can steer on the highways of representation to avoid crashing into other people. That is consistent with democracy and improving our general trust.

An informed voter is necessary for the effectiveness and stability of any democracy, or it will fall apart, collapsing from the ignorant hordes.

Hordes of the poorly informed incited by the most ignorant

 president in US history, on January 6th 2021.

Had Trump's voters been required to take a quiz to become a registered voter, they would not have existed.  

We abused the First Amendment, we lost control of truth.

Americans don't have to allow people to vote, who don't care enough to study to discover the truth.

We can't afford the LOW INFORMATION voter.

Democracy is FAILING; it's no longer about MASSES of VOTERS because proper representation requires well informed voters, not hundreds of millions of people too busy to find the truth who live in a divided news media environment.

Understand? Geez

The challenging future will require a reliable body of esteemed tested voters, not millions too busy to understand the complexities of issues.

After Bush, Trump, and Brexit, it's an excellent time to discuss an idea that's time must come.

Because, the low information voter does not have to be here-to-stay. Let them get on with their lives, that are apparently more important than giving thought time to serious issues of the day.

Trump, Brexit, right? C'mon!?

If the nation had voter testing, of history, civics and current events, to become eligible, the numbers would be smaller, but proportions of party advocates and divided opinions no less different, and they'd be knowledgeable voters that can't be fooled.

Having a pool of tested voters is a needed next tier of representation.

It is not like there won't be a lot of voters, all representing all needs of all people.

We want the tests to be welcoming and passable. It's who the voter is that's important. Someone who cares enough to keep-up and know their civics, history, and current events.

Our democratic representation creates a pyramidal structure, and adding a pool of tested registered voters is a logical adaptation to our new large population of very busy people:

What about your neighbor representing you because you're too busy and disinterested in politics to vote with reasonable care or study to know what is true?

Imagine that after voter testing has become standard, that 20% of today’s numbers will be participating at that time, but those numbers will be persistent or greater - to be counted on as consistently there, for all candidate to focus on their opinions - of knowledgeable people who care enough. Testing should not designed to fail participants. The board can test the tests, and any member of an congressionally managed round table can challenge any question.

The great majority should be able to pass the voter test.

Democracy by representation improves because politico news junkie neighbors of every community, who take the Voter Registration Test every 4-years, will be making election decisions on issues that have been difficult for all to keep up with.

They represent, and we know they care.

~~~~~

Tweeting about something right-now @EndAllSuffering.

~~~~~

The democracy nightmare of Donald Trump as a POTUS inspires a few measurements of empathy questions for the Voter Registration Test.

Well-informed, caring voters recognize an absence of consideration for others, and they vote against them.

~~~~~

Does the #DemocraticParty fear their constituency is composed of too many who would not vote if it became too inconvenient? 

Yes.

Does that not indicate a corrupt system? It's an intellectual process of decision and we are doing this! 

Wake up, "Awoken?"  

Under #VoterTesting the lazy will stop voting. Democratic order will depend on a steady pool of committed voters who would turn out in a hurricane.

Why not have a nation run on the instant opinions of every citizen voting with their satellite connected brain implants?

Kids too, why not?

I submit, you would rather society find a way to discriminate based on reasoning skill and knowledge of truth and history.

Imagine something like this, if you are accustomed to being tested:

A State controlled testing system can be developed that is as fair as possible. 
We are expert at testing ourselves in almost all walks of life.

I have confidence we can do this well.

~~~~

The Myth that Masses of Voters can save us ... 

(and the numbers game fantasy) ......

Accepted as true in liberal US politics is, IF the scenario could be true that EVERYONE voted, the Democratic Party would win is logical IF a majority (even a tiny majority) of ALL did their homework, and EVERYONE voted - a fantasy, proven to be every year there's more voters. 

It's not quantity, unless your entire competition is about objectifying all voters as simple numbers; of persons over eighteen years-old who can breathe. 

I was passionate about getting out masses of people to vote, for many years, even volunteering with my local Democrats to find people, and carrying voter registration forms in my school bag. 

However, I’ve realized that sustaining good (fair) #democracy with the “well Informed voter” (concept) was never about the numbers. It’s the quality of participants in the process of highly significant choices, and we are trusted to maintain this.

Below, an old meme I created 20-years ago, when, like many, I believed a simplistic idea that making voting easy, or everybody voting makes bettter representation:

Quality not Quantity.

We are not sheep to be herded for a head count. 

~~~~

In the humorous example below; I see Daltry can be a metaphor for a public advocate for everyone voting fast and easy in a democratic government election, who thinks a utopia is achievable if the number of voters is EVERYBODY. He's a true believer; without voter testing (like driver testing), the party becomes a disaster.

More at the Door!

~~~~

Here's an imaginative nightmare democracy scenario:

The year 2068; the long time belief by voting advocates that everybody vote, and then democracy can save us all, has some glitches:

Every adult wears a brain implant that connects to the Earth Office of Elections in a highly secure space station, and  ALL issues and political decisions are decided by MASS BRAIN POLLING.

Sometimes the whole world stops in place to masturbate. 🙄

~~~~

What citizens need are those who want to be part of democracy, enough to find the truth and pass the test. 

You could pick the destroyer of the world.

Speaking of Words;

The plurality agree;

Alien Overlords destroying billions

 of lives would not be

so bad!

As compared to ignorant 

voters choosing somebody 

who could destroy ALL of 

our world. 

See? 

 

This picture is a good example of that danger:

Voting is Dangerous

Please take voting seriously?

It's a privilege and an honor, and I am grateful.

When people vote frivolously or carelessly, following a perceived community standard or believing in falsehoods or a candidate’s promises, we get poor government, and horrific behavior and mistakes are more likely.

In my past profession, I was tested repeatedly to install plumbing and heating to indicate to my community that I would not negligently explode a city block or poison the water, or blow up a house.

When I drive on the highway, I take comfort knowing those around me have been tested for limitations in their knowledge and bodies.

Is not the United States is worth providing at least that much safety?

If we test voters, we will more likely have an electorate who know the truth of current events, history, and civics.

 They could be counted on as a consistent number who would vote in a natural disaster.

Voting is a regulated privilege of those who participate in democracy and is not a "right."

If we Test Voters, we will more likely have an electorate who know the truth of current events, history, and civics, as they would be naturally curious information readers.

They could be counted to vote in a natural disaster, after a horrific war, or in a plague. 

Don't confuse rights with your privilege to vote; i.e. you cannot be discriminated against in the process for reasons of race or sex. 

A tested voter should get free stuff from city and state governments and a lot of local discounts.

They should get an annual check from the IRS, of $100. Keeps the numbers of them higher. 

Vote, at the time you test to vote, after you've passed your test.

~~~

Here's a fine example of some of the DUMBEST voters EVER; via  Jordan Klepper of the Daily Show. 

Save democracy and test these Neanderthals? 

Voting is a dangerous activity (we bomb nations) and it's supposed to be intellectual, BION.

They're ready to vote. 
They are eligible. 

They are 18-years-old, and they are breathing. 

Trusting The News Today; 

With misinformation widely allowed, the results of #voting can be as dangerous as driving a heavy vehicle in a city. If you don't have proper knowledge and ability you are probably going to hurt yourself and others, and be costly.

Voter testing locations should all have great catering with booze. After all, testers are registered voters are honored citizens.

In the future, an answer is advocacy for creation of #VoterTesting, for all lovers of country who keep up w/truth, to have the privilege of running democracy.

You could be sure an apocalyptic event would not stop a tested voter from reaching the polling place or voting online or by mail. By taking the test and passing to become eligible, they have shown great enthusiasm for participation.

Here’s an idea, in conjunction with testing, voting at the time of the test; you choose your candidates and other choices, and then you proceed to take the test. You place your test into a Scantron form that can quickly give you your result, and if you pass the test, your vote gets registered.

In my State there were 248K citizens who voted in a recent primary, of 2.2M eligible (old enough) voters.

While the nation waits for thousands of polling places and assembly of millions of mail-in ballots, published exit polls, inferring winners and losers, will inspire great anxiety, and outbreaks of violence and riots.

Test to vote concept creates a reliable pool of active voters, must like jurists are selected and maintained for trials.

The division of both truth and political bent will be here to stay in societies with freely published media; news distributions outlets that can't be taken away, and can allow biases affect their presentation of truth.

We have abused the Frist Amendment.

We have feared regulating our information.

We must see the necessity of maintaining a fully informed electorate as important as keeping a standing army.

If we #TestVoters, we will more likely have an electorate who know the truth of current events, history, and civics, as naturally curious information readers.

Less likely will be millions of misdirected voters, as we see today, everywhere.

I would include voter testing clause within Amendment 28, Public Campaign Financing.

I want every voter to be proud and feel honored, and not to have the feeling of a granted right, that can be un-appreciated in its use, sometimes far too casually "Let's give him a try, why not!?" Laze-fare voter participation.

We use democracy to run the testing component of voter registration.

A council of elected, term serving elders and their staff keep track of the truth, and agree on all test questions. They are accountable. Not like Fox News.

Below; pardon my humor, but you get the point.

If you were to slack-off of your news reading habit, for just a few months, you might fail the current events questions in the Voter Registration Test, and then you must wait until the next General.

The well informed voter is fundamental to good democracy; not any voter breathing.

We're learning this lesson the hard way. 

~~~~

Voting is a Dangerous privilege:

Fictional scenario; 

2003: 60% of polled agreed when the Bush administration chose to bomb Afghanistan with NUKES, killing everyone, but ensuring the United States, "Got the Fu*ker!" said George W. Bush.  

53-days later, world war three began.

The 865 Florida voters that elected him felt a bit guilty. 

The creator of the Palm Beach county election ballots was never seen again.

Election 2000

~~~~
More: 
Some, edited. 

Besides creating a wiser government, #VoterTesting / #TestToVote is the roadblock for Morons who believe in alternative news. Along with American history and civics, the current events section should be 1/3rd of the test weight, containing several recent news and politics questions.

JamesGMason.com 

~~~~

Governors; you can establish a testing system for all would-be voters, to ensure your citizens understand American history, civics and the truth of current events, if they choose to participate in self government. Ironically, refusing to do so is the type of stupidity the Founders had feared could destroy their hard work. We see this currently. 

Governors; and CHEAP!

To keep costs of #voterTesting low, citizens can go to a rented trailer next to their Department of Motor Vehicles to take their Voter Registration Tests; it's where most went to take tests for a driver's license.

It's wise #democracy that matters.

~~~

WE CAN AGREE in self-governed societies like ours; it’s a matter of public safety that voters make choices based on logic and demonstrate before voting, they are capable of doing so. 

 

To imply we aren’t capable of that is an Un-American insult.

It should be a priority goal. A smarter citizen operated government is possible if we address the beginning of the process, the choices of the voters and who they are. 

logic of #VoterTesting / #TestToVote .  

.

~~~~

Not inserted; 04 28

As a citizen aware of the privilege and the honor of participating in self-government, there would have to be a TON of INCONVENIENCE to cause me to skip an election.

To save #democracy, I want others who share this attitude to comprise a steady pool of voters we can count on for a new tier of representation.

All rights reserved; James Gray Mason, 2020. 

https://JamesGrayMason.com  

COMBINE this idea with http://PUBLIC-CAMPAIGN-FINANCING.ORG (also by me) and we have got a magnificent new package of REAL REFORMS that can CLEAN UP long standing complaints about the fairness and efficiency of the mechanisms of democracy that we use. 

Thank you.

- James Gray Mason

@endallsuffering https://endallsuffering.com  / @timetravelwish https://timetravelwish.com 

More notes:

A common misconception is that because Congress lowered the voting age from 21 to 18-years, that they can pass a nationwide change to the process of voting for all Americans. 

No, they wrote a Constitutional Amendment that the States later ratified.

A new Amendment to our constitution is like a change to the United States itself; it's our supportive skeleton. 

It's one way to stop the next TV celebrity asshole from lying to tens of millions and becoming the president.

I don’t see a better long-term plan to protect democracy from idiots.

The USA is this important.

Voting is dangerous to life.