who should be able to vote?

Question

if felons cannot vote, why can those on welfare? i believe that if you are unable to manage your life in such an extremely careless manner which requires the taxpayers to support you and house you, why then should you be able to influence the direction of our country? we are going downhill because everybody wants a handout.

what do you think?

Answer 1

I always said that military service should be a must for voting. a minium of 4 years in active or reserve status

Answer 2

Well well spoken like someone who has a silver spoon up there behind, Ya know not all people have the luxury of living in the good side of town, have a good job and a roof over their head. Its a common misconception that all people on welfare are abusing the system, I will however admit that their are alot of people who do, but their are also those who honestly need it.Lets say your the father of 3 and you cannot afford day care for your children, so that means you wife is forced to stay home to care for them, and then lets say the plant you work at has decided your job is better off over in china and you get layed off, now the town you live in has very few job opportunity's and jobs are hard to come by. Now moving is not an option because you can barely afford your rent/mortgage as it is, and your car is on its last leg and it wont make a long commute, let alone being able to afford the gas. You cant go back to school because you don't have the money or time, What then? WELFARE..So yes they should be able to vote. Oya and I'm just guessing,but you voted for Bush didn't you?

Answer 3

The comments within this series of answers amazes me. Everyone....EVERYONE has committed a felony. My neighbor (an architect) severely cheats on his taxes. My best friend (now a lawyer) sold a fortune of drugs during his college days. My brother co-worker got into a serious fight with a guy and almost killed him....but got away undetected. EVERYONE has committed a felony. The real issue is....who HAS been caught and who simply got away with it.

Once you have paid your debt to society (restitution, jail, parole, etc) you are deemed a valid citizen. You can work, drive a car, own a home.....even have a child. To deny a reformed person of their voting power is ridiculous. For those of you that say "NO....Felons gave up their right! "...you probably don't even vote in the first place. Source(s) Brad Thomason from Ft. Wayne, N.J. was involved in a vehicular homicide accident in 1966. Brad is a God fearing man. Loves his children. Works hard. Goes to church. A child, in 1966, ran (at night, 4 a.m.) between a bunch of parked cars in his neighborhood. Brad hit him with his car and the child died. The District Attorney HAD TO charge Brad with something....so the poor man went to jail and became a felon. It has been 40 years since the incident. He has NEVER broken a single law since his jail time. He has kept the same job for about 25 years, has 4 grandchildren, a vast retirement, and still attends chruch every Wednesday and Sunday. Do you really think he shouldn't be allowed to vote?

Answer 4

The majority of welfare recipients do not vote, although they have a right to.

Personally, i feel that if you are in jail (felony or not) you should not be allowed to vote. Once released you should be allowed to vote, as you have paid your debt to society. As for the wefare issue-- Just because someone is poor, does not mean that they are uneducated and can not make a informed decision as to who to vote for.

Due to job loss after ten years of working at the same place (and was unable to get unemployment due to my quitting a hostile work environment), I had at one point gone on welfare for approximately six months, until I was able to get a new job and get back onto my feet-- did I not deserve to vote because of my circumstances?

Answer 5

Only those who own land should be able to do so. Since without their land and tax money their would be no welfare to start with.

Welfare people will end up voting in more welfare programs etc.
And of course blame the rich for making the poor, poor! Regardless that without that emplorer they wouldn't even have a job in the first place! ( assuming the 10% poor that do work)

Answer 6

All American Citizens should be able to vote.

You are very cold hearted toward the hardships of others I hope that one day you never have to feel the embarrassment of having to take help. But if you are in a bad situation that can happen to anyone you will think back on how unsympathetic you were and feel so foolish.

Answer 7

I'm sure its not those on welfare we have to blame for putting Bush in office, and I'd say things have gone downhill, wouldnt you?

Answer 8

I dunno, but how would you decide whos worthy of voting. I mean you could say something stupid like military service but what about people with disabilities that keep them out of the military. Hard question.