Obama is a totalitarian. So, his idea that it should be mandatory that everyone votes is not a surprising position from a proponent of big government. But it is also a thoroughly un-American idea and one that should be just as thoroughly destroyed in the minds of the American people.
Last week Obama came out endorsing the idea of forcing everyone to vote under penalty of law. He thought it would be a good idea to make everyone go to the polls to avoid being thrown in jail or having their lives, jobs, or bank accounts threatened by his jackbooted, armed government thugs.
Claiming that mandatory voting would be "transformative" Emperor Obama claimed that it would somehow eliminate money in politics if everyone were forced to vote.
First of all, even the left-wing Washington Post notes that little would change if we were all forced to vote. The paper noted that "non-voters are--on average--only a bit more Democratic than voters, and a bit more supportive of liberal policies." So, the balance wouldn't really shift much at all.
This means just as much money as ever would be spent to encourage voters to sign onto one candidate or cause of another.
But even that aside, the fact is not voting is just as much a right as voting! In America we have the right to check out of the electoral system if we want to.
Now, if we want to look at the original idea that the founders had, it reveals that they thought that being vested in the system was a must to have a vote in how and by whom the country is led.
The founders initially thought that only landholders should be allowed to vote. These were people who paid taxes, owned land, and had a concerted interest in what government did to them.
This may seem overly restrictive to the modern mind, but the idea was that these sort of people had a really, immediate interest in how the country was governed, an interest that people who did not immediately benefit from government didn't have.
The founders felt that this class of people wouldn't let government grow too powerful and get out of hand.
So, whether you agree with that ultimate restriction or not, what this teaches us is that the founders did not feel that voting was so universal. They believed in restrictions on voting. Voting wasn't a right, it was a privilege. And it still is.
But even at that the founders didn't expect that government had the power to force those landowners to vote!
Hence, forcing people to vote is an entirely anti-American idea.
But, every idea that Obama has is anti-American, so I suppose no one should be surprised.
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
