We live in America. Wasn't there a time when we stood for the right of everyone to vote?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

I read these posts about how the Republicans are suppressing our inalienable right to vote.

And I feel as though I've been transported to some alien America, where fascism rules and the 1% gets their way.

It feels like a nightmare...

And I am afraid we will never wake up from it.

[temporary311]

1. The right of all

white males at any rate. Getting the right to vote for everyone else has always been a struggle.

[Sopkoviak]

2. There was a time when only white male landowners could vote.

So I guess it's a little better.

[valerief]

3. Well, now, there was the 15th amendment, 1870. And then there was the

19th amendment, 1920. And, of course, there were all those problematic voting issues that required the 24th amendment, 1962.

Considering all the unfair and illegal imprisonments that deny voting rights and the election fraud that's existed since day one and absurdity of the electoral college and the abusive gerrymandering, I'd say our right for everyone to vote is still in the shitter. It's still an unfulfilled goal.

[Rex]

4. I don't know, I grew up in the Land of Confusion.

Sometimes I wonder if the game has always been rigged. Gerrymandering has all but destroyed democracy, yet nobody seems to give a dam.

Was far too cynical at 13, so I can't give you an unbiased answer.

[Mister Nightowl]

5. Not really

There was a time, a few decades ago, when we gave lip service to the idea, but that's pretty much it.

[whistler162]

6. Nope.

[Andy823]

7. We can wake up

The first step is to vote all the republican obstructionists out of office. After that we can work on making sure we actually get candidates that are willing to work for the people in office. It won't happen overnight, but it can happen if we want it to.

[First Speaker]

8. I've been surprised by the relatively mild reaction to all of this...

...am I wrong, or was there a time--not that long ago--when blatant attempts to suppress voting on the part of minorities would have been met with mass resistance, up to and including outright seizure of polling places? If I was President, I would send Federal troops to the states to ensure we had free elections, and if it meant a constitutional crisis, so be it. There are things worth having a constitutional crisis over. Your use of the word "fascism" is not hyperbole. The GOP is committed to crushing the rights of women, workers, and minorities. That is what they stand for in this year of 2014, in the 21st Century. The end result of this is a country where only white male property owners can vote. Some right-wing writers are hinting at this--more than hinting--already. I cannot believe that this will end peacefully...

[toddwv]

15. What's surprising about it?

After the Civil Rights Act passed the "Dixiecrats" absconded from the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party in masse. This was when the Republican Party's progressive tendencies came to a grinding halt and the same people who thought segregation and Jim Crow laws were just find and dandy became a part of the GOP's "Southern Strategy."

[cwydro]

9. I hear you Peg.

I feel the same. Very sad time for our nation.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Thank you, my dear cwydro...

I grieve for what should have been, and isn't.

[cwydro]

16. Scary Peg.

Because I don't think it ever will be either.

[Atman]

11. There was a time when we did a lot of things that were right.

Now we're more concerned with keeping the cable turned on and making sure we don't get defriended on FB. Social Media killed the reality star.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. We did do a lot of things right.

I'm not convinced that Social Media really did us in.

The fatigue of making a living and trying to keep our heads above water allowed us to turn to social media for relief. That's the connection.

[malthaussen]

12. Depends on what you mean by "we," dear Peggy.

Even as the Voting Rights Act was being passed, people were dying in the South to register voters. If the majority were polled now, "we'd" be supporting voting still, but the people who make the laws are the ones who have the power to make their views felt.

-- Mal

[YarnAddict]

14. No, not ever

There have been various restrictions placed on the right to vote ever since 1776. Only landowners. Only men. Only white men. Only those who could pay the poll tax. Only those who could pass the literacy test. Since 1972, only those over the age of 18 can vote. Resident non-citizens can't vote.

So, no, we never stood for the right of "everyone" to vote.